Michael J.
Member
Okay, so I work at an Event center/venue. I've been tasked upgrading out lighting "system". Currently, we have track lighting with an assortment of par38 and par 36 bulbs all over the place. These are all run back to wall outlets that use cheapo inline dimmers from the home despot. For obvious reasons, this is not ideal. Dimming lights can't be done without running around the room and doing it all manually. Also the cheapo dimmers are a fire hazard. No run of track lighting has more than about 5 90w par38s on it, and the inline watt meter I've been using to test is showing closer to 250-450 watts per run.
The building we are in happens to have been a theater at one point. (converted warehouse space.) But when the theater company moved out they took all of their architectural dimmers with them. They left some wiring in place but not hooked up to anything, what I assume was coming from the old dimming system. So I had an electrician come and re-attach and basically inspect this old wiring, and move some receptacles around so that I would have 6 unused 20amp circuits in the ceiling ready to power my lights. I have about 17-18 area lights that are used regularly and a couple of led fxpar 9s.
So the plan was as follows:
-An entry level light board
-some dmx software as yet to be decided
-x2 Enttech ode (to run in merging mode)
-a springtree led dmx wall station
-a springtree led dmx splitter
- then the 6 chavet dj DMX-4 mounted around the room each having its own 20amp receptacle.
I thought this was a good plan...
Upon closer inspection of the DMX-4 user guide, it explicitly states that they are not to be used in permanent installations, and my googling has lead me to this forum where I have found similar advice.
These dimmer pack would be plugged in 24hrs a day and would be under load to run area and house lighting almost 12hrs a day.
So how borked am I on this? Do they make dimmer packs that can handle this type of use?
Is chauvet dj just absolving liability? I should also mention that I've already ordered these parts (hence big dummy), so I am probably looking at returning all these dimmer packs. (doh!) Also, any general advice about this setup would be welcome. I've looked into actual architectural dimmer rack but they seem prohibitively expensive. Do I have any other options? (also worth mentioning that we are considering some moving-head lights and other effect stuff so the jump to dmx is preferable) This website seems like a great resource, and I am grateful for any and all advice.
The building we are in happens to have been a theater at one point. (converted warehouse space.) But when the theater company moved out they took all of their architectural dimmers with them. They left some wiring in place but not hooked up to anything, what I assume was coming from the old dimming system. So I had an electrician come and re-attach and basically inspect this old wiring, and move some receptacles around so that I would have 6 unused 20amp circuits in the ceiling ready to power my lights. I have about 17-18 area lights that are used regularly and a couple of led fxpar 9s.
So the plan was as follows:
-An entry level light board
-some dmx software as yet to be decided
-x2 Enttech ode (to run in merging mode)
-a springtree led dmx wall station
-a springtree led dmx splitter
- then the 6 chavet dj DMX-4 mounted around the room each having its own 20amp receptacle.
I thought this was a good plan...
Upon closer inspection of the DMX-4 user guide, it explicitly states that they are not to be used in permanent installations, and my googling has lead me to this forum where I have found similar advice.
These dimmer pack would be plugged in 24hrs a day and would be under load to run area and house lighting almost 12hrs a day.
So how borked am I on this? Do they make dimmer packs that can handle this type of use?
Is chauvet dj just absolving liability? I should also mention that I've already ordered these parts (hence big dummy), so I am probably looking at returning all these dimmer packs. (doh!) Also, any general advice about this setup would be welcome. I've looked into actual architectural dimmer rack but they seem prohibitively expensive. Do I have any other options? (also worth mentioning that we are considering some moving-head lights and other effect stuff so the jump to dmx is preferable) This website seems like a great resource, and I am grateful for any and all advice.