Is It Possible To Control Two Fixtures Separately If Plugged Into The Same Dimmer?

Question

Hi all,

I'm starting work at a high school venue and their main technician (just hired recently and there was bad blood from the previous employees that were fired so they are trying to figure out everything by themselves) gave me a heads up that their FOH electric is linked symmetrically. Odd? Example: They have 16 fixtures hanging and plugged in, lets just say 1 thru 16 from SL to SR, when you bring up 1, the fixtures in the 1 and 16 position both turn on, and if you bring up 8, the fixtures in the 8 and 9 position both turn on. I only got to look at their board for a few minutes, and didn't notice if anything was patched incorrectly, so I guess that's just how they have it wired, which makes no sense to me.

But, if there's no way to easily patch them correctly, I was wondering if two fixtures plugged into the same Dimmer be controlled separately since, unless we get someone to fix how it's setup, there's no way to separate them.

Thanks

tdrga · Accepted Answer

The answer, in general, is no - fixtures plugged in to the same dimmer come on together. 
 However, you can control two fixtures independently on the same dimmer only if all of the following things are true : 
 
 you have ETC Sensor dimmers 
 you have ETC's dimmer doubler "two-fers" 
 you have Source 4 fixtures 
 you put 77v lamps in the Source 4 fixtures 
 
 If you are really interested, I would recommend reaching out to your local ETC dealer for help in seeing if dimmer doubling is a possibility for you. 
 -Todd

Is It Possible To Control Two Fixtures Separately If Plugged Into The Same Dimmer?

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