Backstage lighting control system on the fritz

I recently came into managing a high school theater that is used frequently for community events.  As typical, the school district has no interest in expenditures for maintaining the facility.  While it's a nicely designed and equipped theater, the joke in the community is how half the gear in it doesn't work.

The ETC Express 24/48 controller and stage lighting system work just fine.  What doesn't work right is what appears to be a custom ETC backstage/orchestra pit/catwalk lighting system as seen in one of the attached pictures.  When energized, at least some of the zones turn on and off on their own accord.  Everyone says "all" of the zones do this, but I have not yet confirmed that to be the case.  The district electrician says he doesn't know what the problem is and can't be bothered with additional request for fixing this.

I have also noticed that some of the multi-button wall switches work correctly and others don't.  That is, the ones that work correctly appear to toggle correctly since the indicator lamp turns on or off when the button is pressed.  Ones that don't work correctly don't change indication when the buttons are pressed, or when one button is pressed, a different or even multiple other  indicators go on or off on the wall plate.  Our wall plates vary from 2-button on up to 5-button models.

My question for anyone familiar with this system and repairing it is, does this random light switching happen because of faulty wall switches?  Or are the wall switches faulty because the controller module they are connected to is faulty and the random switching switching also happens because of the faulty controller module?

Any tips that can help pinpoint the issue will go a long way in getting repair parts and our electrician to get things fixed.

Thanks.

Parents
  • I have seen many systems that look very similar, but the core gear varies as with the age of the installation. You need to dig a bit further into the parts to know how to trace the issues. The upper slider and buttons, as well as the 2 button station shown are part of the Unison Legacy system, if they are at least 10 years old. They are computerized remotes that tell a central processor what to do. Replacing them might take a service call from an ETC trained technician.

    The worklight buttons are simple switches that may feed into the ETC Unison system or be completely isolated and go to something else by GE, Green Gate or a dozen other brands. These buttons can be replaced individually if you can find the parts. Knowing what relays they connect to is critical. 

    The good news is that ETC may have complete drawings of the system. Call tech support to request whatever they have. If you have some kind of label or sticker on your dimmer racks, that info might help them find your project. They can help with parts, diagnostics and finding a local technician. Much of this stuff is far beyond a maintenance tech. 

    Seeing a Unison button station half covering a 2 gang box tells me the installation was not perfect. Whether this was a minor contractor issue or if the whole project was a retrofit would be good to know. Most school districts keep copies of the construction drawings for the original buildings and major remodels. See if you can get a look at them as well. Note the dates! 

  • Thanks for the prompt reply. Please understand that I’m flying solo on this. No one seems to think it important enough to do anything about. Yes, I know there would be prints somewhere but again no one cares. My position as the community event theater manager is lower than the custodial staff. They won’t even give me a key to the handicapped elevator.

    The building is about 25 years old. I don’t know if this ETC system goes back that far, but it looks original to the building. I have not found any sort of programmable user interface. There’s no other visual sign other that the hinky wall plates of this possibly being a retrofit. 

    Attached is another picture of just the section on the wall controller that’s having the problem. Behind this switch panel are a number of circuit boards that these switches are wired to. I intuited that the unison wall switches also came to this box and tied to these cards but now that I think about it, I didn’t actually confirm the wiring paths.

    The low voltage output from these cards enters a conduit that goes up two floors to a large panel containing a large barrier strip and twenty or so relays with contacts wired to the neighboring breaker panel.  So power from the breakers goes through the contacts and on to the actual lighting fixtures or outlets and the coils are energized via the low voltage from the boards in the controller below.  The unison wall switches have no special programmed functions other than simply toggling the zone it’s wired to on and off. 

    Im pretty confident I can persuade the electrician with a case of beer to come over and solve this problem if I have a good hint at where to point him. So again, if anyone has any experience with a system of this vintage and what usually causes a zone to turn on or off randomly of its own accord, it would be immensely appreciated if you were willing to share that knowledge. 

  • Not seeing another photo.

    Do you have a really short dimmer rack? Or a small box painted the same tan as the main dimmers? Some of this stuff https://support.etcconnect.com/ETC/Architectural/Legacy_Unison

  • In what city are you located?

    ETC: (800)-688-4116, ask for lighting technical support.  They are in Wisconsin and on Central Time.

  • Possibly but the section of the controller I'm referring to does not involve dimmers, and the more I ponder it, the more certain I am that the section I'm talking about is completely discreet and doesn't involve a programmable controller.

    Sorry, I thought the picture posted with my previous post but obviously it didn't.  It's the picture down below.

Reply
  • Possibly but the section of the controller I'm referring to does not involve dimmers, and the more I ponder it, the more certain I am that the section I'm talking about is completely discreet and doesn't involve a programmable controller.

    Sorry, I thought the picture posted with my previous post but obviously it didn't.  It's the picture down below.

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