Pls Help! ETC Dimmer Rack going out!

Hey guys, new LD/Engineer here!

At my place of work, we have a dimmer rack from ETC (pictures below) and w recently had some work done on it. Soon after, we had some conventional lights on all Electrics go out. Upon researching more of our dimmer snakes and boxes, I found that a lot of them just aren’t working!!

Again with more research, I learned about setting the trim levels. I went to the rack and saw that one of the stage pins that weren’t turning on were connected to a dimmer that was set to 99. I switched it to FL and it started putting out an output (although still was some flickering). I did it to another dimmer and that gave out an output as well!

Do you have any idea on why it was set to 99? And why I was still receiving no output on 99?

Should I leave it at 99?

Is it bad to turn all dimmers to FL?

Below I have pictures attached of the dimmer rack, the module, and the architectural panel. Thank you so much for your help and input!

- Paige Cardwell

First double check the breakers on the individual dimmers that are responsible for the non working segments. Just like at home you may need to cycle off/on because visually it might be subtle.
Second if that doesn't bring that segment up, swap dimmers between a working slot and the slot that's not working. The stack takes care of the addresses, so you can just swap out.
Flip the breakers off, on the individual dimmer before pulling and pushing back in the new slot.

Also just pulling and re seating you can also visually inspect for bad contacts signs of arcing.

The one that is flickering and kind of working sounds like a bad dimmer... could also be bad wiring.. but check the easy thing first with the swap.

jtweigandt said:

First double check the breakers on the individual dimmers that are responsible for the non working segments. Just like at home you may need to cycle off/on because visually it might be subtle.
Second if that doesn't bring that segment up, swap dimmers between a working slot and the slot that's not working. The stack takes care of the addresses, so you can just swap out.
Flip the breakers off, on the individual dimmer before pulling and pushing back in the new slot.

Also just pulling and re seating you can also visually inspect for bad contacts signs of arcing.

The one that is flickering and kind of working sounds like a bad dimmer... could also be bad wiring.. but check the easy thing first with the swap.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! If i’ve already done these steps, what other actions would you recommend?

pcardwelll said:

we have a dimmer rack from ETC (pictures below) and w recently had some work done on it

Click to expand...

Do you know what was done to it? Your symptoms sound bad enough that I would suspect the dimmer control module but more information is useful. I assume you have a controller for stage lights as well as wall panels. Do circuits being brought up behave the same as well as being brought up at the rack? Does the signal light on the dimmer module follow the control level or only come on when going from 99 to FL?

Beyond the basics wewait for someone more knowledgeable than me

Note: If the problem follows the dimmer module, it's a bad dimmer module. If the problem stays with the slot, it's a problem with the fixture(light), wiring(dimmer rack to light), or control circuitry in the rack.

Other settings to look at are threshold, proportion, and curve, in addition to trim. I don't remember exactly what else is available on a unison dimmer rack.

If you've tried all those things, either contact the dealer(hopefully you had a dealer/ETC service tech do the recent work), or call ETC tech support. They have the best tech support in the industry(my opinion/experience) at (800)688-4116.

It looks like it is an ETC Unison CMEd processor. It could very well be an issue with the arch config & processor.
There are menus that you can navigate to manually set dimmer levels, etc & to check the arch config. You get there with some hidden buttons. You should get your hands on a manual.

Or you can just call ETC...if the wait time isn't too long, then they will be able to walk you through quickly.

https://support.etcconnect.com/ETC/FAQ/ETC_UI_Emulation_List

You can see where the hidden buttons are here

Bruce

Mac Hosehead said:

Do you know what was done to it? Your symptoms sound bad enough that I would suspect the dimmer control module but more information is useful. I assume you have a controller for stage lights as well as wall panels. Do circuits being brought up behave the same as well as being brought up at the rack? Does the signal light on the dimmer module follow the control level or only come on when going from 99 to FL?

Click to expand...

okay i’m going to try to answer these as best i can!

it was a reboot and an examination along with setting some of our settings as masters on the panels

if by controller you mean a lighting board, then yes. we do.

the lights that are coming on are totally fine. no flickering or anything. and they are coming through the same rack as those that i’ve changed to FL and those that flicker

it will come on when i do a dimmer test and then the signal will change to green as well when i change it to FL from 99

jtweigandt said:

Beyond the basics wewait for someone more knowledgeable than me

Click to expand...

haha thank you

brucek said:

It looks like it is an ETC Unison CMEd processor. It could very well be an issue with the arch config & processor.
There are menus that you can navigate to manually set dimmer levels, etc & to check the arch config. You get there with some hidden buttons. You should get your hands on a manual.

Or you can just call ETC...if the wait time isn't too long, then they will be able to walk you through quickly.

https://support.etcconnect.com/ETC/FAQ/ETC_UI_Emulation_List

You can see where the hidden buttons are here

Bruce

Click to expand...

awesome, thank you!

NJLX said:

Note: If the problem follows the dimmer module, it's a bad dimmer module. If the problem stays with the slot, it's a problem with the fixture(light), wiring(dimmer rack to light), or control circuitry in the rack.

Other settings to look at are threshold, proportion, and curve, in addition to trim. I don't remember exactly what else is available on a unison dimmer rack.

If you've tried all those things, either contact the dealer(hopefully you had a dealer/ETC service tech do the recent work), or call ETC tech support. They have the best tech support in the industry(my opinion/experience) at (800)688-4116.

Click to expand...

thank you!!!

pcardwelll said:

thank you!!!

Click to expand...

My inclination is to call back whomever touched it last. It worked until the service visit, right?

You have two different dimmer racks. You have a Sensor SR48 and a Unison dimmer rack. There is probably one universe of DMX that is an input into the Unison processor that then combines that input with output from the Unison system as control to the dimmers in the Unison rack and as a DMX signal to the SR48 rack.
It sounds like the levels you were changing were on the SR48 rack from the CEM or CEM+.
It will say that it sounds like there is a threshold set, so that the dimmer is only turning on at full. The profile on the dimmer may also be set to "Switched" with the threshold at full.
Are you using dimmers to power any type of automated fixtures, LEDs, or devices? Did your service provider set some things up to be powered through dimmers. BTW, this is NOT advisable. You should use relay modules (or new ThruPower modules with a CEM3 system) to power any devices with internal electronics.
I think you need a higher level of assistance than what can be provided on an online forum.
Good luck,
John