Don Allen Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 I have been using Planet One single channel dimmers as dimmers and switch packs for many years, similar to your Botex dimmers, for birdies etc, but got caught out yesterday when I tried to use one as a switch for my new 8 Eyes Gobo light that I got for a 30 second fireworks effect. They have 8 1W led's in them, one for each gobo and with the led's off, do not draw enough power to hold the dimmer off. I ended up with a slow white flash, so had to put a 25W blue lamp on the dimmer as a ghost load. The 25W blue lamp was not noticeable in the rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 This happens to most low powered things with a switch mode PSU in when run from a dimmer. Dimmers do have a small current bleed when off through the snubbing components - normally there is not enough to light anything up but in a SMPSU the load is effectively not connected until the input voltage reaches a certain level. So the bleed current charges up the input capacitor until it reaches the lowest valid operating voltage. At that point the SMPSU starts up and delivers a short pulse of operating voltage to the device. But the input capacitor quickly discharges so it goes off again. This repeats continuously giving a flashing or ticking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 Used to be quite hard to find true relay sitchpacks, now quite a few around aimed at switching LED lites that have no DMX. Available in same format as Multidim with various names screened on front, 4 channel relay packs https://www.thomann.de/gb/botex_dsp405_switchpack.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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