Adding an additional Unison Station

Eric,

I don't work directly for ETC...I'm just one of many Dealers...but I'll take a stab at this one...

You said you had all the parts.  Do you also have the new station?

Are you familiar with the cabling requirements for the new station?  (In most instances...Belden 8471 plus ground ).

In most instances you can tap into an existing Unison run somewhere in the building.  This Unison wire, typically referred to as ULP, is topology and polarity free.  You don't *necessarily* have to run all the way back to the processor.  There are some limitations (namely, total wire in system cannot exceed 1600', collectively).

Someone will need to add the station to the Light Manager configuration, as it seems you already realize.  Unison Light Manager is the programming tool that install techs use to initially configure your system. 

Some sites have chosen to purchase Light Manager due to their particular needs and circumstances.  Basically, from your friendly neighborhood ETC dealer, you would purchase, for the venue, the software "site license".  With that license, comes a certain number of hours of training, by an ETC Authorized technician of some sort, to teach you how to use the program. 

If you only want access to Light Manager to add and configure this one new station, initially, and you don't have a need to do any major configuring or changing around after this, then I personally would recommend against purchasing the site license.

With the purchase of your new station, did the seller intend to add this into the programming for you?

In my experience, this is usually the case.  If not, it may be more cost effective for you/the venue to pay a small amount to have this done for you (if this cost wasn't already considered when the station was sold to you).

Unless there are many complicated programming specifics, this addition of one station is easily done off site and could be emailed to you with instructions on how to install the new configuration file.  Just a thought...

-Abby

ETC Dealer and Authorized Field Service Tech, among other hats I wear...

Hi Abby,

Thanks for the reply. I have the extra button station as a result of a previous modification that was done to the system, it was changed to a portable station. I am familiar with the cabling requirements. The system is also out of warranty, I'm not sure if I would void anything by doing work on it myself? I would be interested in knowing how much the Light Manager program costs. ETC Tech services fixed something with my Unison config before, I wonder if they could add this station to the config file for me as well?

Thanks

Eric

Hi Abby,

Thanks for the reply. I have the extra button station as a result of a previous modification that was done to the system, it was changed to a portable station. I am familiar with the cabling requirements. The system is also out of warranty, I'm not sure if I would void anything by doing work on it myself? I would be interested in knowing how much the Light Manager program costs. ETC Tech services fixed something with my Unison config before, I wonder if they could add this station to the config file for me as well?

Thanks

Eric

I'd think you'd no more void the warranty than any other electrical contractor whom you'd hire in to do the same thing. The only gotcha I see, is if you *damaged* the existing system while putting new parts in.  Then there could be an issue, I'd imagine.  If you're out of warranty anyway, I imagine the point is moot.

You'd have to touch base with ETC directly as far as them editing your config for you.

As far as Light Manager License/Cost...you'd have to get a quote from a local ETC dealer.  That particular item is different than, say, a fixture, where one could just spout off list price as an estimate.  If you don't have a current dealer that you have a relationship with, call ETC directly and they will put you in touch with someone who serves/services your area.

Good luck with your new station!

-Abby

Eric,

You can talk with ETC technical service, and they should be happy to add the station to your configuration for you. They will need you to send them the most recent copy of the configuration off of your processor before they can make the modifications needed. You will need to let them know what you would like the station to do.

For pricing on LightManager software and the required training you can contact your local ETC dealer for pricing. The software does require an 8 hour training session, and as Abby mentioned is designed more for technicians to configure system.

Thanks guys for your responses. I'll talk to ETC about this.

Thanks again,

Eric