Strand UK

[Gazlights]

Hello Everyone! how the heck are ya?

 

I'm having a right old nightmare......we have five EC90 strand dimmers, four controlling the stage and FOH circuits and one to control the houselighting...recently I went into the theatre before a show to do a rehearsal and when I tried to dim the houselights using the 10 preset panel I realised that part of the houselights were not dimming. You press the button and the intensity dips very briefly by maybe 5-10% but when you release the button the level goes right back up to 100%.

I instantly thought that this must be some kind of triac problem but not really wanting to mess around with the dimmers further we called a contractor in to have a look....he just scratched his head and basically said that we should buy new dimmers and that no one in the US deals with this dimmer and would be able to help!

 

I've found the breakers inside the dimmer for each part that doesnt dim and now before every show goes up I have to run into the dimmer room and throw the 15 or so breakers for the affected parts off! its gettinga bit tiresome now!

 

Now I know that Strand Uk dont exist anymore and it seems that Strand USA dont know about or want to have anything to do with the EC90 its impossible to get spare modules and parts over here too....I'm getting worried about the other dimmers, if something happens to them I'm screwed! I'm pretty sure that this must be a simple fault with a triac or something and seeing as no one is prepared to help sort it out I think I'm going to test everything to try and find the faulty component and replace it myself......

 

I just wanted to check with some of you knowlegable peeps to see what you thought of this situation before I attempt it! Does it sound like a triac to you? I know its one of those 'how long is a piece of string' questions but If anyone had/has these dimmers or knows anyone that would be able me some advice on where to go from here that would be ace!

 

what a pain in the ass! I'd love to know how many venues around the world are having a nightmare with these dimmers!!

 

Anyways! thanks for your help once again! :P

[Dmills]

I doubt that it is a triac as in that case you would not get the momentary dip.

 

Check the wiring that forms the control network between the panels and the rack, as that would be my first suspect, can you temporarily set the thing up with a single local control panel?

 

Check that the emergency mode is not on on any of the control boards, I seem to recall that this forces things to 100%.

 

Can you move modules around in the rack (I don't remember the EC90 all that well)?

Does the fault follow the module, or does it stay in the same place?

 

How many channels are effected? This provides a possible hint if the dimmers control electronics is split in blocks of that size.

 

The User manual might possibly be helpful.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Regards, Dan.

 

edit - data sheet availability.

[Kazeja]

Do the associated led's follow the button presses on the control panel?

 

Are these dimmers hardwired or modular?

 

 

If modular, you have the ability to manually recall presets from the rack front panel. If the recalled presets look OK then you're looking at a control panel or associated wiring problem. If they look incorrect then chances are some corruption may have crept in or the old presets have been over recorded. Either way it's not the end of the world.

 

If hard wired, the only way of checking things out (also useful for the modular type) is to hook up a pc to the rack and check the configuration.

 

Please advise more details.

[Bryson]

It sounds more like a control problem to me. Is there more than one outstation communicating with the dimmers? Perhaps one of them is sending an erroneous "on" signal.

[goochr96]

Now I know that Strand Uk dont exist anymore

 

Just for your information, towards the mid to latter part of this year, Strand are hoping back with a place in the UK in London.