Parking Dimmers on a Strand 520i

[VeeDubTDI]

Hello folks,

I'm using a Strand 520i at the concert hall where I work, and we have 16 ColorBlaze LED strip lights that we use for color washes and whatnot. Right now we are powering the LEDs with our theatrical dimmers. The dimmers are set to be non-dims that turn on when the channel level reaches 50%. All of the power is controlled from one of the submasters. This works, but it makes it a pain in the butt to record cues.

I was thinking about setting the dimmers to 100% at the CD80sv racks instead of the dimmers being controlled from the board.

What I would rather do is park the dimmers at the board, so that the LED power comes on anytime the board is turned on. As far as I can tell, the 520i doesn't have a park dimmer feature. Will setting the non-dim level at 0% have the same effect as parking a dimmer at full? I would try it and see what happens, but we're getting ready to start a rehearsal and I don't have time to play around with the soft patch right now.

Thanks!

 

[Footer]

dimmer # @ 100 works just fine, just don't hit dimmer dimmer

 

[VeeDubTDI]

That's all well and good until you start recording cues and have to capture/release all of the dimmers for whatever reason.

edit: ooh, in the soft patch... I'll have to try that. Thanks.

 

[Footer]

Dimmers never record into cues, and you should never be capturing dimmers while programming anyway. There is no legit park on strands (at least the park like on expression).

 

[pjc]

Throw them on a dimmer with a non-dim profile (dim # @ 100 *), then put them on a 'exclulsive' submaster. Keep the sub at full, it won't be recorded into cues when made 'exclusive'.

PJC

ps. no need to park anything.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

This is what I'm currently doing: (Dimmer # @non 50 @non) and then adding all of the LED power channels to Sub 24. Programming effects and cues becomes more complicated with the LED power on a submaster, as you always have to look to see if the levels are up in each FX step and cue part. If you miss one step, it messes up the whole FX sequence. I just read the section in the operator's manual about submaster functions, and I will make the LED powers an Exclusive submaster after this show and give that a try. It sounds like this is exactly what I need to do, in combination with the non-dims.

I tried doing Dimmer # @ ON in the patch screen, but that pops up the annoying red "dimmers unpatched" message on the screens. Not a big deal, but I'll try the Exclusive Sub thing first and see how that goes.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it. I'm still learning all of the little quirks with this Strand board, since I have been using ETC boards for years. I'm finally getting there though... looks like I still have many more pages to read in the operator's manual.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Well, the exclusive sub function works very well. Thanks for that suggestion!

 

[pjc]

Cool,

That is what I do when I need to say for example have running lights backstage for wardrobe, but have them completly independent from the rest of my programming-rig. However something tells me that it becomes a little problematic when programming cues and using exclusive, because you can't take control of them any other way - ie. by calling up the channel. It is a little tricky.

P.

 

[highschooltech]

Dimmers will not record into cues, or at least from what i have been told by several other people who work in the same theater. To record them they have to be patched in