The DMX512.com Forum

General Category => DMX512 Discussions => Topic started by: shalben on September 19, 2009, 09:00:15 PM

Title: New to DMX
Post by: shalben on September 19, 2009, 09:00:15 PM

The school I teach at has just upgraded to a Leviton 48/96 light board and Leviton I96 dimmer rack after using an OLD EC dimmer rack and interface to a Strand 300 Series board. There is no DMX run anywhere in the auditorium. My question is this:
Can we plug DMX equipment into the dimmers using them as a normal outlet (ie, full on/off) and then dimming via DMX. My principal is VERY!!!! interested in LED border units to replace the old ones we currently have.

Title: Re: New to DMX
Post by: DMX512 on September 19, 2009, 10:57:19 PM

LED fixtures (or movers) should never be plugged into a standard dimmer outlet, but pluged directly into "proper" power, often called "hard" power.  Even at full output a dimmer channel is still chopping the waveform slightly, and if you accidently dim to the power to the fixture then bad things can happen to the fixture.

LED fixtures take a hard power feed, and a DMX512 feed, and you control the fixture using DMX512 control directly.  There are no dimmers involved, which saves your dimmers for fixtures that are supposed to be dimmed.