At our theater we have just started having a problem with our dimmers -
it's a NSI DS-12 digital dimming system, and we have two sets of 12
dimmers (24 dimmers in all) controlled by DMX.
The computer will send a cue, and the dimmers will respond correctly,
but then sometimes some lights will just come on (full) by themselves.
They need to be switched off at the dimmer (by pu****ng the button) -
they do not respond to DMX commands. Once turned off (or reset), the
dimmer will once again respond to commands. It's not random - it seems
to happen more on some cues than others, and sometimes affects the
entire board. It happens several times per show. (We have a hundred or
so cues - it's a musical).
Changing the DMX cables didn't seem to affect anything, and since
sending new commands (sending the cue over, for example, or sending a
new cue) doesn't affect anything, I suspect the problem is in the
dimmers themselves. The dimmers do not seem to be warm, so I don't
think it's a ventilation issue.
I've been told that these dimmers are especially susceptible to this
kind of thing. Are they? And what "kind of thing"?
Our theater went through some major construction (not even done yet) so
there was a lot of dust, but the dimmers were (sort of) covered with
plastic to protect them. Since the problem seems to be in the dimmers
themselves, and seems to be related somehow to whatever other lights are
on at the time, I suspect that there may be too much dust in the
dimmers, and it may short circuit a signal trace somewhere. (the
outside of the dimmers are very dusty) Is this a reasonable theory?
Can they be opened up and the dust blown out without sending them back
to the factory?
I haven't contacted the factory yet; that will be next. This is my
first foray to see if others have had similar experiences, and what they
did.
Jose
--
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