Design Basic Beginner Question

H Greene

Member
Hello!

I have a basic question I am trying to not overthink and communicate the answer effectively.

Our group recently decided to try using real lights for performances instead of just house lights. From various donations, we have 4 Altman PAR38s with Edison plugs and an old Obsession 600 console. What is the best way to integrate the fixtures with the board? My instinct is that we will need to get a dimmer pack to connect the PARs to the board via DMX. Is this correct?
 
Shop around before buying, but places like Full Compass, B&H Photo, Guitar Center, and others that also serve the DJ industry might have what you're looking for. Be sure to check the number of pins used for DMX control. Some of the smaller packs are 3-pin connectors where I believe the Obsession series were all 5-pin. I know that Leviton, Leprecon, American DJ (ADJ), and Chauvet are the more well-known companies, but that isn't to say a different solution won't work just as well.
 
Thanks for the info! I'll make sure to follow back with updates.
@H Greene When shopping for small dimmer packs, often referred to as "shoe box dimmers", costs and build quality are all over the map. Some packs are powered by a single 15 amp rated input cord and regardless of the ratings of their individual dimmers can only simultaneously power and dim a total of 15 amps at any given instant. More costly dimmer packs may have two fuse or breaker protected power input cords with one cord normally powering the internal DMX control electronics and half of the four or six dimmers while the second input plug powers the second two or three of the four or six dimmers. As with most items, cost often relates to build quality / durability / life expectancy / desirability. Buy once / cry once normally applies.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Hey all!

So I brought forth several options to the group I am working for, and they went with purchasing the CHAUVET DJ DMX-4LED 4-Channel Dimmer Pack, since they may want the ability to use LEDs in the future.

Thanks again for all of the super helpful info!
 
Hey all!

So I brought forth several options to the group I am working for, and they went with purchasing the CHAUVET DJ DMX-4LED 4-Channel Dimmer Pack, since they may want the ability to use LEDs in the future.

Thanks again for all of the super helpful info!
Calling @Ford
 
LEDs won't go thru your dimmer pack at all. They (generally) require power connections of their own and have their own dimmers and DMX connections - which you connect to your DMX daisy-chain. I didn't see mentioned yet - you'll probably need, as some point, a 5-pin to 3-pin DMX adapter. Most low cost light fixtures have 3-pin connectors only. There's no problem going from 5-pin to 3-pin and back.

While it may not be the best idea, that pack can act as a relay which would give a way to turn the fixtures on/off from a console, but you're right in that you couldn't dim them with that. More DMX cable will be needed, and can daisy from the pack to the first fixture. I'm also not sure how that pack works in relay vs. dimming mode, or what the waveform looks like when it's in relay mode.
 
While it may not be the best idea, that pack can act as a relay which would give a way to turn the fixtures on/off from a console, but you're right in that you couldn't dim them with that. More DMX cable will be needed, and can daisy from the pack to the first fixture. I'm also not sure how that pack works in relay vs. dimming mode, or what the waveform looks like when it's in relay mode.

Maybe it’s me but I don’t trust that the Chauvet LED4 pack uses actual mechanical relays, as do an ETC R20 relay module, or the ThruPower module. There’s no real information on how they become relays but I’d guess based on the pack size, that it just the dimmer in “non-dim” mode. Not something I’d specify.

Maybe somebody from Chauvet can clarify.
 
If LED fixture (not lamp) shouldn't need relay or dimmers. Just power and data to fixture with feed thru. Adaptors as appropriate.

Now the Altman PAR 38 fixture is neither a LED fixture or DMX. While you can put a LED lamp into it, it won't likely be able to be controlled by any dimmer due to minimum wattage issues. Maximum wattage of this fixture in lamps available (assuming they still are) is 250w. 120w/90w are more normal and useful in halogen. Yes in the case of controlling these incandescent/halogen lamps, you will need a DMX controlled dimmer. Six pack dimmers are the norm but I think some three or four dimmer output dimmers are also out there and adaptors will have to be considerded dependant on gear bought.
 
I think some people are lamping low end fixtures like clip lights with LED lamps and that’s what Chauvet means ... they can dim an LED floodlight most of the way. I’ve done this occasionally in a pop up house concert environment where there’s zero real infrastructure and no desire to have anything permanent.
 
Updates:

So got everything ordered and hooked up, but now the problem seems to be that the Obsession 600 is not connecting to the monitor or to the dimmer box. :(

The good news: Everything has power.

So I plugged in a monitor via VGA to the back of the O600, but when everything is powered on, the monitor still reads "No VGA connection." It seems like the monitor recognizes when its trying to connect to VGA though - when I plug and unplug the cable from the O600, the monitor recognizes that it is trying to connect via VGA, but then nothing happens.
Also, when I plug in the Chauvet dimmer box to the O600 with the power on, I'm not sure if the DMX signal is being transmitted. I think the box has an indicator light showing if the DMX signal is being transmitted, but that light does not turn on.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?
 
Updates:

So got everything ordered and hooked up, but now the problem seems to be that the Obsession 600 is not connecting to the monitor or to the dimmer box. :(

The good news: Everything has power.

So I plugged in a monitor via VGA to the back of the O600, but when everything is powered on, the monitor still reads "No VGA connection." It seems like the monitor recognizes when its trying to connect to VGA though - when I plug and unplug the cable from the O600, the monitor recognizes that it is trying to connect via VGA, but then nothing happens.
Also, when I plug in the Chauvet dimmer box to the O600 with the power on, I'm not sure if the DMX signal is being transmitted. I think the box has an indicator light showing if the DMX signal is being transmitted, but that light does not turn on.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

You’re kind of stuck without a display of any kind to find out what the OB is doing. Try a different console to try to get the Ovation pack working, then try to get the OB working. If you can get the Ovation back functional you rule out a problem with the DMX at the pack. Then the problem migrates to the OB.

As note that ETC Tech services supports ALL their older gear, so calling them might yield some trouble shooting solutions.
 
Hello!

I have a basic question I am trying to not overthink and communicate the answer effectively.

Our group recently decided to try using real lights for performances instead of just house lights. From various donations, we have 4 Altman PAR38s with Edison plugs and an old Obsession 600 console. What is the best way to integrate the fixtures with the board? My instinct is that we will need to get a dimmer pack to connect the PARs to the board via DMX. Is this correct?
@H Greene I remember the ETC Obsession; you do realize how old the original Obsessions are?? The Obsession was ETC's competition to Strand's Palettes and Light Palettes at the time. The Who's rock opera "Tommy" ran on an Obsession in New York, Offenbach / Frankfurt, Germany and London, England. Once fully programmed, cued and finessed they stripped the Obsession back to two monitors for the operator to run the performances. For cueing sessions and finessing cues through rehearsals and previews David Grill, 'Tommy's' Associate Lighting Designer had the Obsession tricked-out with seven monitors, one showing his cue stack and six more displaying his six hundred channels, one hundred channels per monitor. The Obsession controlled the dimmers, scrollers and the neon, a separate Vari-Lite console controlled all of the VL's. I don't recall the year Des McAnuff conceived 'Tommy' in LaJolla or when it moved to Broadway but I was with it in Offenbach in 1995 when the bomber blew up a Federal building in the U.S. and I was with 'Tommy' again in London, England a year later in 1996. Original Obsessions are getting a bit long in the tooth by now. Be kind to the old girl. I recall the Obsession processor and several modules on a table in the designated dimmer room off stage right in Frankfurt on opening night with the control surface remoted to the rear of the auditorium. While we were cueing with all of the extra monitors connected I had to roll in about twenty minutes early daily while the system booted up. I recall expressing concern to Dave Grill while we stared at the blank screens but in approximately 15 minutes the boot up would complete and the displays would come to life. Always worked; never let the show down; getting seriously old by now. Please be kind.
EDIT: #1; inserted an omitted word.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back