Setting a curve for a discharge lamp

first of all: be careful, using a regular dimmer can damage both your fixture and your dimmer.

i suggest using a ETC Thru Power module, which are available for sensor racks.

in your ion, don't patch it as Dimmer but as Generic > ND. this will even help you recognize them better in Live as you get marked tombstones

Will it damage the fixture and dimmers even if its not being dimmed? But just switched on, left on for 15mins or so and then turned off.

All I will be using the dimmers for is a source of power.

Or is it just dodgy to do this?

The problem is that dimmers never output 100%, i.e. a perfect sine, even when you tell it to be full... I'm not saying everything will blow up in seconds. But I'm not telling you to do it without thinking carefully about it.

ageyreader said:

Can I set a 'switch like' function on the Ion? So they don't dim and are either on or off. Can I set a Curve? If so how do I do this?

Absolutely not.
Most professional dimmers have soft-start, topset/bottomset and/or voltage regulation features.
These are great for tungsten and other dimmable loads, but mean that 0% DMX input isn't necessarily 0% output, and 100% DMX input may not always give 100% output.

ageyreader said:

If I can do this, what is best, to do this on the dimmers? Or on the desk itself ?

The only place to consider this is at the dimmers.
Most dimmers have a "Switched" mode where they disable all the above features and only output Zero or Full, regardless of the DMX input.

However, many non-dimmable devices can still be damaged if they are driven from a dimmer in switched mode, or even a "solid-state-switch" (which is the same electronics but without a choke)

The first thing to do is to check with the manufacturer or supplier of the non-dim device to find out whether it can be run from a dimmer in switch mode.

If they can, then you're fine - set the dimmer to switch mode and off you go!

If they cannot, then you'll need to find a relay solution.

If your dimmers are Sensor racks, this is really easy!
You can either swap the dimmer module for a relay module or if you have our ThruPower modules, simply set the circuit to Switch mode and that automagically turns it into a relay.

This is great thank you so much.

I will do all of the above. Checking with the manufacturer is good idea.

We have Strand Act 6 Digtal dimmers and I am pretty sure you can set these to a switch mode.

Again its much appreciated.

This great thank you do much.

I will do all of the above. Checking with the manufacturer is good idea.

We have Strand Act 6 Digtal dimmers and I am pretty sure you can set these to a switch mode.

Again its much appreciated.