non dim channels

Be careful that your non dim sockets are not just normal dimmers, but are in fact DMX operated Relays or similar. Any dimming of the circuit that a mover is plugged into will likely damage the mover drastically ! Even running them at 100% is potentially damaging.

Cue listing to turn the power on may be fine, but most movers suggest a power down procedure i.e. Lamp Off for a certain time with the fans still on, in order to extend lamp life.

One way would be to have a preset with the Non dim circuits on, set it to a high number master (i.e. Master 80) so as it to not appear on faders (so it can't be accidentally turned off) then use a Master Link on the first Cue to turn that Master to 100% then a Master Link on the final Cue to take that Non Dim circuit to 0%.

Alternatively you could do a preset with your Lamp off command, then a follow on after a set time of xxx minutes which has the Master link to power off.

I hope this helps !

Hi there -

Another way to do this is to assign those channels to an Independent switch, and also set that switch to Exclusive mode. This way you have an LED stating clearly that those channels are "on" or "off", although this would be a manual action that your operator would have to make at the start and end of your show.

Thanks -

Sarah

In a similar situation, I create a power up macro and a power down macro.  

I patch the relays to a series of channels so that I can easily remember which channel provides power for the fixture in case I need to do a hard reset.

I then record a macro that parks all of the mover power channels and homes all attributes.

For the power down macro, I soft shutdown the fixtures per manufacturers directions and then unpark all of the channels.

I run the macros manually but I guess you could link them to a preset.

Take care,

John

Hi Sarah

thanks for getting back to me i do like that idea, If its in "exclusive" no matter what you do will no alterations will happen to theses channels unless the independent button is pushed?

Someone was saying about parking channels? would that help? if so how do i do that? or would the best option be to put them on independent?

Cheers 

Yes, "Exclusive" means that no other channel controls can touch those channels. Both Masters and Independents can be Exclusive.

Parking channels is another way of ensuring that no channel controls can touch a channel.

• To Park a channel, select it, set to a level then [Park] & [CH/ID]
• To Unpark, select channels, [C/Alt] & [Park]

As to which method to choose, it's really down to your style of operation:

Parked channels don't show their 'real' level in Live while Exclusive do. To Park/Unpark Parked channels you will need to use the keypad while Masters/Independents let you hit a button/move a fader.

Both methods can be automated, Exclusive Masters by Master Links and Park functions by Macros.