godd2 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 so today is my day to post with questions apparently... In the high school I am at we have 2 spaces. My smaller space's lighting rack has apparently died. Basically, I have not control over the theatrical lighting. the lights that were on when the system died will not turn off. If I turn the lighting board off, the lights stay on. the only way to turn them off is to flip the breakers on the rack. I have tried a different lighting board. DMX signal seems to be getting to the rack but nothing is happening. I am assuming the "mother board" of the rack is no longer functional. the system is 20 years old and the company that made it is not longer around. Can anyone think of anything else I can check? a new rack will cost around 40 to 50 thousand so I dont see that happening anytime soon. thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilflet Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 do they come back on when you turn the breakers back? are they dmxable dimmers or is there a separate Demux/decoder in the rack? and what happens to those stuck on when this is turned off and on again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 a new rack will cost around 40 to 50 thousand... I'd get a quote from a different company! Try powering your racks off at the breaker, then removing all control cables, then powering the back on. If the lights come back on its a fault with your dimmer racks, probably a triac, but it could be something else, and its almost certainly repairable for less expense than a whole new rack. If the lights don't come on with control disconnected then the fault is with the control gear. Are your racks analogue or DMX? If analogue, is your desk analogue or do you have a demux in there somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmills Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Unless something VERY major (Think smoke, serious flames) has happened that rack is fixable. You sure you didn't get a quote to replace the entire system? That could be in that order, but £50K buys one hell of a lot of dimmers. Ah, I see from the OPs profile that he is across the pond, so the control options open up some (Microplex was IIRC an American perversion back in the day and quite popular), but a few photographs would help with identification. Regards, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 unplug it,hit with a hammer plug it back in,Does it work? Looking at the clues id guess its the usual fuses being a bit slow and not protecting the output device on the dimers.you might need a bigger hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godd2 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 I appreciate the replys. some of them are above my knowledge level so I will do my best to answer. the rack and board are DMX controlled. I have turned off the breakers and removed the dimmer moduals but still no control. I have also turned off the master power to the whole system. like I said the lights taht were on just will not go off and cant get others on. the money issue was basically for an ETC model of a 48dimmer rack with an ion board and some updated architectural controls. is there a "mother board" type computer in the rack itself that could have burned out and that is what needs fixed? if so how hard is that? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 If you could tell us what the racks are, it may help. However, I'd agree with the others, the faults are probably easily fixed - dimmers have never been that complex on the power side of the DMX system. The semiconductors in dimmers often fail on, as well as off - so any capable electronics shop near you could probably fix them - especially if they have some working ones to use for tests. If you really have no major source of replacement funds, consider something cheaper - dimmers have never been cheaper than they are now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Your existing dimmer rack are quite likely to be repairable, but before anyone can help you with repairs we'll need to know the type of dimmer rack. There will almost certainly be labels on the front, or you could even post a photo of the rack and we can probably identify it from that. As Paul mentioned above, Triac or SCR failures are the most common failure and these are almost always repairable - often quite easily.- It's generally either a 'block' that plugs into the dimmer module, or some discrete components that can be unsoldered and replaced. However, if it does turn out that your existing racks are uneconomical to repair*, don't despair - the scary quote was to replace the whole system in one go, and you don't have to do that!It's perfectly fine to replace each section of the system (individual dimmer racks, lighting board, architectural etc) one at a time as funds become available or the need for that specific part arises. *The most common reason for a dimmer rack being irreparable is a failure of the main processor board. These tend to use very specialised components (eg CPUs) and last a very long time, which means that once they finally fail some of the more specialised components aren't made anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmxtothemax Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 When you say rack,are you talking about a dimmer rack ?How many channels ?12 ?Where did the figure of 30 to 50 G come from ?Even the best quality dimmers dont cost more than 5000. What brand and model are the dimmers ?With DMX dimmers once intructed to turn on,will stay on until instructed to turn off,If some thing goes wrong before it is told to turn off,then it stays on. could be the demux in the racks.A good electronics tech can sort that out. so today is my day to post with questions apparently... In the high school I am at we have 2 spaces. My smaller space's lighting rack has apparently died. Basically, I have not control over the theatrical lighting. the lights that were on when the system died will not turn off. If I turn the lighting board off, the lights stay on. the only way to turn them off is to flip the breakers on the rack. I have tried a different lighting board. DMX signal seems to be getting to the rack but nothing is happening. I am assuming the "mother board" of the rack is no longer functional. the system is 20 years old and the company that made it is not longer around. Can anyone think of anything else I can check? a new rack will cost around 40 to 50 thousand so I dont see that happening anytime soon. thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godd2 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 the cost being quoted is for the entire dimmer rack. I cant remember the name of the company but it is no longer around that made the rack, so if they can not fix the issue then they would have to replace the entire thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Can you take some photos so we can see what you have, since you don't seem to be able to identify for us the make and model of the rack? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 The point we're trying to make is that we doubt it IS unrepairable. If you tell us what it is, as we keep asking - one of our US readers could well actually have one laying around. Sure - some faults would mean that it couldn't be fixed, but in that case we're also saying that dimmers have never ever been as cheap as they are now and 40-50 THOUSAND (even Dollars) buys a hell of a lot of them! You're assuming so much - and you could find just replacing a handful of components will fix it for a tiny amount of money. I don't think we can help much more without FULL details. Please - you also need to stop assuming the only people who can fix things is the manufacturer. Somebody who wishes to sell you a new one (especially at that price) isn't interested in fixing the old one. Almost certainly somebody local to you may well be able to fix it. Even if they can't, they may know somebody who can. My own venue has dimmers fitted in the 1960s - (Strands, of course). Over the years many had died. We were down to around 45 out of 60 and somebody on the Blue Room told me this story about 7 or 8 years ago, and I bought the semiconductors and fixed all bar 3! I'm really glad I just didn't scrap them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Also, just for my curiosity, are you a student, or a teacher at Olathe East High School? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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