First thing to do is download the manuals for the dimmers and the
desk.
I would check with the person in charge as to whether the
dimmer rack was patched and if so why. Also check with them if they are happy for you to
clear it. Details on how to do this are found in the manuals. Also make sure you are confident in mucking around with the packs. I would probably get a service person to reset the packs. They could also give it a annual clean.
If the
Strand 300 is the
desk normally used with the dimmers I would tend to do the patching here instead of at the rack because it is easier.
If the packs have not been patched then check the patching on the
Strand 300.
Using the patch
button will bring up the patch menu. It will show the
desk channels as CHNLs and the actual
DMX channel number that will control a
dimmer as Output. If these aren't the same number then this is where the changes have been made.
You will need to physically determine the physical connection from the packs to the lights eg
striplight one red colour
circuit is patched to
dimmer channel 10.
If you haven't saved a show yet and can
clear the board. I would do this but remember as well as clearing the patches it will change
fade times
etc back to there defaults.
Once this is done just bring up a
channel at a time and write down what is and it's
current channel number which with the patches cleared will be it's output number.
After you have all these you can repatch however you want, it is best to use a logical
system thats easy to remember eg by colour then
striplight number or
striplight number then colour.
Also when you plan your patching think how you will use the lights. For example if one set of striplights is dedicated to the
cyc you may want to patch each of the same colour on them to one
desk channel. If they are likely to
chase then they need to be separated in some fashion. Eg pair red strip 1 & 3 together. You can use submasters to group them together for full washes.
The name of the game is to make your patching as flexible as possible without wasting channels.