We are looking to expand our
system, and to do that we need more dimmers, in more locations. I was wondering what types/brands of
dimmer packs that can be mounted to battens and have 2P&G plugs are good for a large, but outdated high school
system. I was looking at several brands, including
ETC and NSI. Our school's goal is to install more pipes, add more fixtures, and DMX-daisy chain the
dimmer packs together. Please recommend a few good, relatively inexpensive models.
Leprecon ULD and ULD Wireless
DMX (yes that's a new product),
ETC SmartModule, Lex Products/Anaconda, Applied Electronics TM4 series, Stand S21, Dove Systems,
etc... are all from reputable manufacturers.
I have experience with one theater company (Chamber Theater of Boston) that visits our space frequently (like tomorrow) and uses the
Leprecon's and AFAIK has had zero failures with lot's of set-ups and take downs and I've yet to hear of a failure.
That said, some thoughts as to usage:
1) What's the typical
unit wattage and usage ?, 575w ?, 750W, 1000w,
cyc lights ?. In other words, how do you intend to load them up ?. That drives the pack choice, as a 575w "fits" on a 600w
dimmer, but not if you are going to turn it on at full and leave it on for more then 3 hrs. Then you get into loading issues. If you use 1kw PAR64's then a 1200w
dimmer might just be marginal.
2) What's your
power source ?. Can you have 3
phase/208 installed as twistlok receptacles in convenient locations ?, or are you limited to 15a
edison outlets ?. That too drives the type and numbers of packs and dimmers.
Not sure why, but a design for our new
PAC originally had a lot of these
portable dimmer packs in 2 of the 3 spaces. The consultants have now changed it to standard 2.4kw Sensor style racks and I suspect one of the reasons was the overall costs beyond the initial pack expenses, such as
DMX cabling and outlets, Nodes for the
DMX, 208/3phase receptacles in numbers and locations that made the
system flexible,
power cables for the packs, extra 2P&G cables,
etc... Lot's of gear that isn't needed with a circuits in a
raceway style, centralized dimming
system. It appears that
distributed dimming got pricey.
Steve Bailey
Brooklyn College