Grumpy Chilli dimmer

[happy_melon]

I've got a 24-way Zero88 Chilli dimmer which refuses to do anything with the first eight channels. I've tried all the usual stuff (DMX goes in right, power goes out right on the other channels to lights that we know work), and I'm stumped: channels 9-24 work perfectly, but zilch from the first ones. The current sweepstake favourite amongst our technical crew is that something big's broken inside, and we've lost a whole phase (AFAIK the channels are split 1-8/9-16/17-24 for the three phases, so that would make sense). I'm posting this to see if anyone can think of a possible problem with these symptoms which isn't going to take an outside electrician and/or some replacement parts: the show I'm rigging for runs Monday and Tuesday, dress tomorrow, so if it really is broken then it's broken for the duration. But I'd give eternal gratitude do anyone who can suggest a trivial solution, if there is one.

 

Happy_melon

[Dmills]

IIRC there are three transformers mounted on a PCB near the keyboard, these are presumably the zero crossing detectors for the three phases, and are (I assume) fused somewhere (probably 20mm fuses?), maybe one of these has gone.

 

Other then that, it could be multiple things, and without a schematic it is difficult to guess. If I was having to attempt a fast fix, I would start my checking that all power supplies were up, then work my way via the zero crossing detectors and the like, but I think this one is DC power or ZC detector related.

 

Does the LCD report a sane voltage for the phase in question?

 

Regards, Dan.

[boatman]

Have you tried a dimmer reset?

 

Press 'ENT' on the control panel, press '>' six times and finally press 'ENT' twice.

 

This action is fairly drastic and will clear all the internal memories, set all dimmer laws to normal, set the DMX address to '1' and set all topsets to 100%.

[Simon Lyall]

It could be many things. At the top of the dimmer are the three main breakers (one for each phase) so check that all three (the third is detached from the other two). It could also be that the first 8 channels are addressed to different DMX values then you think...

 

But as above, doing a reset might solve the issue.

 

good luck

 

 

Simon

[happy_melon]

Reset fixed it! Eternal gratitude, as promised....

 

Thanks so much! Now I just have to convince the choreographer that spending half an hour on the first 20 seconds of the first dance is not really a sustainable strategy....