melkin Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hey Guys, I have an old mirror ball at work over the centre of our auditorium. Its not a DMX one or anything just bog standard turn it on and it spins, turn it off and it stops. I have used a 15a - 13a convertor and plugged it into a dimmer channel in the hope I could control it through the desk as it can be distracting from the back of the auditorium if spinning constantly during a show as it twinkles as it spins a bit even if there's no light on it. The problem is that without even the desk on (which is an ion) it is spinning. Our dimmers are strand LD90's and I have set the channel to non dim, but it still spins constantly. I know the triac on that channel is ok cuz if I have a lamp plugged into that channel it isn't on permanently. I have also had the desk on and set that channel to none dim on there as well but all to no avail. Any ideas or is it something I just cannot do. Many thanks in advance Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Try a load lamp in parallel with the mirror ball. The inductive nature of the motor coupled with its low power consumption probably means the triac doesn't have enough load to work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanhill Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 You need to pair the mirror ball with a load lamp. Dimmers do not like inductive loads like motors. Setting dimmers to non-dims, or channels on a desk to non-dim will not change the fundamental fact that power is being supplied from a dimmer rather than a hot switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melkin Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Yeah, thanks guys. All done and working now with the load lamp. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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