Pulsar Three Phase Dimmers - query

[Geoff49]

Hi all, I just had a 'hopefully simple' query about the Pulsar dimmer packs in the photos. Sorry they are poor, but they are a long way up...

The query is "which phase of the three-phase input is the single breaker connected to?"

It's the one which isolates the pair of 15A and 13A sockets. Top left unit in photo 1 and top right in photo 2. I'm sorry I have no idea what these unit model numbers are, haven't found much on the internet  through picture searches, TBH, and it looks like Pulsar no longer have a web prescence!

The reason for asking is that although we've stopped using the dimmer packs, as we have gone all LED lighting now, the LEDs are all powered from the 15A and 13A sockets, and before we re-engineer it, it would be good to know which of the three I/c phases that particular breaker is on!

Thanks, Geoff

Edited September 1, 2023 by Geoff49

[James Remo]

The dimmer racks are pulsar for sure, but I can’t recognise the rack you are asking about as pulsar made, the handles make it look like a project box. 

[Geoff49]

Hmm, good point! Thank you, James.

Yes, looking at them, the MCBs don't line up either. I must admit I assumed they were all Pulsar, but maybe not.

Maybe they were 'Am-Dram' built to distribute a phase each to the three dimmer packs.

 

Do you know if the three dimmer packs pictured are single phase or three-phase? Because they had three neon's labelled V1, V2 and V3, I thought they would be, but one phase each may make more sense.

Does anyone have any schematics they coudl post that shows how these are connected together? I'm a sound-man really, but trying to learn about the old and the new lighting so I can be more useful to our Amateur theatre.

[kgallen]

Dimmers look like these (can't find a better site yet):

http://vikinglighting.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=538

I certainly hope that 4th box isn't a distro for the dimmers - 15A input per dimmer wouldn't be that useful (<3.5kW total load per dimmer). Maybe it's more of a small hot-power distro? Trace the cables.

Often such dimmers (cf Zero88 Betapack range) can be wired single-phase or three-phase with maximum load 2kW/10A per channel (two 15A sockets per channel). Single-phase, the full load would be 63A supply. Three-phase would be 20A per phase. Internal wiring is usually two channels per phase (1+2, 3+4, 5+6 probably), with the three phases bus-barred across for single phase supply.

This manual is for a Zero88 Betapack1, but I suspect your Pulsar's will look mighty similar around the back:

https://www.vari-lite.com/b-dam/vari-lite/discontinued-products/betapack-1/betapack-1-manual.pdf

...although some dimmers of that vintage, like the Strand Act6 packs, had to be purchased either single or three phase. So those Pulsar's might be fixed single phase.

Edited September 1, 2023 by kgallen

[musht]

Thomann still host a user manual

https://images.thomann.de/pics/prod/105545_installation.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjW1vu-w4mBAxUZXEEAHbioDiMQFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2VUT4U-9p5auJgjFCfo-zR

[Geoff49]

I have found a better picture of "what looks like the mains supply unit for the dimmers". Can anyone make out or recognise the name? It seems it's not homemade, just not Pulsar...

 

Thank you for your contributions - access is not that easy, even on the tallest of ladders I can't get to the back of the rack! But from below I can see that this "mains unit" has three-phase in from a 63A Ceeform.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Geoff49

[DrV]

It's not Lighting Partners is it? Just slightly too blurry to make out.

[Geoff49]

Sorry - best image I have for now. I can't find "Lighting Partners" on the interweb, but I see where you're coming from, Dave. I hope someone out there actually knows the company and goes "oh yes,that's ..."!

Edited September 1, 2023 by Geoff49

[kgallen]

1 hour ago, DrV said:

It's not Lighting Partners is it? Just slightly too blurry to make out.

Yea looks Lighting Partners to me. Aren’t they usedlighting.co.uk - I’ve got those stickers on some 2nd hand Quartets I got from them years ago. 

But could just be a 2nd hand piece of kit they put a label on and sold on rather than being the OEM.

Edited September 1, 2023 by kgallen

[Stuart91]

4 hours ago, kgallen said:

Yea looks Lighting Partners to me. Aren’t they usedlighting.co.uk

Yes, that's correct. It was a sort of "group brand" because they had other sites dealing with new equipment sales as well. 

4 hours ago, kgallen said:

But could just be a 2nd hand piece of kit they put a label on and sold on rather than being the OEM.

Most likely. I don't remember them building anything themselves. 

A lot of the equipment I bought from them had come from PRG, but they sourced from all over. 

[dosxuk]

Those Pulsar dimmers can be wired as single or three phase, changed by moving some metal bars around internally where the supply wiring comes in. Without tracing the cabling it would be impossible to work out which they are currently wired for, as when set up for single phase usage, it just splits the single phase to the three separate phases internally (the dimmers are basically designed around three 2 channel single phase dimmer modules). When fed with a single phase supply, all three phase supply neons on the front panel will light.