Dimming Sodium Lights via zero 88?

[jcassidy92]

Hi guys, currently we have 11 fixed wall sodium lights that take about 5 mins to turn on. They are on 3 circuits which are controlled outside the auditorium with standard switches. We also recently had 6 hanging centre sodium lights hanging from the ceiling, which are on a separate 2 circuits behind a curtain in our auditorium. All our other floods and generic lights are off our dimmer packs. 2 x 24 channel dimmers. And 1 x 12 channel dimmer. Can I some how have the sodiums controlled via other people on a switch again for other people that use the building and have me have a separate controller or something that zero 88 have that can control these lights aswell?

All help appreciated

[millamber]

Sodium vapor HID fixtures cannot be dimmed, so controlling them off a dimmer won't work. There might be a way to put in a DMX relay to send a dry contact signal to the sodium circuit, but it would depend on the wiring.

[james tucker]

We have a gym/auditorium in our school with a pile of metal halide fixtures for sports stuff... When they requested dimmable house lighting, we installed a bunch of Source 4 Pars on their own dimming system, it looks great.... The money/fixtures cost a lot though.

I saw another church where they simply replaced each halide fixture with source 4 pars with the XWFL lense and used the existing wiring to power the fixtures... then hard wired a dimmer pack at the power panel to dim the fixtures... It was bright enough to read your Bible but probably not play basketball.

Another random idea is taking some par 64's and aiming them at the ceiling....
There is a church here in town that rented my pars and dimming specifically to toss light at their ceiling for church services while their auditorium was being renovated. Not as pretty as direct downlight, but does the job.

We have a gym/auditorium in our school with a pile of metal halide fixtures for sports stuff... When they requested dimmable house lighting, we installed a bunch of Source 4 Pars on their own dimming system, it looks great.... The money/fixtures cost a lot though. I saw another church where they simply replaced each halide fixture with source 4 pars with the XWFL lense and used the existing wiring to power the fixtures... then hard wired a dimmer pack at the power panel to dim the fixtures... It was bright enough to read your Bible but probably not play basketball. Another random idea is taking some par 64's and aiming them at the ceiling.... There is a church here in town that rented my pars and dimming specifically to toss light at their ceiling for church services while their auditorium was being renovated. Not as pretty as direct downlight, but does the job.

We have a gym/auditorium in our school with a pile of metal halide fixtures for sports stuff... When they requested dimmable house lighting, we installed a bunch of Source 4 Pars on their own dimming system, it looks great.... The money/fixtures cost a lot though. I saw another church where they simply replaced each halide fixture with source 4 pars with the XWFL lense and used the existing wiring to power the fixtures... then hard wired a dimmer pack at the power panel to dim the fixtures... It was bright enough to read your Bible but probably not play basketball. Another random idea is taking some par 64's and aiming them at the ceiling.... There is a church here in town that rented my pars and dimming specifically to toss light at their ceiling for church services while their auditorium was being renovated. Not as pretty as direct downlight, but does the job.

[Steve Vanciel]

Originally Posted by jcassidy92

...sodium lights that take about 5 mins to turn on...

That is a major drawback of sodium (and mercury) vapor lights, it takes some time for the elements to heat up and produce the full output. Also, when you turn them off, they have to cool down before they will re-light which adds even more time. Given the added factor that their output is so color ugly, most people opt for a separate fixture for controllable light.

SteveV
Orlando, FL

[EmilBarnabas]

You could make some shutters and control them with a solenoid. That way, you are not turning the light on and off, you are just shuttering the light. I've seen it done at a sports arena so they could quickly darken the room and quickly light it back up.

The simpler approach, as has been mentioned, is to add some dimmable lights to use when you need dimmable house lights. Save the non-dimmable lights for the basketball games.