Major problem

TechDirector

Active Member
Does anybody here have the lighting circuit breakers and all of the electrical stuff really close to the stage? And if so, does it make a lot of noise when all of the lights are turned on at full? Well my problem is basically that when I turn on the main switch to turn on the lights, it is quiet for about 15 seconds, but then when electricity starts going trough everything, it starts getting really loud. It's about as loud as standing 20 feet in front of a honking car. And this is probably also the reason why our sound is so crummy (read my previous entries on my sound troubles lol). I think we need to move the big electrical boxes out and somewhere else. We have 3 of them and are probably about the size of a small closet. And I'm sure they're really old. (prolly as old as the school ((30 years)) ). We were thinking of buying like 4 or 5 double mattresses and lean them up against the cage that they're in. But I figured that's a fire hazard and it wouldn't be good if a school administrator found out. I figured out that if we were going to move them, it would probably cost thousands of dollars to hire electircians to move them into a room and buy more wires to reach them. So has anybody had this problem and/or have a solution to this mess? Thank you.
 
TechDirector said:
Does anybody here have the lighting circuit breakers and all of the electrical stuff really close to the stage? And if so, does it make a lot of noise when all of the lights are turned on at full? Well my problem is basically that when I turn on the main switch to turn on the lights, it is quiet for about 15 seconds, but then when electricity starts going trough everything, it starts getting really loud. It's about as loud as standing 20 feet in front of a honking car. And this is probably also the reason why our sound is so crummy (read my previous entries on my sound troubles lol). I think we need to move the big electrical boxes out and somewhere else. We have 3 of them and are probably about the size of a small closet. And I'm sure they're really old. (prolly as old as the school ((30 years)) ). We were thinking of buying like 4 or 5 double mattresses and lean them up against the cage that they're in. But I figured that's a fire hazard and it wouldn't be good if a school administrator found out. I figured out that if we were going to move them, it would probably cost thousands of dollars to hire electircians to move them into a room and buy more wires to reach them. So has anybody had this problem and/or have a solution to this mess? Thank you.

My dimmers and transformers are close to the stage, infact there is only a wall separating them from the stage, but they only make a low hum that you can't even hear outside the room. It just gets really hot in the room thats all.
 
You should defiantly get them put in their own room for several reasons, first off being noise, secondly dust. What causes the noise could be a few things, first off probably because they are close to the stage dust gets in the fans making them louder. I would recommend pulling out each dimmer and cleaning it at least yearly. That way they stay dust free and operate much better. The second reasons is that the fans inside your dimmer racks could have blown a bearing causing the fans to wobble and become louder. Another problem could be temperature settings, if you have fans that are activated with heat, they could become activated to early due to a bad sensor or dust on or near a sensor. The best thing to do is to keep your dimmers and dimmer racks clean and dry.

If at all possible build a room around them with a ventilation system. ETC sells lighting ventilation systems that can take care of your problem.
 
TechDirector said:
It's a wall that surrounds all of them? Because we requested that a wall gets built around it but they say it's a fire hazard and they won't get enough air. How old is your school? Because it might have been a recent fire code update or somthing.

They are actually in a room, it goes like this, door on stage to hallway to dimmer/transformer room, there is really no ventilation, the fire marshal just came yesterday and had no problems with that room. Our theatre was built in 1999
 
delnor said:
You should defiantly get them put in their own room for several reasons, first off being noise, secondly dust. What causes the noise could be a few things, first off probably because they are close to the stage dust gets in the fans making them louder. I would recommend pulling out each dimmer and cleaning it at least yearly. That way they stay dust free and operate much better. The second reasons is that the fans inside your dimmer racks could have blown a bearing causing the fans to wobble and become louder. Another problem could be temperature settings, if you have fans that are activated with heat, they could become activated to early due to a bad sensor or dust on or near a sensor. The best thing to do is to keep your dimmers and dimmer racks clean and dry.

If at all possible build a room around them with a ventilation system. ETC sells lighting ventilation systems that can take care of your problem.

You know what I never thought of that. Tomorrow I'll have to talk to the director about that because there is some (not a lot) of dust back there. You can just open them up and clean them? I'll have to do that next time Im in there.

tm100 said: They are actually in a room, it goes like this, door on stage to hallway to dimmer/transformer room, there is really no ventilation, the fire marshal just came yesterday and had no problems with that room. Our theatre was built in 1999

Wow so yours is pretty new. touche'
 
It depends on the type of dimmer rack you have, but from the way you made it seem they were in actual racks and not panels. Some of the old panel style inline dimmers are not removable but can probubly be cleaned a similar way. I did forget to mention, DO NOT blow into them to get the dust out, use somthing like cans or compressed air or even better an air compresser, you don't want to get any moisture on them. The air in your mouth is enough moisture to cause possible damage.
 
delnor said:
It depends on the type of dimmer rack you have, but from the way you made it seem they were in actual racks and not panels. Some of the old panel style inline dimmers are not removable but can probubly be cleaned a similar way. I did forget to mention, DO NOT blow into them to get the dust out, use somthing like cans or compressed air or even better an air compresser, you don't want to get any moisture on them. The air in your mouth is enough moisture to cause possible damage.

I know ours have panels on the front and we can remove the dust cover thing and clean that (it's like an Iron Screen in front of the fans)
 
Our dimmers we can just take out. But you were right again delnor. It is definatly the fan or filter. It is very dusty down there (I can't get the whole thing open). The director tells me that they have never cleaned that area ever. So that means 30 something years. lol. Sounds bad but they actually thought it was supposed to sound like that!!! But anyway I will use an air compressor becuase blowing it probably will put moisture in it, and it would be just too much work. Thanks again.
 

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