Replacing dimmers

[doughecka]

In our sanctuary, we have 6-7 dimmers that control the house lights. These dimmers have been in place for over 10 years, and are getting... 'scratchy'. Turning them up quickly doesn't show it, but slowly raising the brightness causes the lights to pulse and flicker. Plus, to turn the lights down and back up requires 2 ushers (with a foam covered wood stick to run across the top of the dimmers) to stand there and control them.

Each dimmer has 2, 6 bulb, light fixtures attached to it. I'd have to verify the wattage, but even with 60 watt bulbs we are talking about 720 watts per dimmer. And boy do those dimmers get hot. And for some reason I think we have 100 watt bulbs in there.

What are my options to replace these dimmers with something more... modern? Each dimmer takes up a whole 2 gang box, and I'm assuming both light fixtures are wired together, so I have to control both as one. Half of the dimmers are at the back of the auditorium, and the rest are at the front. I'd love to have more control over them, possibly from the soundbooth. We rarely do anything more fancy than turning them off/back on, so we don't NEED a fancy DMX system (yet), but the simple ability to press a button to fade them to off, and press another button to fade them all on would be a huge improvement.

Another thought would be to try florescent bulbs... we tried them in the past, but it was really annoying (all the bulbs seemed to flicker, and I'm not sure about how well they dimmed). Perhaps purchasing better quality dimmable bulbs+new dimmers would work better? I know at my work office, we have canned lights around the perimeter of our conference room, and they dim perfectly, even though they are florescent. Of course they are special bulbs, but surely by now (its 2011 for crying out loud!) we would have a more energy efficient house lighting technology that dims properly.

[sempei13]

So these are in-wall dimmers? Kinda like the rhenostat I have in my dining room for my chandelier?

If I were starting from scratch, I'd do dimmer packs and a lighting board. You could do something like Pulseworx PCS and put several switches together in a single scene.

Fluorescents aren't going to dim well (unless they're the special dimable type).

Paul

[doughecka]

Yes, in-wall dimmers, with big knobs. Those pulseworx controllers sound pretty interesting... fairly cheap too, although we would still be looking at over $2000 in dimmer packs alone. Plus the 'remote' for the soundbooth... probably worth it, especially with the existing dimmers starting to act flakey.

As for the CFLs... it might be worth getting the special dimmable ones, if they work. Surely, with the huge push to be 'green', dimmable CFL bulbs would be fairly common. The energy cost savings would probably make it worth it.

Thanks!

[doughecka]

Hmmm, "Wall Switch – Electronic Low Voltage Dimmer (WS1E)":

The WS1E Wall Switch ELV Dimmer is a high quality home automation dimmer switch that is capable of transmitting and receiving digital commands and status over the existing powerlines.

Designed specifically to control electronic low voltage AC lighting ballasts or transformers.

Smells like CFL to me. Almost seems like you have to make the decision up front now... Incandescent, or CFL. Different dimmers for different lights. If I could see in 'real life' how the CFLs look and operate I might be inclined to go the CFL route. Even if its more expensive up front, the savings over the next... 10 years might be worth it.

[cw4u]

Originally Posted by sempei13

Fluorescents aren't going to dim well (unless they're the special dimable type).

And even those sometimes don't work. I had to go to a etc sensor dimming rack and switch the breaker over on some dimmable fluorescent during the middle of a show because they wouldn't turn off. Also, mine only dimmed down in 20% steps and dimmed all the way up at 50%.

Maybe it was bad lamps but it has changed my perception on dimmable fluorescents entirely. Either stick with traditionals or go with LEDs.

[doughecka]

Originally Posted by cw4u

And even those sometimes don't work. I had to go to a etc sensor dimming rack and switch the breaker over on some dimmable fluorescent during the middle of a show because they wouldn't turn off. Also, mine only dimmed down in 20% steps and dimmed all the way up at 50%.

Maybe it was bad lamps but it has changed my perception on dimmable fluorescents entirely. Either stick with traditionals or go with LEDs.

That's a good point... incandescent bulbs WORK until they burn out. There isn't any need to 'reboot' a regular bulb

Well, I'll pass this info along and see what comes of it... thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[D.R.HADDOCK]

Are you wanting to use domestic type dimmers ?
Or professional grade theatre type racks ?
Most smaller type domestic dimmers will get hot
because there is usually little or no ventilation on them
that would allow the heat to dissapate.
How ever if you use proper theatre style dimmer racks
properly installed with good ventilation then all
these problems would go away.

I use theatre style racks and because they are
very well made, I have never had any significant
problems with them, they just keep going and going,
dispite the fact that they handle large loads.

I have two 12ch racks,
Feed by 3 phases of 240v at 50a per phase.

What are your thoughts ?