second hand dimmers

[Mr.Si]

Hi guys and gals,

 

I'm fairly new to lighting stuff, as I am a soundie by trade, but...

 

I have in my possession, 12 Thomas Par 64's (long nose ones :D ) with 500W wide lamps in 'em.

 

but I have no dimmers or control as yet.

 

I wanna go the DMX route if I possibly can but I don't know which are DMX and which are analogue.

 

I have seen some dimmers on the good old Used lighting .co.uk site which are:

 

Strand Tempus for 200 + VAT

Zero88 Betapacks for 275 + VAT

 

any of these ok?

 

Also, I am watching a couple of consoles on ebay at the moment,

 

- Pulsar Masterpiece 48 (in case)

- Zero88 Level 24 Plus

 

any of these ok?

 

(Sorry, moderators, if this has been posted before, I did a search but couldn't find anything relevant for me)

 

Thanks for your help

 

Mr. Si

[bruce]

The tempus dimmers have been around for a while - I remember hiring a set over 20 years ago. They work well and easy to repair. Heavy.

 

They will be analogue, and will almost certainly use 0 > -10v rather than 0- +10v control signals. Building a converter isn't rocket science, but also isn't trivial.

 

(I have an old tempus controller which I invert and use with +10v dimmers)

 

Betapacks - If I remember correctly they come in both analogue and DMX versions.

 

Bruce.

[benweblight]

have you looked at behringers desks and dimmers?

http://www.behringer.com/LC2412/index.cfm?lang=ENG

http://www.behringer.com/LD6230/index.cfm?lang=ENG

 

these are great if you just want basic generic control, and you can get some quite cheap prices on them from thomann and others:

http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw2_beh...t_prodinfo.html

http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw2_beh...k_prodinfo.html

 

as to what you have posted there (I'm sure others will correct me) I think betapacks are DMX. a master piece would be IMHO a bit over the top for controlling a few pars is this is a mover desk and the level 24 plus I suspect is analouge although it might be the DMX version

 

I hope that is helpful

[Mr.Si]

cheers Bruce, I had a feeling the tempus one's would be analogue.

 

Are there any other nice ish 6 channel dimmers which are fairly low priced?

 

rack mount would be ideal, but not a necessity

 

I've also seen the Pulsar Stratus Rackpack

 

Are these dimmers? or Switchpacks?

 

They are DMX, but not sure about the rest of it!

 

Thanks

 

 

Moderation : once again, two consecutive posts by the same author have been merged into one post, which is what they should originally have been. If you have something to add to a post that you've just submitted, please use the edit button to append the extras to that post instead of adding another separate post to the topic. This posting faux-pas is happening far too frequently these days - would all members please make an effort to avoid doing this in future. Thanks.

[bruce]

If you're really on a tight budget, check out the wee soundlab units - you can get them for about 50 quid for 4 channels, analogue and DMX.

 

IEC outputs, limited to about 1kW per channel and 3K total per unit, allegedly a rubbish dimming curve, and not exactly robust, but still just 50 quid.... and you won't do in your back trying to lift it. I've got one, and may well get another. Put 4 or even 6 500W lanterns on a T-bar stand, have the dimmer mounted on the same stand (or on the floor below) and you only have to supply a 13A supply and DMX to each stand....

 

It doesn't give you the option for expansion to higher-powered lanterns though.

 

 

Or there's the Showtec ones which are slightly (but not much) more.

 

I'm no expert on this, but I'm going through exactly the same process as you at the moment!

 

Bruce.

[Mr.Si]

Thanks for that!

 

It's a tricky situation isn't it?!

 

my problem is that I'm a fan of "doing things properly" so trying to stay away from brands like soundlab (and even abstract, though they do seem to be low end professional stuff and more respectable) etc

 

I'd really like "industry stuff" - to make me more compatable with other people's gear

 

So 15Amp and/or socapex type stuff is my interest

 

(I'm just seeing what I can get hold of at the moment) - as you'd understand.

 

Si

[paulears]

I'd be tempted to try a behringer or similar for the money they are now. 12month g'tee vs nothing? they are hardwired, but not difficult to lectriflex up - pretty sure there isn't a soca option.

[Mr.Si]

I am currently bidding on a Z88 Level 24 Plus console on ebay.

 

But doubt I'd get it in the end - I'll probably be out bid.

 

has anyone ever used the behringer consoles for lighting?

 

are they any good?

[T.D.]

You could look at the Zero 88 Chilli Dimmers. A local college put some in a few years ago when they had just come out. They had some teething problems with DMX but I think that's been soughted out. They do have some cool features for dimmers of the price but I couldnt tell you how reliable they are.

 

The Tempus really are big and heavy. Get quite warm as well - old technology. Good dimmers in their day though.

 

Chillis are quite nice since they have MCB's rather than fuses. Nice and light for their size I seem to remember.

 

Do go DMX if you can, otherwise you'll more than likely end up having to buy a demux at some stage, so it could save you money in the long run.

 

Can't really help you with the desks.

 

best of luck

 

T.D.

[Paul J Need]

Got some Paradim DMX hardwired dimmers going cheap if interested?