Upgrading our Strand JTM Dimmers

crippit

Member
So a while back I posted about out Strand JTM dimmers and how we wanted to integrate them with our house lighting. That has fallen by the wayside as more people got involved and said that the existing dimmers were past their useful life. So.... We finally got approved to replace the dimmer racks and the control board (if anyone is looking for heritage stuff for a museum give me a shout). We're replacing it with:

ETC Sensor 3 24 rack dimmers
ETC Smartlink & buttons for each door
Theatrixx 24 Patch panel
Theatrixx Distro board
Camlock for future expansion and rentals

We're currently using .dot2 on PC to control the lighting, would it make sense to switch over to using grandMA3 on PC? Or use an ETC software offering? We don't use a physical lighting console, due to a number of constraints, mainly space.
 
DMX from your system to control the lighting is DMX, regardless of dimmer brand. If you're satisfied with what you're using and what it does, I don't see any pressing reason to change...particularly as you're already familiar with it and don't need to learn some new system. Hence, absent any other reasons, my personal choice would tend to be staying with my current system.

That said, there's also nothing wrong with experimenting with trying some other software out to see if it's better (for a wide definition of better--in an educational setting, for instance, it may be better to use whatever is most common in the industry for the sorts of jobs you're training your students to do, even if the technical capabilities of the software are not better or worse).
 
Keep in mind any of the MA2 or MA3 products will output Streaming ACN, which the Sensor3 CEM3 will gladly accept as a control signal.

Also, the ETC Smartlink line has been discontinued, and replaced with ETC Unison Echo, which will work natively with the CEM3. You can get an EchoAccess bluetooth gateway to get much more functionality out of the button stations then the native default config.

Are these install racks or portable packs?
 
Possibly related, a new startup company has started making replacement brains, repairs and components to Strand CD-80 dimmers including relay, LED dimmers and house touch screens. Don't know much about them yet, think Johnson Controls the brand, only that I'll be helping to installing such a system in a few weeks.
@ship, Johnson Controls makes fire, security and HVAC equipment for buildings. Johnson Systems Inc. https://www.johnsonsystems.com/home.htm is a Canadian firm that has been in business since 1996 making retrofit electronics for Strand, Electro Controls, Kliegl, and some other brands of dimmer racks, packs, and dimmer modules. They have been doing this for quite a while and make stuff better than
the original manufactures did. They are hardly a new startup company!
 
@ship, Johnson Controls makes fire, security and HVAC equipment for buildings. Johnson Systems Inc. https://www.johnsonsystems.com/home.htm is a Canadian firm that has been in business since 1996 making retrofit electronics for Strand, Electro Controls, Kliegl, and some other brands of dimmer racks, packs, and dimmer modules. They have been doing this for quite a while and make stuff better than
the original manufactures did. They are hardly a new startup company!
Bottom Line: Johnson systems builds Strand replacements BETTER than Strand's originals.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
I just wanted to loop back here and update you on what we went with! We got an ETC Mosaic controller with the unison button push stations, and foundry dimmers.

We acquired a 96 dimmer ETC Sensor unit from Cirque du Soleil which is tiding us over until we get everything working!
 

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