DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Hey everyone, looking for a little advice... The venue I work at doesn't have DMX control of the houselights, which is annoying at times to say the least. To operate houselights you have to walk from the lx desk to the corner of the control room to pull down a fader. We asked a company (can't remember which one) about DMX control and they quoted us around £2000, as a complete re-wire of the existing houselight dimmers would be required. My question is, does anyone reckon mounting some sort of DMX controlled linear actuator (or something similar) to the houselight fader would work? If so, where would you buy one? At the moment I'm considering buying a cheap DMX projector shutter and trying to bodge something with that, just to see if it can be done! Any advice would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanHerbert Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Do you have details of the houselight dimmers and the actual fader? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Robinson Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Could you not move the light switch/fader? Assuming that it is a wall mounted switch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 If you want a bodge solution: DMX servo controller + servo + a stick to push the fader up and down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Motorised faders can be had for not much money these days. They come with a small reversible DC motor. Feed that remotely from a biased toggle switch in the booth. A photo of your current setup would be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 The fader looks like a custom unit, no distinguishing marks or company logos on it. It's attached to the wall and the cable coming out of it looks like it's some sort of multicore. (There are other faders next to the master, to control different zones in the auditorium, but we only ever really touch the master, and the master is the only one we'd want to be DMX controlled). The fader is about 2 inches/5cm long. The dimmers are made by'Quantran Systems Limited'Model 'Sys200-12'No. P99009-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Without seeing the installation this is only a guess but I'd put money on your dimmers being simple analogue units in which case the simple option is to extend the existing control wiring to a remote fader, maybe with a changeover switch near the existing fader. Depending of the voltage range needed you might get away with a single channel demux feeding the existing dimmers to give you DMX control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 Here's a picture of the control unit... http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3517/hlcontrol2.jpg The lx desk sits about 2 meters to the left of this picture, you can just about reach from the desk by stretching and using a long stick! Doesn't exactly give you a smooth fade though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Do you know what the dimmers are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 And here's some pictures of the dimmers.... http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1574/hldimmers2.jpg http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/8379/hldimmers3.jpg http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2619/hldimmers4.jpg http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/797/hldimmers1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin D Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 Why not speak to Quantran? They are based in Watford. A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. I see you added the photo with teh phone number while I was posting. They will be able to tell you what the control protocol is and what the options are for moving the remote I'm sure. If its 0-10v you could buy a cheap analogue desk and just wire it in yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 I have a feeling it was Quantran who quoted us £2k. I can't be sure though, the boss is off sick today, I'll check next time he's in. Thanks for all the advice and ideas, it's given me something to work on for a while! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 One very valid reason why (and to keep) the dimmers off the desk is that they may well be used essentially by untrained people for whom the desk would be a problem.I can see your point that shows will be better with a co-ordinated fade, BUT it may mean that the cleaners need a LX tech present to clean the place. Is that fader unit simply a DC analogue controller? An analogue dimmer somewhere in a riser room, and faders for you to use. If so a demux set up from the desk to the remote fader box may be the easy answer being cautious that the existing fader box may NOT be isolated or grounded. It's trunked with the mains wiring, it could be volts above neutral, or..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewWhite Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 There are seperate working lights that are used by the cleaners and others, the only time the houselights are used is when one of the technicians are present. The real pain is as we are only a small theatre, there are only 2 technicians. For some shows that means one of us on LX and the other on sound. Occassionally we move both control positions out into the auditorium, especially for the bigger shows we get, when we have movers in the grid as the view from the control room is limited. In this situation it means we have no-one to operate houselights and have to resort to asking the front of house team *shudder* to operate them. The ideal solution would be to keep the existing fader unit for occasions when it is useful, but add a switch that throws control over to DMX so we can for some shows control from the desk. I'll give Quantran a ring, see what they say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 15, 2010 Share Posted July 15, 2010 I'll give Quantran a ring, see what they say...Don't ask 'can they be converted to DMX'. Ask 'are they 0-10v controlled?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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