Dimmer Help

[ThemeParkPenguin]

Hi!

I am in the need of a 4 channel dimmer pack that is roughly around $60. Does anyone know where I could purchase such a product?

Also, is there any type of dimmer that can alter the polarity of electricity sent to a particular channel and can be daisy chained with other fixtures.

I would really appreciate your guy's help thanks!

 

[techno89]

136: DMX Dimmer & Relay Packs

There, but remember that you are purchasing it from cheaplights.com. its $85

 

[David Ashton]

Also, is there any type of dimmer that can alter the polarity of electricity sent to a particular channel

No

 

[cpf]

There are no polarity reversing dimmers, but there might be relay packs that you could wire up to do this. The bugger question is "why."

 

[icewolf08]

Also, is there any type of dimmer that can alter the polarity of electricity sent to a particular channel and can be daisy chained with other fixtures.

I would really appreciate your guy's help thanks!

Fist of all, why would you ever need the dimmer to reverse the polarity? If you are hooking up a regular incandescent fixture to the dimmer, it doesn't care about polarity, the lamp will light either way. If you have a device that is wired wrong, it would be advisable to fix the wiring.

The only other reason that comes to mind right now where one might want to do this would be if one thought they were going to attach a motor to a dimmer and try to reverse it. Needless to say, this is bad idea and shouldn't be done, nor will the dimmer support it.

 

[derekleffew]

I am in the need of a 4 channel dimmer pack that is roughly around $60. Does anyone know where I could purchase such a product? ...

$60? No. $80? Yes. See 4 channel DMX Dimmer Pack - Dimmer Packs - Dimmer Pack & Controllers - Stage Lighting .

 

[dramatech]

$60? No. $80? Yes. See 4 channel DMX Dimmer Pack - Dimmer Packs - Dimmer Pack & Controllers - Stage Lighting .

On ebay, if you search 4 dimmer pack, A unit comes up for a "buy it now" price of $56 and change. It appears from the picture that it is the typical Chinese pack with dip switch addressing. I know nothing about it's quality or labeling. It comes and goes on ebay from time to time and it is new not used.

Tom Johnson

 

[JD]

Could be one of those "Direct importers," as in no support, and shipped direct from China. A real hit-or-miss. Probably not much different than the Optima units, with 15 amp triacs, no UL listing, and bare minimum documentation. If you have $60 to waste, you could do it and with luck have no problems. If you do have a problem, you probably will have to ship it back to China and hope they send you a new one or your money. For $20 more, at least you get someone to yell at that's on this side of the ocean, and will probably make good on a return.

 

[jglodeklights]

These "entertainment" style packs are great for just that... "entertainment." Even most architectural packs end up with better, meaning smoother and more consistent (meaning not breaking) dimming.

Six Channel (2- 20a) Portable Dimmer Pack - Irradiant Inc.

This pack provides a smoothness better than an ETC SmartPack, is easy to use, can individually address each channel of output via its LCD, and is very reliable.

A decent Dimmer Pack is well worth the investment.

 

[derekleffew]

... This pack provides a smoothness better than an ETC SmartPack, ...

Can you expound on this? How many dimmer curve s does the Irradiant unit offer?

 

[jglodeklights]

Can you expound on this? How many dimmer curve s does the Irradiant unit offer?

One. Compared to SmartPacks, especially out of box with no additional profiling done at the board, to my personal feel (so IMHO) the dimming out of the Irradiant seems smoother.

As I said, to me it seems. Probably should have put this disclaimer in my first post in this thread....