Also, they were all connected back in the day to an older board which was replaced by a modern board.
@Techatom Back in the 1970's non-dims were popular for items requiring on and off but no ability to dim. Things such as fans,
strobe lights,
fog machines, old style mechanical (motor driven) chasers, motion wheels, color wheels, neon signs,
fluorescent lights, work lights. Anything and everything that required normal
line voltage on and off with absolutely no ability to be dimmed. In the era, non dims were powered at least three ways:
- Breakers only; you had to physically go to the breakers and manually turn them on or off.
- Mercury wetted (and other types of) mechanical relays capable of being controlled remotely by low
voltage control from latching switches on your lighting board.
- Small mechanical relays rated to
switch 20 amp 120 volt loads via two normally open
momentary low
voltage push buttons; one for on and the other for off.
Google MAY be able to find General
Electric relays from the era, they were designed to be inserted through a trade-size 3/4"
conduit knockout and click into place with integral spring clips on their exteriors. When inserted through a knockout from within an electrical box the 120 volt wiring remained in the enclosure and the low
voltage wiring remained out side the 120 volt enclosure. GE RR7 is the part number coming to mind. GE intended them for remotely switching lights in commercial installations keeping the relays near the
power sources and running appreciably smaller / lighter low
voltage control wiring over distances. One
theatre in London, Ontario used the little GE relays to
switch all lighting throughout their entire two
venue facility with local switches throughout the structure and duplicate master panels in the
box office manager's and
stage door guard's offices where the remote indicators alerted them to activities throughout the building and also allowed them to turn any / all lights on or off. The guard would
switch on a few lights around the building for his hourly walks and
switch them off again upon his
return. The
box office manager could
switch off all public areas at days end. A
theatre I was with in Hamilton, Ontario used the GE RR7's for work light control. GE made one or two sizes of
breaker panels with 120 / 208 volt sections down the centre and low
voltage wiring down both sides. Vertical metal barriers ran the full height of the panels with knockouts for the RR7 relays to
snap into. GE sold so many that they were economical to
purchase and install. During my electrical apprenticeship, while I was still living at home, I installed six of the GE RR7 relays in my bedroom permitting me to control two circuits of receptacles plus all lighting in the room from beside my bedroom door, seated at my
desk or from the comfort of my bed. Yes, I'll admit to being a little weird, even in my teens.
EDIT 1: To add link to images and info;
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=ouUPXaKREIXttQaJpr2ACw&q=images+ge+rr7+rellay&oq=images+ge+rr7+rellay&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160l2.2801.30848..32143...1.0..0.97.1591.21......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0j0i10j0i22i30j33i22i29i30..11:1j12:14j13:0.Kheqta2bGiw
EDIT 2: Corrected the inadvertent misspelling of "the" as "they".
EDIT 3: Added motion wheels, color wheels, large
electric heaters for dry ice foggers plus Pani projectors.
@Dionysus Steve; do you recall your Grand and McMannus venues having at least two dozen of the GE RR7's and their associated
momentary buttons and low
voltage pilot indicators?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard