SirMutantRat Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I'm looking at replacing the old dimmers in our local village hall as the current ones are getting unreliable. I could do with a sanity check before splashing out cash. I've only recently started doing the lighting (2 shows so far) for the local am-dram group and have a heap still to learn. We currently have four Zero88 Betapack units that are 15-20 years old. We regularly have a problem with them cutting out either in use or just not wanting to play at all. Thumping them helps a lot! They were removed and sent off to be serviced in 2006 but it didn't make any difference. We have 16 fixed sockets over the stage area and another 16 over a lighting bar in the hall (~10m in front of the proscenium arch). These are wired through to 32 flying leads with 15 A plugs that go into the Betapacks. It's a bit home-brew - eg the cabinets can't be fully closed when the leads are out and the connectors inside are not protected from fiddling fingers! ). I suspect that bangin the leads in and out for every show does little to help the reliability of the dimmers. To replace them I'm proposing to remove the Betapacks and the flying leads and have two Dimension 1810 dimmers wired directly to the sockets over the stage and hall. We should also be able to get separate phases at 100 A each to supply them (currently all four Betapacks are on the same 100 A supply). No more banging in plugs. No more flying leads all over the place. Sounds sensible to me. Anyone got any better ideas? Once it's done I'd like to put the two more reliable Betapacks in flight cases for use when we play away from home. Would save some hire fees. Any problems here? I feel such a numpty. I'm sure there's a million things I haven't considered but should have. Any helpful comments greatly appreciated. Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 You may want to consider: somewhere to connect floor lampsgetting hard power to the bars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam2 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Before spending a lot of money, make sure that the dimmers are in fact faulty, if they were recently serviced and this produced no improvement, the fault may lie elswhere. Possible control desk fault? or the control wiring between desk and dimmer? IF the dimmers are plug and socket connected, would it be possible to borrow or hire a similar one to see if that performs better? Might be worth having an electrician check both the dimmer internals and the external wiring.In my experience, dimmers even if old generally work reliably, or fail entirely. Intermitant faults such as those described suggest loose connections. Are the 15 amp plugs that go into the dimmer in good condition and correctly wired?Are the correct fuses fitted ? fuses of an incorrect size may fail to make reliable contact.Are fuses in fact installed, and not bits of silver paper!Are the internal connections all tight, especialy on the backs of the outlet sockets. These are simple checks, but might be better done by an electrician, if your experience in these matters is limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 If you've had the betapacks serviced and they only work if you thump them....take them somewhere else to be repaired properly!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Have a look at this current topic. If the Betapacks work intermittently it's most likely to be loose connections in the sockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I have to agree with the guys above, I would seriously consider having your Betapacks looked at again before forking out a fairly substantial amount of money on new dimmers. Betapacks are solidly built dimmers and should last for years with only a little care and attention. With regard to your comment about regularly plugging & un-plugging the units were designed for this and the sockets used are very durable. Agreed that a hard wired system can improve reliability to some extent you do loose the ability to re-patch should you have a faulty channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Things that `fix` from a good thump are almost always connector related, wobbly edge connectors, loose screws,loose crimps... Dimmers tend to be able to live on, good quality equipment like Zero88 certainly isn`t neccesarily ready for the bin after a certain age, lot of theatres operating on much older than 20 year old dimmers, control desk may have gone through several generations in same time though. Sounds like the servicing consisted of the damp cloth over the front variety. Get more out your budget by fixing the other problems you have, dimmer cabinet thats too small sounds a perfect project for another carpentry skilled local to donate some time to.Have cases available for the dimmers and change out the hardwired(?) mains to ceeform so that you can unplug and take around.If they`re analogue , get a multi exchanger demux and a box of Cat5 to allow you to use a DMX desk or PC dongle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianknight Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 If you've had the betapacks serviced and they only work if you thump them....take them somewhere else to be repaired properly!!! My thoughts exactly!! :) Not that I'm touting for business!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceecrb1 Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Where are you based? If your scotland based I can have a shooftie, I will be back for 2.5 weeks from friday and can be paid in women, beer, food or small financial donations..... prefferably all 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirMutantRat Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Where are you based? If your scotland based I can have a shooftie, I will be back for 2.5 weeks from friday and can be paid in women, beer, food or small financial donations..... prefferably all 4. I'm based in Sussex. They got serviced by White Light who I thought would be good. They came back as 'Tested' with their tested-tape all over them. When they fail it's a whole pack, not individual circuits. Any ideas on who else to try? Maybe Kave? (I must admit, I'm quite keen on the extra channels now). A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. Erk! My mistake, they are in fact Act6 units (not Betapacks, I'm a donkey). Does Betapack/Act6 make any real difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Act 6 dimmers are equally robust as Zero 88 so I would say the above advice to get them looked at again is still worth while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I'm sure your service company will take another look if you explain the fault is rather intermittent; the best of us have been caught out by these come-day-go-day gremlins. I don't suppose that a standard test procedure involves checking their reaction to fist abuse...unless you explicitly demand it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirMutantRat Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 I'm sure your service company will take another look if you explain the fault is rather intermittent; the best of us have been caught out by these come-day-go-day gremlins. I don't suppose that a standard test procedure involves checking their reaction to fist abuse...unless you explicitly demand it!! I'm in touch with someone (thanks to this post) from the service company now (I assume he is anyway, he has mystic powers to find my 2 year old invoice number!) so hopefully there'll be a happy ending soon. Next question: if we don't spend £2,500 on new dimmers, what do I spend it on instead? (anyone for beer?) :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Spare lamps? Gaffa? Gel? Rigging hardware? What do you find yourself hiring often that you feel would be a good investment to buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 ..Next question: if we don't spend £2,500 on new dimmers, what do I spend it on instead? (anyone for beer?) ;) I would spend most of it on one of these and one of these. Then I would spend the change on beer for the person who suggested them. :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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