Well, one "old fashion" design technique was to load a whole sub-scene on each dimmer. In that case, you might have 10 instruments per channel on many of them. Something about running 12/3 on a 100 amp dimmer was very un-nerving. In most cases, the patch pay broke that down to 20's.I know that modern lighting has gotten more efficent, but I can't imagine any design needing anything close to 96 dimmers @ 100 amps each.
That would make sense if the control board didn't have any sort of preset system - one can only move so many handles at once. I just can't imagine a design aproaching 96 sub-scenes as such (or the space to hang that design).
And yet, a 5 rack (96x2.4) system today is still considered a medium-large installation.but I can't imagine any design needing anything close to 96 dimmers @ 100 amps each.
These are R series dimmers that are earlier in the available model line. The SCRs are monstrously large bolt-on type and the chokes are potted. Control voltage would likely have been 0-28vdc as 0-10vdc came later with the use of adapters cards plugged into the back of the firing cards. Many systems were converted to 0-10vdc as computerized controls came about, however, I seem to remember that the Performer II could optionally output 0-28.
Nice pic!
And yet, a 5 rack (96x2.4) system today is still considered a medium-large installation.
This photo was taken in 1985. I don't think DMX existed then.
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