[SML] Opinions of Strand control and dimming equipment

[John McAfee]

I've used C21's and Light Palettes for about 9 years now (2 different jobs). At both jobs, the buildings were new and the equipment was installed new rather than us upgrading into it.

The boards have given me no trouble. There is a slight learning curve with syntax and workflow, but guest designers and rentals haven't been completely stymied by it and I can get around pretty easily.

The C21's are more trouble. I've got a mix of standard and sine wave, mostly standard. I've had thermistors go out (2 thermistors for one rack in the past year), processors need to be replaced (3 processors across 8 racks in about 3 years) , and I'm still trying to track down an intermittent bad dimmer (I think it might be actually an issue with the backplane). Some of this might be due to the install electricians not testing equipment properly or setting up the addressing, but even being generous with the blame there, I don't feel that the dimmer racks are robust and reliable. For the most part it's been annoying rather than mission critical, but it still ends in service calls. Warranties are honored and a fair amount of repair/replace has been gratis outside of warranty. But that might be due to my service company rather than Strand.

When hooking up a guest's non-Strand board to the strandnet, I had to fiddle with the DMX speed to get it working properly, but that was not a huge deal. If you are getting N21 nodes, try and specify that at least one that has a DMX input or buy/make some 5pin turnarounds.

Let me know if you have other questions.

John


On Jun 15, 2016, 3:33 PM -0400, Joe Wilson via Stagecraft<stagecraft at theatrical.net>, wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> My space is looking to upgrade our existing dimming system which is currently a hybrid of Kleigl analogue dimmers and a few CD-80 packs.
> 
> We're working with a facility-mandated design consultant company who reviewed our space and delivered us a half-baked proposal that we are now to review and comment on.
> 
> One of their suggestions was to recommend a pair of Strand C21 dimmer racks and a NEO console over an ETC Sensor-based system based on price and the fact that Strand provided them with a detailed bill of materials while ETC did not.
> 
> We've been a bit leery of Strand's products after our experience with their CD80s and we have a bit of a negative association around their products and service availability.
> 
> However, I'm trying to make sure I don't just have a personal bias, so I am soliciting opinions and experiences from you folks regarding Strand's dimming and control systems.
> 
> Please share any relevant opinions or experience on or off-list, and thanks in advance!
> 
> (The consultant company is also recommending we replace our S4s with PAR64s, but that's a totally different discussion.)
> 
> Cheers!
> ~joe
> 
> 
> 
> --
> _________________________
> Joe Wilson, ATD/Sound
> Indian River State College
> 
> Adding one more "me too" to the
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