Dimmerstick Service or upgrade

Hello Hivemind,

I'm a new TD at a private school in southern california.

As expected there are a myriad of projects in the regular maintenance and upkeep of a PAC but we have a looming issue that is threatening to derail our productions.

The theater was equipped with Entertainment Technology IPS DS-1206 and 2403 dimmer sticks which are present on each electric, FOH, box booms, and catwalk locations.

These dimmer sticks have been failing pretty regularly and we are now at a point where if a few more sticks fail on us it will begin to affect production.

I am putting together a large capital improvement project to modernize the lighting system in the PAC but that will take time to build and get approved and implemented.

So I'm thinking in the short term it's time to either service our sticks or get some new sticks (looking at the Strand R21-S21 distributed dimmer sticks) to buy us the time necessary to get funding approved for a phased upgrade of our system.

Entertainment Technology, the manufacturer of our old sticks, no longer exists and was absorbed by Strand who I don't believe services these sticks anymore.

Is servicing our failing sticks a real option?? Are there vendors that service this old tech?

Or should we just invest in a few new replacements?

TIA
 
My first hit on a google search for each of the ones you have was for some used ones, not sure if your allowed to buy used ones though. Not sure where your located, but there is probably someone in the area that could at least open them up and check them out. It could be something simple that doesn't need special parts. And if your not allowed to buy used, they could probably buy used ones for parts and swap some things around to get you going for a while.


 
Here is a copy of the manual if you don't have it.
What parts are not working? The control card and/or the dimmer(s) can be removed.
I don't know much about the insides of this gear.
In L.A., I recommend reaching out to Kinetic Lighting.
If they can't help, I would try reaching out to Steve Short at Lite-Trol.
Good luck!
John
 
Hey John,

This PDF is actually incredibly useful, thanks for pointing me in it's direction.

It's extremely likely the solution at this point is to replace them considering that the parts are likely not available anymore, but the PDF you linked has a good troubleshooting guide which I'll take a look at.
 
I doubt you will find anyone that can or will service these inexpensively as parts are the problem; they are not your run-of-the mill dimmers as you know.
I have several working DS-1206 and DS-2403 sticks that I would be willing to part out the dimmer and control modules and also have some extra DS-1206 control modules.
PM me with your requirements and maybe we can work something out if you want to keep yours running for a while.
 
Hello Hivemind,

I'm a new TD at a private school in southern california.

As expected there are a myriad of projects in the regular maintenance and upkeep of a PAC but we have a looming issue that is threatening to derail our productions.

The theater was equipped with Entertainment Technology IPS DS-1206 and 2403 dimmer sticks which are present on each electric, FOH, box booms, and catwalk locations.

These dimmer sticks have been failing pretty regularly and we are now at a point where if a few more sticks fail on us it will begin to affect production.

I am putting together a large capital improvement project to modernize the lighting system in the PAC but that will take time to build and get approved and implemented.

So I'm thinking in the short term it's time to either service our sticks or get some new sticks (looking at the Strand R21-S21 distributed dimmer sticks) to buy us the time necessary to get funding approved for a phased upgrade of our system.

Entertainment Technology, the manufacturer of our old sticks, no longer exists and was absorbed by Strand who I don't believe services these sticks anymore.

Is servicing our failing sticks a real option?? Are there vendors that service this old tech?

Or should we just invest in a few new replacements?

TIA
They're easy to service, they had to be since they were forever breaking down. From memory, only a #2 Phillips driver was required.
Regardless of which size you have, I ALWAYS found it to be the solid state dimmer modules, they either shorted resulting in fully on 100% or opened resulting in fully off, 0%.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
I would love to see some pictures of your system and how it’s connected. Especially if it’s hanging distributed dimming system. While I’m sure I could play catch up and Google it is always fun to see what is being talked about. Like Ron said a lot of the older equipment was pretty simple and could/can be fixed with similar newer parts. As always Steve at litetrol is the king of older systems and can help immensely with lots of things.
 
Old timers here will cringe when they see me responding on this.... I worked for Rosco/ET back in the day and built many an IPS stick and brick. I will, till the day I die argue that they were so far ahead of their time that few actually used them to their fullest potential. In the past I've always been a proponent of continuing maintenance and keeping them around, I've evolved. The scarcity or parts the lack of qualified technicians, blah, blah, blah... you really might as well replace them. ETC's smart bar is a great option. Strands S21 R21 both use the same IGBT technology pioneered by the IPS. If you are looking at a capital campaign and looking at improving the entire system them you might want to seriously look at purchasing LEDS. An upgrade from IPS, which has a power location at each strip and a DMX connection close by, is perfect for converting. you have 'Always on' power, which you can easily run through a relay such as ETC Color source Relay which will then distribute you DMX and power. It would be a significant investment.
 
What Derek said

we went distributed systems with our remodel 10 years ago using the ETC smart bars. ( about 24 smart bars and 8 smart packs). powered by 20 amp 3 phase outlets. Similar form factor to the dimmer sticks. We are generally happy. We had one unit replaced due to a manufacturing problem. We have one dimmer that blew on a dead short but have not bothered to fix. If you are considering replacement I would seriously consider them
 
They're easy to service, they had to be since they were forever breaking down. From memory, only a #2 Phillips driver was required.
Regardless of which size you have, I ALWAYS found it to be the solid state dimmer modules, they either shorted resulting in fully on 100% or opened resulting in fully off, 0%.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Hey Ron,

By Phillips driver do you mean something manufactured by phillips or a screw driver?

R
 
@rsiminoski- The attached IPS Field Service Guide may be helpful as well.
For those playing along at home, here are some photos of an IPS DS-1206.
 

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Hello Hivemind,

I'm a new TD at a private school in southern california.

As expected there are a myriad of projects in the regular maintenance and upkeep of a PAC but we have a looming issue that is threatening to derail our productions.

The theater was equipped with Entertainment Technology IPS DS-1206 and 2403 dimmer sticks which are present on each electric, FOH, box booms, and catwalk locations.

These dimmer sticks have been failing pretty regularly and we are now at a point where if a few more sticks fail on us it will begin to affect production.

I am putting together a large capital improvement project to modernize the lighting system in the PAC but that will take time to build and get approved and implemented.

So I'm thinking in the short term it's time to either service our sticks or get some new sticks (looking at the Strand R21-S21 distributed dimmer sticks) to buy us the time necessary to get funding approved for a phased upgrade of our system.

Entertainment Technology, the manufacturer of our old sticks, no longer exists and was absorbed by Strand who I don't believe services these sticks anymore.

Is servicing our failing sticks a real option?? Are there vendors that service this old tech?

Or should we just invest in a few new replacements?

TIA
A dollar spent today on dimming equipment is a dollar removed from the absolutely inevitable transition from tungsten to LED luminaires. You will need money for this transition--why not start now with a plan to move to switched power and new LED luminaires?

ST
 
There are conflicting views that tungsten ain't going away. Now, I for one don't believe that, but when you're faced with a large capital outlay to replace your tungsten inventory, it's comforting to think you might not need to.
 
There are conflicting views that tungsten ain't going away. Now, I for one don't believe that, but when you're faced with a large capital outlay to replace your tungsten inventory, it's comforting to think you might not need to.
I think the most common incandescent lamps (where the greatest daily impact will occur) are going away but specialty lamps will remain available for some indeterminate amount of time. They WILL be gone eventually.
 
As has also been said, though, at what price? You can still buy carbon rods and gas mantles, but they're neither as cheap nor as widely available as when they were the most common source of light.
 
As always one must look to the use case. No school theater has a need for incandescents! Funding the transition takes planning and commitment but the transition will happen.
 

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