Alaric Smith Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Hi, Sorry, this is my first post; so, many apologies for the mistakes that I will have made. I run a small presentation, festival and theatre support company. I have recently been on the hunt for dimmer packs for several projects and found a Colortran "6-pack" for less than a pound on an "auction site". Being an old hand at auction sites, I seem to have lost my senses on this one - I saw the price and put in a pound bid, just as a punt. When it arrived, I realised why they didn't show the control socket and/or the power line: The control socket wasn't anything that I had seen before and the power lead was missing. A new power lead has been installed and the control socket has been identified (a Cinch Jones 10 pin).It does power on and there aren't any worrying spikes, rcd activations, smells or fires. I have even worked out the pin out; it was a little confusing to begin with as the pack provides +&- 15v to desks and there is a "dead" pin. I have ordered the male plug from the States, which is going to take about a month to get here. I have contacted Colortran (now Leviton). They were very helpful, especially William Carlton, but couldn't help me with any technical or user manuals. Is there anyone who knows about these dimmer packs? Mine has the following information on it: Type 5126, No. 199. Does anyone have a manual that I could have a look at? It appears that some Colotran dimmer boxes used 4.5v control signalling - is this one? If it is one of those, then it looks like I will have to make some L-pads/voltage converters. Many thanks, in advance, Alaric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Is there anyone who knows about these dimmer packs? Yes, I used to have a big pile of them. Very robust units, never had one fail in many years of both fixed and mobile use. Control is 0-10v as standard. All the ones I had didn't have the Cinch plug anymore. I converted to a 12-channel connector and added a loop out for channels 7-12 to make wiring easy. Never had a manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaric Smith Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Is there anyone who knows about these dimmer packs? Yes, I used to have a big pile of them. Very robust units, never had one fail in many years of both fixed and mobile use. Control is 0-10v as standard. All the ones I had didn't have the Cinch plug anymore. I converted to a 12-channel connector and added a loop out for channels 7-12 to make wiring easy. Never had a manual. Hi Brian, That is brilliant (and saved a chunk of work). I hope that I can find a manual, though. Do they have a pre-heat and can you turn if off? Again, many thanks, Alaric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I hope that I can find a manual, though. Remember that these dimmers pre-date PDF files and the internet by several years. Any manual you find will be a scan someone has done of a paper one. Do they have a pre-heat and can you turn if off? IIRC, there are one or two preset pots on the PCB which set bottom and top. My usual routine for setting up old-school dimmers like these is to connect a load, something like a 500W or greater lamp, and put a voltmeter across it. With 0v on the relevant control line gently tweak a pot and see what happens; the bottom pot will cause volts to flow (plus you might hear the choke singing). Now put 10v on the control line and try to find the top pot which will set full output. The pots might interact so you may need to iterate a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaric Smith Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Hi Brian, Again, thank you. I saw some pots and thought that they might be involved somewhere along the line. I was hoping that some one had managed to save a manual and scanned it & pdf'd it. May be some day it will turn up. I will have to book out some time to set it all up. It is a useful looking piece of kit and seems very well built. I hope that it can handle the abuse my clients tend to give things. Many thanks, Alaric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin D Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I also have three of these I bought it must be 20 years ago and they are still working well? The Cinch Jones plugs are quite tough, but have a tendency to fall out if knocked. Like Brian, I've never had a channel fail and only two fuses blown I can remember so they are rock solid. I'm surprised LSI were able to help. These devices were built for Colortran in the UK for the UK market by Futer and Wright in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear. Anyway, they went under donkeys years ago.) When I spoke to Colortran in the US all those years they denied all knowledge of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaric Smith Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Hi Robin, Their help was more that they were honest and said that they couldn't really help. At least they were honest and didn't pass me round the houses. Thanks for the history - nice to put some history to an object. No chance that you have a manual? I have read that the plug doesn't sit well - I might swap it out for a lockable DIN or D. Cinch did sell wire clips for them, I think, but I am going to guess that they stopped making those years ago. Alaric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.