Strand Century Dimmy

Scott S

Member
First I thank you for allowing me in to your group
I'm wondering if anybody can help me with some technical problems
I'm the facility manager at a school in Detroit the building is over 100 years old and we have a sizable stage with lighting and when I first started to work here they had only about 5 lights that work and now our school has been open for the past couple months I have been picking away at this lighting system
First we have a Leprecon 612 DMX with 6 LED lights and they work good with no problems and our stage is large and just 6 of these is not quite enough.
Second like I said before there was only 5 analog lights that worked off this older Strand Century system and after working on wiring, bulbs, plugs I now have 26 analog lights, We have 2 Strand Century Dimmy boxes with 6 channels each and I have been able to get 3 channels in each box working but for the life of me I can not find any type of schematic for these Strand Dimmy boxes, I do believe these are from the mid 80's, there are no serial numbers or model numbers on these boxes, I can post pictures here if needed but I'm looking for any type of help.
The only information I have found on this system I will attach
Any help would be grateful
help me OB1 your my only hope
 

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We have 2 Strand Century Dimmy boxes with 6 channels each and I have been able to get 3 channels in each box working ...
Which three dimmers are working? If the pack is being powered by 220V (HHNG) you may be missing one of the hot legs.
Also, IIRC these are triac-based dimmers, which are notoriously fragile. The triac is only about $1.50 but requires soldering skills to replace.

I do believe these are from the mid 80's, ...
The spec sheet you posted has a June 1977 date on it.

Also see https://www.controlbooth.com/thread...ontrols-century-ccr-dimmers.11291/post-165433 .
 
Help with what? You haven’t stated your problem.
 
It sounds like you're making good progress! You can give Strand a call, but I'm skeptical they'll be able to help you much with anything that old. After you've exhausted what you can do, you'll really need to bring in a local technician/repair person to help you the rest of the way. Chances are, they aren't going to be worth repairing, but there's a lot of variables to that.
 
Which three dimmers are working? If the pack is being powered by 220V (HHNG) you may be missing one of the hot legs.
Also, IIRC these are triac-based dimmers, which are notoriously fragile. The triac is only about $1.50 but requires soldering skills to replace.

The spec sheet you posted has a June 1977 date on it.

Also see https://www.controlbooth.com/thread...ontrols-century-ccr-dimmers.11291/post-165433 .

Dimmer channels on box (1) 2,3,5 working box (2) 1,2,6 working
I will check supply voltage later today
I do have good soldering skills
I will also post some pictures later
 
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Dimmer channels on box (1) 2,3,5 working box (2) 1,2,6 working
Okay, so not a phase supply problem.

The 6 triacs in your Dimmy packs probably look similar to:
triac dimmer.jpg

each mounted to a large aluminum heatsink.
 
Hi, welcome. It might help if you can find a model number somewhere on the dimmers - that might narrow down the search for problems.

I'm guessing that the dimmers are analog rather than DMX? If you swap the analog cables over, do the faults also move, or do the same channels remain faulty?
 
Hi, welcome. It might help if you can find a model number somewhere on the dimmers - that might narrow down the search for problems.

I'm guessing that the dimmers are analog rather than DMX? If you swap the analog cables over, do the faults also move, or do the same channels remain faulty?

I am running the LED's on the DMX board
I don't think the analogs will work on the DMX board with the LED's
I will get up to where they are at and really look for a tag of some kind
they are in a difficult spot not much room to look at them very well
 
Wow, Dimmys. I believe they came along right after Edkotrons. I would expect the circuitry to be similar. Plexiglass console. Most likely 0 to 12 volt analog control voltage. Diac triggered thyristors.

I don't know where you would find a schematic but you might find one for a comparable circuit.
 
Wow, Dimmys. I believe they came along right after Edkotrons. I would expect the circuitry to be similar. Plexiglass console. Most likely 0 to 12 volt analog control voltage. Diac triggered thyristors.

I don't know where you would find a schematic but you might find one for a comparable circuit.

the control voltage that I'm reading is 0 - 10.42 vdc
I have traced all the wires to come up with a pinout from the dimmer box to the board pin 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, are channels and 8 is common with sinch jones plugs
there was at least 3 repairs done on the wiring over the years and I replaced it all from the controls to the board that was a job in its self
 
I don't think the analogs will work on the DMX board with the LED's

For clarity's sake, you might want to refer to your incandescent fixtures as "conventionals" rather than "analogs". This is because analog generally refers to a popular (and outdated, aside from some specialty applications) control language around here. Further confusing the fact that you can digitally control incandescent fixtures ;).

FWIW, your DMX board can control the conventionals provided you have the channel capacity and working dimmers (and a DMX-Analog converter, [I'm assuming it's analog], so the console can communicate with these older dimmers)
 
For clarity's sake, you might want to refer to your incandescent fixtures as "conventionals" rather than "analogs". This is because analog generally refers to a popular (and outdated, aside from some specialty applications) control language around here. Further confusing the fact that you can digitally control incandescent fixtures ;).

FWIW, your DMX board can control the conventionals provided you have the channel capacity and working dimmers (and a DMX-Analog converter, [I'm assuming it's analog], so the console can communicate with these older dimmers)

I apologize for the language difference, this is the first time I have worked on this kind of stuff but I had the old conventional lights plugged in our old Galaxy board with Sinche Jones 10 pin plugs then I changed the plugs to Sinche Jones 8 pin after determining that 1 - 6 are for channels and 8 is common, 9 & 10 are for some kind of power that is not used then plugged them in to out Lepercon 612 board that runs the LED's and found that when I turn some conventional lights on the LED's would strobe or would turn on red.
like I said before I have never worked on anything like this before but I'm finding it to be challenging and fun
I have not done any type of programing the board yet for the LED's and when I first started this project I only had 3 dimmer channels working with 6 or 7 lights and now I have 6 channels with 24 lights working so I'm making headway, there is still plenty of old cans that use halogen bulbs that I can put up but I only have 6 out of 12 channels working so far and I stumbled across this forum and think this could be a good place to ask some questions
 
If anybody would like to see our stage it was featured in the movie Street Kings 2, Ray Liotta is dressed as a dog in the beginning of the movie and you will see how old this building is
 
In light of you saying you haven't done any programming yet on the Leprecon 612, patching your 12 control channels to the 6 or 12 Strand dimmers and however many DMX addresses your LED fixtures require will take a bit of thought. Looks like you might be giving up a lot of individualized control and having several dimmers patched together; same with the LED fixtures. But at least it can be done with the LP612 soft patch. The fact that is has both DMX and analog outputs works well for your situation.
 
For clarity's sake, you might want to refer to your incandescent fixtures as "conventionals" rather than "analogs". This is because analog generally refers to a popular (and outdated, aside from some specialty applications) control language around here. Further confusing the fact that you can digitally control incandescent fixtures ;).

FWIW, your DMX board can control the conventionals provided you have the channel capacity and working dimmers (and a DMX-Analog converter, [I'm assuming it's analog], so the console can communicate with these older dimmers)
Well, in fact, while his luminaires are conventional, it sounds like (some of) his dimmers are analog, too, so...
 
I will have to wait until after 1pm today because there is classes using the auditorium in order for me to take some pictures of the equipment we have here.
I planed on is keeping the LP612 for the LED lights only for now.
I'm trying to get the older Strand Century Dimmy boxes to work on all channels.
So far I have box #1 channel 2,3,5 working box #2 channel 1,2,6 working.
 
ok here are some pictures of our equipment and I have found my mistake
the control board I'm using for the halogen lights is a TTI Galaxy
 

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Well, in fact, while his luminaires are conventional, it sounds like (some of) his dimmers are analog, too, so...

All the more reason to differentiate :)

I apologize for the language difference,

No need to apologize. It just helps streamline troubleshooting and advice-giving when we're all on the same terminology. You've definitely come to the right place if you want to make this system work, or allow your existing dimmers to communicate with a DMX console.
 
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