Dimmer Upgrade Question - Specific

[soundlight]

OK..very specific question here. What is the best 8 channel, 2.4kW/channel, 2U rackmount dimmer with knockout panels for under $1150? My current pick is the NSI DS824 Knockout Style dimmer, which I can purchase for $1107.21.

Here's the story: we have a $5000 grant specifically to replace 4 rackmount dimmers, which are Lightronics dimmers, and are known by the local repair guys for going through power supplies on a yearly basis. We have tested the power, and it's fairly clean, it's just that the dimmers are 8 years old, and are having some trouble with reliability. This money is specifically set aside for dimmer replacement, and I was just wondering if anyone has any other recommendations other than the NSI rack packs.

Another reason that we selected the NSI rack packs is because the dimmer modules and control module are individually replaceable. And NSI seems to have a better reliability record than Lightronics. We also require the DMX input.

Again, I'm just sounding this excellent community for any options that I might have missed.

 

[SHARYNF]

I have use the older versions the 8600/9600/8800/9800 for a long time with no problems. I would make sure you have adequate cooling in this rack, as that could be what is causing the problems. Power supply problems are rarely due to dirty power but instead poor cooling

Sharyn

 

[soundlight]

There is so much open space around the dimmers and plenty of circulation. They are in a remade rack that used to hold "car-shifter dimmers". The old dimmers were ripped out, rack rails were installed in the patch system, and then they popped some racks in. But I will suggest that we lengthen the rack rails and pop in some cheap fan panels. That'd probably be a good idea.

 

[soundlight]

The people at our stage lighting repair place also say the this model of lightronics dimmers is known for blowing their power supplies after six or seven years.

 

[Van]

The people at our stage lighting repair place also say the this model of lightronics dimmers is known for blowing their power supplies after six or seven years.

That is a really lousy MTBF. I'll go with sharyn on this, but hesitantly only because I've had issues with NSI in the past. It earned the nick-name No Signal Integrity, for a reason. But they may have improved, with the specificity of your inquiry, I'm not sure I could come up with and alternative.

 

[soundlight]

They'll be better than the Lightronics rack packs. I've posted about my issues with the Lightronics dimmers before. The same four channels that we had repaired just about a year ago are ghosting again, and the same power supply is blown that was blown a year ago. One of the dimmers also arced to the control module last year. I really don't care for Lightronics now. Especially after dealing with them as an intro system in two installations.