Dimming a spot
OK here’s my two cents…
I think the
Altman Comets are similar to my Dyna spots in lacking a
ballast. I use my two with the dimming
system all the time. (my
throw distance is only 40ft) Even though you don’t need to dim them you should rewire them with a double pole single
throw switch. Then run a separate
power feed for just the fan on one pole of the
switch and run the lamp through the other. Remember to not use the
ground on the fan, just the one on the lamp, (which gets plugged into the
dimmer). This way you don’t take a chance on a
ground loop. Now you can always dim the lamp and the fan will still run on full 120v and all the operator does is
throw one
switch. When I
call “
standby spot” my operators turn on the
switch and then I
call “go spot” and hit the
cue button, lamps come on and all is right with the world. Then after the
cue for "spot out", they can leave the fan on for a few minutes. Trust me, its nice to be able to dim out the spots at times. (I’ve always hated the
effect of just shutting them off) Most dimmers produce some sort of “dirty
voltage, even at 100%, and that will kill the fan eventually. (and those ballasts too) (I know, its minimal and you need an good oscilloscope to see it)
Of course, you could just practice to get the timing down…but I like to make things complicated…