Control/Dimming House lights and dimmer packs

Massey28694

Active Member
Hey all, hope everyone is great today! I am running a new Element 2 board with 4 ETC SmartPack dimmers, model 7020a1101-b. Dimmers are probably 20 years old. House lights are on dimmers. Is there a way to have house lights turn on when the dimmer packs are switched on without having the board up? The manual shows there is a dimmer setting for “hold last look” (mine I believe says “previous state”), but if I put the house to full, power off the board, then switch off power to the dimmer packs, when I restore power, house lights do not come up. Do the dimmer packs maybe have batteries that could affect the function or is it working correctly as I have described?
Appreciate your help!
 
Hey all, hope everyone is great today! I am running a new Element 2 board with 4 ETC SmartPack dimmers, model 7020a1101-b. Dimmers are probably 20 years old. House lights are on dimmers. Is there a way to have house lights turn on when the dimmer packs are switched on without having the board up? The manual shows there is a dimmer setting for “hold last look” (mine I believe says “previous state”), but if I put the house to full, power off the board, then switch off power to the dimmer packs, when I restore power, house lights do not come up. Do the dimmer packs maybe have batteries that could affect the function or is it working correctly as I have described?
Appreciate your help!

Hold Last Look does not persist through a power cycle. It's working correctly.

ST
 
Hey all, hope everyone is great today! I am running a new Element 2 board with 4 ETC SmartPack dimmers, model 7020a1101-b. Dimmers are probably 20 years old. House lights are on dimmers. Is there a way to have house lights turn on when the dimmer packs are switched on without having the board up? The manual shows there is a dimmer setting for “hold last look” (mine I believe says “previous state”), but if I put the house to full, power off the board, then switch off power to the dimmer packs, when I restore power, house lights do not come up. Do the dimmer packs maybe have batteries that could affect the function or is it working correctly as I have described?
Appreciate your help!

The Fleenor PRE10A remote station mentioned above is a great unit; I've installed many and they always work well. For something similar and less than half the price, there is the Springtree SM-8. See https://www.springtree.net/LED-Arch...hitectural-Lighting-Architectural-Controllers. No idea of how well it will hold up.
At the same website I discovered the Acclaim Lighting Fade 6 Pro remote station. No idea on pricing or availability. All of these units are made to do exactly what you are wanting to do.
 
You might want to check out the Doug Fleenor preset 10 http://www.dfd.com/p10.html

Think of this as a mini preset station that looks for DMX from your console. If the console is spitting out DMX it does nothing but pass the DMX through. If there is no DMX you can select one of 10 presets.
Not super cheap. Super well made and reliable

Whoa! I did not know that was a thing! That might have saved me a bit of time a ways back. I made my own using an arduino and two single gang faders cobbled together with a homemade DMX shield. Probably cost about 1/20th of the Fleenor one but I only get two presets and I have to hook up a laptop when I want to change the looks around, but it's been working like a rock for a few years now. Can you gang two together on the same DMX pair? It doesn't look like it has thru put capability from the manual/drawings.
 
I just KNEW that sounded wrong, but you're not that far off. As best I can tell, SmartPack was released late 2002. Didn't exactly flood the market though.

You would be surprised at the high volume of SmartPacks that was sold. Many in the EU, as well as the US. Wall mount and rack mount versions. With outlets, or in the UL recognized version ( as opposed to the UL Listed version with outlets), with terminal strips.

ST
 
Whoa! I did not know that was a thing! That might have saved me a bit of time a ways back. I made my own using an arduino and two single gang faders cobbled together with a homemade DMX shield. Probably cost about 1/20th of the Fleenor one but I only get two presets and I have to hook up a laptop when I want to change the looks around, but it's been working like a rock for a few years now. Can you gang two together on the same DMX pair? It doesn't look like it has thru put capability from the manual/drawings.

Yep! You tie the wires all into the same appropriate terminal, rather than having separate in and outs. So neutral in and out both tie to the same one, ditto positive in and out, etc.
 
@BillConnerFASTC Main purpose is to have an easy way to have cleaning folks and others be able to turn on the house lights when needed. We do have 2 remote switches for the dimmer packs, but of course they only work if the board is on. The Fleenor Preset seems to accomplish this, and I am thinking of other ways to perhaps utilize the presets instead of powering up the board. We could do house on one, set up several different washes on others, etc.
 
There are simpler less expensive ways to turn them on full for cleaning was my main point. If you have use for presets, that's different. The Fleenor device a very fine product. There are others. I seem to recall that the ETC Smart Series had a very simple built in preset capability that could be activated with a SmartLink? Might be worth looking into. 4 presets iirc.
 
From manual:

SmartLink™ Enabled
A SmartLink enabled SmartPack is identified by the two RJ45 connectors
labeled SmartLink on the rear of the unit.
SmartLink is an architectural control system created for enhanced control
of the 32 built-in presets and sequencer as found in the SmartPack.
Reference the SmartPack User Manual for programming and configuration
details.
SmartLink Cable Specification
A standard RJ45 to RJ45 straight through CAT 5 (minimum) cable is
required for SmartLink.
 
And there is a dry contact for emergency which it seems you are not using if there are switches that remove power. Just dry contacts to turn on selected circuits. A switch or even three and four way switches for multiple locations woul provide the clean up light function - if the pack is powered. Very inexpensive.
 
@BillConnerFASTC I learn more everyday!! I saw those 2 RJ45 jacks on the back of the dimmer packs, but didn't know how they were used. Reading the dimmer pack manual, it appears I would just need a switch with cabling run between the dimmer packs and the tech booth (prefered location of the on/off switch). I will definitely have to explore this more, though the Fleenor device for 500 is a simple, plug & play solution that could offer other benefits. And its funny, I had sent an inquiry to ETC support and they responded last night saying the Fleenor Preset would be a good option to consider! Not sure why they didn't mention the dimmer pack presets. Appreciate your knowledge, Bill!
 
You need someone with more intimate current knowledge of Smartlink than I. I don't know if you need a separate power supply or if the Smartpacks you have includes a power supply for a limited number of stations. I recall 4 or 8 per pack but has been a while.

I'd suggest the reason for this over Fleenor is that multiple stations would be less expensive. If you only want one station, I don't know. And, if only cleaning full on of selected circuits - a plain wall switch and any small gage 2 conductor wiring - door bell wire - will do that just fine.

If thinking about options and opportunities, consider the Smartlink has the clock stations which provides other features.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back