Control/Dimming Inherited a ghost!

[misterm]

Last year I was given the drama teacher position at a school in south GA. our lighting in the auditorium is in major disrepair, especially in the control console and dimmers. the board is fried so we tried number of fixes. here's the final skinny: the board is an old Electro Controls Celebrity. the dimmers are Electro Controls as well, as far as I can tell the old QD racks (they're not labeled). Which means, the protocol they run is ECMux using a 4-pin XLR cable. a protocol converter will run us 1100 dollars, so I'm looking for a much cheaper option. any ideas or links to fix a console or to rewire the dimmers to run either AMX 192 (which is also 4 pin) or DMX 512 protocols? thanks in advance! - mister m

 

[avkid]

What do you mean by fried?

 

[misterm]

we're not sure if it works or not as the XLR cable to the dimmers is missing, but we have a replacement ordered. the most obvious problem right now is there is no power button and when plugged in, we don't have any idea if it works. so maybe fried isnt the operative word here. repairing a console is one of the few things i dont have a lot of expertise in so any link or advice would help.

 

[derekleffew]

Suggestions
To fix your EC Celebrity: Litetrol Service, Steve Short, 1-800-LITE-TROL
To update your EC QD dimmers: Johnson Systems, 1-(403)-287-8003

Warning
Neither will be inexpensive, nor less than $1100. I'd suggest investing in upgrading the dimmers to DMX-512 (AMX-192 is only marginally better than ECmux, from a popularity standpoint), and purchasing a new (or used) modern console.

Note
The company known as Electro Controls, Inc., has no relation to the stage lighting manufacturer, which was purchased and disbanded by Strand Lighting approximately 1988.

 

[waynehoskins]

Yeah, EC Mux is about as well documented these days as T Mux .. which means that the extent of the Internet's knowledge is a single short paragraph acknowledging its existence, and maybe giving its pinning, duplicated in two places on the web.

The rack doesn't take 0-10 analog as well, does it? (I'm betting not .. the high school has an old Playmate rack and a Celebrity in their studio space, and I don't remember anything but the EC Mux)

You're on the right track with the cable. If the board still works fine and was just missing the mux cable, then you're up and running for the cost of the cable, which should be dirt cheap. Failing that, do a quick inspection of the board. Look at the primary fuse, make sure that's still there and still good.

If the rack is still good, and replacing both board and rack is out of the question for now, I'd get a proto converter, the $1100 kind from Pathway or Dr DMX that will convert anything to anything else. Then at least you can rent or borrow a DMX board for the time being .. and when (if) you can afford to upgrade, it's still a valuable tool to have in the GMOT Box.

 

[gafftaper]

I hate to say it but you are in a situation where repair may simply not be possible or would be far too expensive. I hear most people say standard life of a lighting system is about 15 years... your equipment must be close to double that. If you can find someone who knows how to fix it the parts may be impossible to find. If you can find the parts, any other part my blow at any time. At that age I would also start considering the entire system a potential safety hazard as well. In short you might pay a hundreds to fix your system or $1100 for the converter but there is no guarantee it won't catch fire or stop working the very next day for some other reason. You are talking about putting an $1100 band aid on a levy about to breach. I would not waste a lot of energy on fixing it. I would focus your energy on finding grants or getting an upgrade included into the next levy.

Having taught in a poor urban High school I know how difficult it can be to get money from within your district to repair things. But I was VERY successful getting grants to buy new equipment on my own.

Also is you district aware of the problem? Have normal work orders been placed to get the district electrician to come repair the system? He won't have a clue how to to that, but it starts to build a record and let's people know that the system needs attention. If you just battle this alone no one downtown knows that you need a chunk of change to have the lighting system replaced.

 

[David Ashton]

How many channels do you have?
Assuming that you can get competent assistance, the solution is to bypass the current mux and fit a dmx/analog converter, around $300 [72 ch] and feed the signal directly to the dimmers, all these dimmers are analog, just fed from the mux, then buy a desk of your choice like a scenesetter 48 or a pc based desk, should cost around $500, I have hundreds of channels of 30-40 year old Strand and Jands dimmers running in schools around the state and as all the parts are discrete components they are easy to fix and reliable, unlike the complex multilayer microprocessor modern boards which tend to be replace, not repair.
This is , of course, the cheapskate solution, the political solution is to raise lots of money and buy new, but I find that if you can get the system up and running and show the management what can be achieved then you may be in a stronger position to get funding.

 

[misterm]

UPDATE!
We believe we have the board fixed. We plugged it in the other day after checking it over and replacing a few things and lo and behold the lights came on! But we couldn't control their levels. They were just on. So now, we're checking the wiring, etc... but we're not sure where the problem is or how to fix it since we don't even have a manual for the board (a Celebrity). Any ideas or hints?

 

[Footer]

Give Welcome To CBR Technologies a call. They are the Johnson systems distributor for the Southeast. They should be able to get you squared away with a DMX upgrade if you still want to go that route. I do fine it odd they the lights will turn on but won't dim.

 

[RonaldBeal]

Some help, Since that very console was the first console I ever used..
When I graduated in 1992, that desk was a few years old, but already in disrepair. It was the school locations second year as a middle school, and there were NO access restrictions on the booth, so teachers, and middle school students would trash the desk and booth.

Here is some of what I remember:

There never was a manual

The bump buttons on the submaster panel (bottom left) can lock in place... if one of these is stuck "down" it might be keeping a look up.

The softpatch uses reverse syntax?! I can't remember the proper term... but to patch goes something like this:
"1 dim 12 chan 100 at enter" (and the appropriate LED displays fill in)

The softpatch can be locked... I believe "777 enter" unlocks and "888 enter" locks.. (or maybe "999"... it's been a while) It could be "chan 888 enter" or something similar, but 777, 888 , or 999 are definitely the lock/unlock codes.

The right side of the desk is the chaser effect... it chases the submasters in order (1-12)

There used to be problems with the fuse holder in the back (middle school kids stealing it, and someone deciding to jury rig a fix to make it work.

When I came back in 1993 to visit, Mrs Henry asked me to lock the desk, and put all 48 dimmers on channel 1, submaster 1... It wouldn't suprise me if this is still in memory... (thats a scary thought!)

Hope this helps, and good luck
Ronald Beal

 

[FatherMurphy]

I just recently visited a school with a similar situation, a Celebrity console and an EC touring pack hardwired in. They were also having trouble with stuck bump buttons, and hadn't realized it, plus the absent manual.

The ECMUX dimmers I was working with there went to black when they lost signal, so one quick test to try is unplugging the data cable - if the lights stay on, you have a dimmer problem, if the lights go off, you have a console problem.

Some dimmers have test buttons or switches on the front panel, an 'inquiring mind' may have poked at them, and set the dimmers to full that way.

You might also ask the local lighting places if they have a Pathway Ultimate Converter box (or similar unit) in rental stock, and try a modern console with that. If the dimmers are behaving, but the console is done for, renting the converter and a console might be a useful stop-gap measure while fundraising progresses.