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Dimmer Flickering on an iPC

I have a customer running an iPC that is experiencing flickering outputs from dimmers at 0%. If he gives them an intensity value of 1%, the problem disappears. It's a permanent install and they have the iPC connected to their Lectrol dimmers via a Pathport network.

He said an old remedy for that problem was to adjust the DMX refresh rate of the console, but he didn't see anyway to do that in the Hog 3 manual. I am wondering if it's a dimmer issue or perhaps noise on the Ethernet line in the Pathport network. I don't see how the console could be causing it unless there is something to the DMX refresh issue.

Anyone else dealt with a problem like this? Thanks in advance.


Travis Slyter
Ruehling Associates, Inc.
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    You can slow down the DMX output from the iPC by going to the network window, choosing the virtual DP, press "settings" and look at the "DMX" section. Frankly though, the better plack to tweak the DMX settings is at the Pathport output node where it feeds the dimmers.

    With that being said, I'm not entirely sure DMX timing changes will solve your problem. How old are the dimmers, and are they natively DMX dimmers, or do they have some kind of converter? What kind of load do they have on the dimmer that is flickering?

    A common fix for SCR dimmers flickering at low levels is to add a ghost load of around 25 to 50% of the rated output. So if you have a 20 amp dimmer trying to run a strand of christmas lights, plug a 500 watt fresnel into the same dimmer and hide it somewhere. Dimmers (especially older dimmers) don't like to run very low-current loads.
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    You can slow down the DMX output from the iPC by going to the network window, choosing the virtual DP, press "settings" and look at the "DMX" section. Frankly though, the better plack to tweak the DMX settings is at the Pathport output node where it feeds the dimmers.

    With that being said, I'm not entirely sure DMX timing changes will solve your problem. How old are the dimmers, and are they natively DMX dimmers, or do they have some kind of converter? What kind of load do they have on the dimmer that is flickering?

    A common fix for SCR dimmers flickering at low levels is to add a ghost load of around 25 to 50% of the rated output. So if you have a 20 amp dimmer trying to run a strand of christmas lights, plug a 500 watt fresnel into the same dimmer and hide it somewhere. Dimmers (especially older dimmers) don't like to run very low-current loads.
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