[SML] ETC Sensor Dimmer rack running 120 circuits

Mon Sep 4 03:41:41 UTC 2023

Bill,
Thanks for the response.  You are right that we have 1 sensor rack
featuring  48 modules/ 96 dimmers.  We also have a separate small rack
containing 5 D15E modules & 1 other (maybe CC15)  module.  The first 5
modules are labled dmx 97 through 106.  The CC15 module is not labeled with
 dmx address .  Connected to this small rack is an etc branded
architectural box containing what may be 12 relays.  These are labeled with
numbers picking up with  109 through 120.

When I patch the control board 1 to 1 Channel to dmx address and with each
channel type identified as “Dimmer”,  the board apparently controls the
first 96 labeled circuits on the catwalks.  When we get to channel/address
97,  the board seems to pick up exactly as labeled on the smaller panels.

The catwalk circuits continue with 24 circuit/dimmer? Numbers 97 through
120. These circuits do NOT activate through  these addresses. I have yet to
determine if they are merely duplicate outlets for some the circuits 1
through 96.  However, they are not labeled thus.

I BELIEVE that the ETC dimmers were retro-fit into the venue, replacing an
earlier dimming system as early as the mid-90s.  Therefore,  the labels on
the circuits either pre-date that and have not been re-labeled in the
intervening 30 years OR the system is somehow set up (perhaps through
dimmer doubling) to address these circuits discretely (and there was no
need to re-label).

Now,  IF dimmer doubling IS the explanation then we are NOT employing the
cable-wye/ dongle, but must have some flavor of module capable of
dimmer-doubling internally.  I have seen hint of this possibility in
various comments and documentation that I have accessed online,  but no
clear explanation of how such a system is identified or addressed by an etc
console.

This is further confused by the fact that as II understand it,  dimmer
-doubling only works when fixtures employ special, half-voltage  (66 or 77v
as mentioned by Stephe Lee) lamps that are as I recall only available for
ETC gear.  We DO have SOME S-4 fixtures,  but we ALSO  have a LOT of
Fresnel fixtures of indeterminate manufacture using BTH lamps.  Nowhere in
inventory can I find any 77v HPL lamps for the ETC inventory, nor any
equivalent voltage option for the BHT lamps for the Fresnels.

So, I continue to be puzzled.

On Sun, Sep 3, 2023 at 2:52 PM Bill Nelson <billn at peak.org> wrote:

> Keep in mind that DMX addresses and dimmers/circuits are not the same
> thing. For example, you can use one DMX address to control multiple dimmers
> - but you cannot control a single dimmer via multiple DMX addresses.
>
> Those other modules you listed are just dimmer modules - the D15 module
> contains 2 dimmers which are independent of each other - as is true for
> many ETC dimmer modules.
>
> It may be that you have 96 dimmers (in possibly 48 modules) in the main
> rack and 24 dimmers in the other rack you mentioned.  It is not clear to me
> how many modules you have or which DMX ranges control which dimmers.
>
> Bill
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steven Mclean via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
> To: Stagecraft Mailing List <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
> Cc: Steven Mclean <stevenjmclean at gmail.com>
> Sent: Fri, 01 Sep 2023 13:31:25 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [SML] ETC Sensor Dimmer rack running 120 circuits
>
> <div dir="ltr">I have since learned from someone else who supervised the
> theatre for a few years that there MAY be something to do with dimmer
> doubling.  However, it does NOT utilize dongles and it MAY involve Dimmers
> modules 1-12 (dimmers 1-24) ALSO running circuits/dimmers 97-120 as
> discrete addresses (though we also have a sensor building rack labeled DMX
> addresses 97-102--populated with D15E , D11 & C45 modules -- whatever
> the hell those are!)</div><br /><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"
> class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 11:57 AM Jerry Durand via
> Stagecraft <<a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net"
> target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">stagecraft@
> theatrical.net</a>> wrote:<br /></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote"
> style="margin:0px 0px 0px
> 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(
> 204 , 204 , 204 );padding-left:1ex">I forgot about those, put them at the
> top of my list<br /><br />
> ____________________________________________________________<br />
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> class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br /><div dir="ltr"
> class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Steven J
> McLean</div><div>515-480-8461<br /><a href="mailto:stevenjmclean@
> gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener
> noreferrer">stevenjmclean@gmail.com</a></div><div><a href="mailto:
> smclean@grandview.edu" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener
> noreferrer">smclean@grandview.edu</a></div><div><a href="
> http://designandtechtheatre.wordpress.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow
> noopener noreferrer">designandtechtheatre.wordpress.com
> </a></div></div></div></div></div>
>
>
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