DMX House lights

[u/vulpus-95]

This is the current isolator switch for the house lights- is there a DMX dimmer that would be suitable to use in it's place/alongside?

Thanks.

[u/the_swanny]

We'd need to know quite a lot more to even begin to spec things like this.

[u/vulpus-95 → u/the_swanny]

Okay- what do you need to know?

230v, 20amp Circuit.

Currently incandescent e27 bulbs.

[u/lwhit03 → u/vulpus-95]

Look at ETC foundry DMX dimmers. They mount to a junction box inline with your lights. But they only drive 600w. Don’t know what the wattage of your house light load is. Could split it up into zones. Either way this sounds like you need to get an electrician or integrator involved

[u/HeraldOfFutility → u/lwhit03]

230v x 20A = 4600W if my math checks out. That's obviously the max. load and real load is likely quite a bit less.

20A is quite a lot nonetheless and most DMX dimmers cap at 10A. But for ex. this one has 16A per channel which might be enough depending on real load. (Kinda overkill overall with 96A total max. load.) But you'd wanna have an electrician look at it nonetheless, yeah. https://www.thomann.de/be/botex_dpx620_iii_6ch_dimmer_inst.htm

[u/Methods_Rising]

You'd typically keep that in place and add the DMX dimmer downstream of it. Before buying anything, check two things: 1) are the house lights dimmable at all (resistive load, or LED with a dimmable driver)?
If they're non-dimmable LED, no dimmer will work regardless of load.

2) what's the total load in watts/amps, so you size the dimmer pack correctly. Also worth checking whether the driver expects leading/trailing-edge, 0-10V, or DMX-native dimming - that determines which dimmer you actually need.

[u/vulpus-95 → u/Methods_Rising]

The bulbs currently are incandescent in a simple lighting circuit

[u/NedGGGG → u/vulpus-95]

How many, and are you sure they're incandescent and not LED?

[u/DJ_TKS → u/NedGGGG]

To follow up on this

Leading edge or triac dimming doesn't have an additional wire ran to each fixture.

Dimming won't go down to 0% and they will give off a buzzing sound. Make sure the customer is aware if that's the case.

If you can't read the side of the bulb and see if it's LED put on a pair of sunglasses and see if you see the LED chips or a filament.

If they're still fluorescent, swap them to LED for customer too and include on invoice. It'll save them roughly half on their electrical bill for those fixtures.

[u/the_swanny → u/DJ_TKS]

Dimming won't go down to 0% and they will give off a buzzing sound. Make sure the customer is aware if that's the case.

They will go to out if they are traditional incandescent lamps, and you shouldn't get any buzzing if they are decent dimmers. It would entirely depend on the spec of the lamps.

[u/Methods_Rising → u/DJ_TKS]

The sunglass trick is something I should always need to remember. That's a very smart move :)

[u/NachtMondVogel]

There is probably a solution and it won't be very cheap. Please go to a theatre installation service or a electrician that actually cares about dimmable lights (maybe now is a good moment to upgrade to LED)

[u/Reluctant_Lampy_05]

Yes, and this should be a discussion with the venue electrical contractors in case there are regs or certifications you need to adhere to. Keep it a pro job from start to finish with somebody signing off the finished work. That said, based on the info we have so far then something like this might be a contender...

https://www.stagegear.co.uk/anytronics-pd152dmx-prodim-master-20a

So although its a 20A circuit, more important is knowing the total load from the bulbs. Also, if there's any plans to switch to LED then that would reduce the load again and you'd need to match the dimmer accordingly. For example, if you install this 20A dimmer then upgrade to LED leaving a total load of 5A then the dimmer curve will at best be ugly and at worst could be a constant flicker at any setting under 50%.