My primary
venue is an amphitheater located about a quarter mile from the ocean. I too have the salt air to contend with, but Southern California is nowhere near as humid as your part of the country, so that's not as much of a concern for me. Our lighting
system consists of a pair of
ETC Sensor 96 racks plus an
ETC Unison 24 rack installed in our
stage building. I also have an
ETC Sensor 12
portable rack that I put at the back of the amphitheater when I need additional circuits there and a pair of
Leviton portable 20 amp dimmers for those times when I need a
circuit in an odd location.
While the bulk of my systems are permanently installed inside the
stage building, my
portable systems, more often than not, are installed outdoors. I do what I can to protect this equipment from the elements. The
portable ETC rack is always installed under our spot tower, which basically puts a the equivalent of a roof over it, protecting it from direct exposure to moisture. For my little
Leviton dimmers, I've built hats for them, just a piece of painted plywood that I
C-clamp to the pipe directly above the
dimmer, again providing a degree of protection from direct exposure to the elements. Fortunately we almost never have wind driven rain here during our show's season.
Regular maintenance of the equipment is every
bit as important as protecting it from the elements. Ideally I do a full tear down, cleaning and inspection of every piece of equipment in my inventory once a year. So far this has been enough to keep my
portable dimming equipment in peak condition. Based on your description, it sounds like your environmental issues are a
bit more severe than mine. Basically, this means you need to do more frequent maintenance, at least of your dimming systems.
If there are any outdoor rated
dimmer racks available, I've certainly never heard of them. Granted, this may be because I've never looked.
