ADDING DIMMERS

[lights11964]

we have a sort of small theater and we have only 94 dimmers. is there any way we can add more dimmers without having to buy another rack. ive seen some thing where you clamp it onto the electric. what do you guys recomend. thankyou

 

[ship]

my recommendation is not to clamp on any dimmers. Does not sound very safe now does it? Add more dimmers without paying for them, an age old debate.

How about re-patching during intermission or during the show? Can you un-plug the cord for a light used during one act, and plug the power into light used for another act? That by way of those plugs, to threeway switches to soft patching adds a lot to the flexibility.

 

[Nephilim]

"Only" 94 dimmers... it's all about perspective Ship, I think he's talking about pipe-mountable dimming bars - these are generally okay.

There's the box style, like this Dove: http://www.alss1.com/lightingcontrol.html

Or there's ones I've seen that are long bar-type.

But, try to save money; look at ways of increasing circuits but not dimmers - it's cheaper.

 

[ship]

Ah' sorry, thanks for the translate. Had no idea. Sure, "shoe box" dimmer packs are great and cost effective solutions. I was thinking aligator clips, buss bars and things not very safe.

 

[dj_illusions]

nice powerpoints.... so strange :|

 

[Nephilim]

I hate 'em, mate. The Australian GPO design is much better - ungrounded plugs can't fall out like they do here. The only thing 'Edison' style has going for it is socket density - power strips and such can be much smaller because the design is a lot smaller than the circular Australian design.

 

[dj_illusions]

yeah i'd ahve to agree that our gpo's are better lol...

However one thing that really gives me the irriates lately, is how alot more companies are making power leads for home appliances, particuarly computer gear and putting that big power pack actually on the plug instead of halfway up the lead, because of this you have to leave a hole either side on a power board cuz its impossible to get other things next 2 it... specially more computer junk lol

 

[Mayhem]

yeah i'd ahve to agree that our gpo's are better lol...

However one thing that really gives me the irriates lately, is how alot more companies are making power leads for home appliances, particuarly computer gear and putting that big power pack actually on the plug instead of halfway up the lead, because of this you have to leave a hole either side on a power board cuz its impossible to get other things next 2 it... specially more computer junk lol

A consequence of making things smaller and more efficient by placing the power supply external to the unit (also reduces noise).

One way around this is to use stacker (or piggy-back) plugs on your standard power leads.

Not only does this allow you to 'stack' leads, the added hight will allow you to plug a power pack on top of a stacker plug, giving you the clearance to be able to use the adjacent outlet.

Obviously you need to ensure that you don't overload the circuit but you would have to be aware of this anyway.