# Pactching



## Dean (Feb 13, 2004)

Just a quick question

Im setting up a perminent rig on monday.. 

```
BOARD ---[DMX]--->  Dimmer > (Fixture 1/2/3/4/etc) ---[DMX]--->Terminate
```

Ok now how do i tell the board what DMX address the dimmer has? or are they just 0:1 0:2 or what ever.. or can i use a 1:1 Patch feature it has.. 

Also for the production ill be using a few movers
```
BOARD ---[DMX]---> Dimmer (Fixture 1/2/3/4/etc) ---[DMX]---> Mover 1 ---[DMX]---> Mover 2 [terminate]
```

Is that correct?

PS: Gr8 site


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## wolf825 (Feb 14, 2004)

Hiya, 
What is your console? Is there a soft patch computer screen, or an older hard patch assign board? Do you know what your Dimmer pack address is? FWIW, soft patching is just a matter of telling the console which DMX channels you want in which control channels of the console... i.e. Channel 1 on the console can be DMX dimmer 1 and channel 2 can be DMX dimmer channel 2 as in a 1:1 patch...or channel 1 can DMX dimmers 1-6 in a non 1:1 patch if you assign them that way. Given you have movers--I would presume you have a soft patch...don't forget to consider that most movers use up several channels of DMX per address--some can take up as much as 20 channels of DMX to control their various features--and each of these features if you are not using a moving light console should be assigned to its own channel for individual control--and then you have varying percentages per channel that will control various attributes and functions. So make sure you check your patch numbers so you don't have overlaps or conflicts. 

Also--while you are looping movers out of your dimmer racks--I may suggest that if possible you either use a second universe of DMX for your movers and the first universe of DMX for your dimmers--provided your console is capable of multiple universes. OR use an opti-iso splitter to send DMX split and isolated to two different things and terminate at each line, and not run your DMX from your console, thru your packs, and into your movers--there is the possibility of signal interference or loss between the dimmers and the movers, for example as the movers can sometimes use talk-back functions, or just cause grounding interferences that can degrade or cause problems in the signal and control. Just an FYI---cause it is a possibility... 


-wolf


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Hey!

I'll be using a Axiom [Manual]



I'm unsure of the Dimmer - but the board has TTY/Termnial output

Don't have any movers yet.

Thanks for your help


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## wolf825 (Feb 14, 2004)

Hiya, 
I've never used the Axiom...but it looks similar to a Jands-hog console. I skimmed the manual link you provided--The Axiom is 512ch of DMX..so its one universe able to handle 512 channels max. It also has both the ability to 1:1 patch or to soft-patch assign dimmers to channels rather easily. So that should not be a problem for ya. 
Please feel free to post any questions and folks here will be glad to help you out as best as possible.. We have quite a few folks on board who may be familiar with your set up more too. 

-wolf


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

So i select the 1:1 Patch option?


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

Axiom is more like a very simple version of the Jands Event desks Wolf....

We have one at work, and yes you can softpatch on the desk


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

> ONE TO ONE PATCH
> Selecting a 1 to 1 patch will automatically perform the following operations;
> l Erase the current patch.
> l Set all dimmers to HTP types.
> ...


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Thanks Heaps Crusier..
Im so pumped for monday - hanging my own lights [kinda] for the first time -


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

Yes, you set the desk to 1:1 patching and into wide mode. As moving lights can sometimes take up to 21 channels to operate, and the Axiom does not provide a feature for moving lights you must have 1:1 patching which means each channel will control a different attribute of your moving light, generally: pan, tilt, gobo1, gobo2, gobo3, colour plate 1, colour plate 2, colour plate 3, focus etc. 

On your moving lights though, you have to set in their menu that their channels start at say 13-18 and the second one from 19-24 and use 1-12 as your generic dimmer channels.


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

ok so when i have my movers ile have

1-12 Dimmer 1
13-18 Moving 1
19-24 Moving 2 
24-36 Dimmer 2 ?

How do you set the Dimmer DMX addresses?


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

If you have two dimmers then it would probably be more logical to do Rack 1: 1-12 and Rack 2: 13-24.

What type of moving lights will you be using and I can tell you what patches to put for them and how many channels does your desk have... is it a 48 channel axiom?


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

12 Channel 


Movers - i am unsure

but - how do i set dimmer dmx values?


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

On your racks, depending on what brand there will be either 3 turning dials, or 3 dip switches that are number units, tens, hundreds. so 001 means channel one.

So on your first rack you would set it to 001.
and
On your second rack you would number it 013. This means the first rack starts at channel 1, and the second rack will start at channel 13. 
This is of cause presuming you have 12 channel dimmer racks. Im guessing you are in either Australia or England cause i think we are one of the only countries that has the Axiom desks :S


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Thanks heaps 


[in hobart ]


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

Ah nice, my family is from Tassie but we are in Melbourne now!

Glad the info helped you!

let us know if you have any more probs.... From looking at your photo looks like you have a Jands CCT rack maybe?
if not LSC touring series?


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

I'll find out .. pix of my attempt @ rigging + console usage hopefully on monday arvo


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

What show were you rigging for?

Just out of curiosity, was that your bio box the desk was in?


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Just rigging for fun + general use + learn the console 


BTW: I have no idea how many fixtures ile be dealing with.. but im thinking of aiming them H:45* V:36* into 9 sections of the stage .. sound good?


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

BTW: That room isnt mine - yet.


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

If it is just as a standard rig then yeah by all means.

With my standard rig I have 4 on stage bars, LX1 and LX2 have the same fixtures to give an even wash of the stage in OW, Red, Blue and Green and on my LX3 i have a similar arangement but slightly different and on LX4 I have my cyc washes.

I have two FOH bars and Two side of stage booms which I use for spots and specials


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)




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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

looks almost identical to the drama room at my school, except we dont have a stage, but have a raked seating area like a basketball stadium


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

So just thinking : 

So with washes do u just have an even number of warm/cool [red/blue] gels?


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

Yeah, Generally the same amount depends on what your going to do and how wide your stage is.... 10-15 meters you just need 2 clusters of the same colours... anything bigger it might be advisable to put a third cluster in the middle so you have 

R/B/G OP -----OW--------- R/B/G C ---------- OW-----------R/B/G PS
or
R/B/G OP ---------------OW-------------------OW-------------R/B/G PS

if you can understand that


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

hmm.. If you gave me your stage dimensions, number of on stage bars/patch points and your fixtures i could probably whip you up a block diagram...


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Heh i wishi had that data my self
Guesstamates:

Width= 7m
Height = .9m
Depth = 4.8
Bars = 3 Height = 3.5m
The Dimmer is 16ch .. so if its prob 5/bar 
thx


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

let me know when you ahve got a list of what fixtures you ahve, just roughly and ill draw something up for you!


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

Thx for the offer but when i kno - they would be hung - could u make 1 say 10 profiles/cans + 5 washes


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## cruiser (Feb 14, 2004)

Sure, leave it with me. I will get back to you sometime tomorrow with it.

just confirming you wanted 10 Profiles for specials and 5 different colours in a full stage wash?


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## Dean (Feb 14, 2004)

yup.. thx


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## Dean (Feb 16, 2004)

All went well - http://scopehost.com/PAC/


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## Nephilim (Feb 16, 2004)

WOOOO Australian GPO sockets! FAR superior to 'edison' when it comes to inexpensive mains termination.

Ship, would you happen to know if there's a NEMA or other US standard pin format that matches the Australian GPO (General Power Outlet) pin format - slanted active and neutral, and vertical, extended ground pin. I've seen large high-current high-voltage plugs that look like larger versions of the Australian GPO but haven't seen one exactly like it. It's a 240V, usually 10A rated deal.


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## ship (Feb 16, 2004)

Heard my name. Oh' was I supposted to be watching this? Sorry I have not patched anything in at least 7 years so I would tend to leave advice in it up to those that know more than I do. After the first couple of pages, I realized it was in really good hands and stopped reading the half English, half Greek.

By the way, I don't know if it's just me being grumpy (by the way, I'm not that old and I did like rock angel's book drawing) but posted photos and avatars annoy me if not on equipment. Don't know what it is, perhaps just the black white and grey of the forum, or it's proportions, but for me artistically speaking, when I see a full color E-photo in a submission it sends my eyes into shock. Like what's this world coming to and why is my Cannon Rebel college graduation present now useless? Anyway, a note to Dave. If you are going to allow full size and full color photos, perhaps a change in the text/background would be in order to frame the picture better. Besides kids in plad skirts without an explenation of what's going on in the photo belongs in another section of the forum. 

Still, it is neat to see photos posted in the forum, Kudos to the poster.

But back to the question I stumbled upon by accident as it were because I was not following this section.


Ah' after two read throughs on the plug I know what you talk about with the slanted prongs. How about a Nema 7-15R or 7-15P, which would be a 277v/15amp plug. Otherwise anything in the 7 series followed by the amperage up to 50 amp/277v. Perhaps I should bring home a extra Leviton and Hubble catalog for questions like this. Think I even have a fresh poster, perhaps I should frame it with white on black. There is also the 10 series which is 125/250v starting as far as I can tell at 20 amp and going to 30 amp. This is what the Backstage Handbook lists at least. Were I at work I would have a complete Nema chart much less slide rules for plug choosing to look at.

I'll have to look in the morning for anything 240v/10 amp. I doubt I'll find it because it's Euro Voltage not ours which does 250v/15 amp for it's norm on that type of power source.

Extended ground pin is the norm for all plugs, after that there might be plugs similar in shape and size but I doubt they will be compatable, mixing voltages/frequencies between types of plug is usually a bad idea thus the differences in dia. and layout. 

Might be similar but the dia. would at least hopefully be different. Our hot and High leg for 120/240v combined on a delta system, or 240v legs on a 240/480 delta system would not be good to be mixing with your plugs and equipment on a 50hz 220/240v system. Or would it work on a leg from a 240/480 delta line? Just a question of where you are tapping the neutral from I guess. I dont' have much training or experience with the other types of power sources. Don't see them used much here. The factor might be in the frequency also, a higher frequency might or might not burn up your electronics. I have seen postings about frequency differences go both ways.


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## cruiser (Feb 16, 2004)

Go australian plugs!


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## Mayhem (Feb 16, 2004)

Dean said:


> All went well - http://scopehost.com/PAC/



Ahhh - the Jands Roadpack Digital. I rescued one of these little nuggets from becoming landfill after it caught on fire and lost 1 phase. Some tender loving, 12 new fuse holders and a good service the little thing lives once again. And all for under $100 (parts) - about US$75

Just something to note. The transformers (there is one per phase) are prone to failure on these products and up until recently a replacement part was not available. So, as a result, may units were either thrown out or stuck into a back room somewhere or stripped for spares. An off the shelf transformer is now available (I cannot remember from where) which will fit onto the existing board with very little modification. So if you ever drop a phase, and it is the unit(easy way to check is to swap the transformer (obviously done by a qualified person)), don't let anyone tell you that the unit is stuffed. Unless of course, you want to use this as an excuse to upgrade your dimmer.

I am posting this for anyone who has one of these units - especially if it is a little sick!

Cheers,


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## Dean (Feb 16, 2004)

I wouldnt mind a new dimmer - or two - considering we have 35 sockets


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## cruiser (Feb 16, 2004)

Yeah I have known that problem with the old racks, we had a couple at school, they have just seemed to vanish! wouldnt mind a few extra racks now (we have an event 48+ with 3 racks) some shows im desperate to run wide but never have enough chans.

When i frist looked at it i thought it was a cct though 

Whats this, we're talking about australian stuff on an american site... so hows everyones bio boxes? lol


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## Dean (Feb 16, 2004)

Were taking over


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## Mayhem (Feb 16, 2004)

cruiser said:


> Whats this, we're talking about australian stuff on an american site... so hows everyones bio boxes? lol



And...


Dean said:


> Were taking over



Next they will be saying "G'day" and eating Vegemite!

Hey - wouldn't that make a great poll? "have you ever eaten Vegemite?" We would only need 4 response options:
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] No, but I have heard the Men at work song "Downunder"
[ ] What the . . .

Or even "How many times can you fit Texas into Western Australia??

Cheers,


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## Nephilim (Feb 16, 2004)

ship said:


> The factor might be in the frequency also, a higher frequency might or might not burn up your electronics. I have seen postings about frequency differences go both ways.



Australian supply is 50Hz. As for phasing etc it's been so long I can't remember... what I do remember is the Clipsal plug, 5 pins in a cross arrangement. Perhaps someone can fill in what the pin assigment there is.

Thanks for feeding my curiosity 

Yes, I eat Vegemite regularly; Cost Plus carries it for US$3 per small jar.


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## Mayhem (Feb 16, 2004)

Nephilim said:


> Australian supply is 50Hz. As for phasing etc it's been so long I can't remember... what I do remember is the Clipsal plug, 5 pins in a cross arrangement. Perhaps someone can fill in what the pin assignment there is.



If you were looking at a 5 pin 3 phase socket (or at the back of a 5 pin 3 phase plug) from top to bottom and left to right, the pins are:

Active 2 
Active 1, Neutral, Active 3 
Earth 

3 phase motors do not require a Neutral as (very basically) the 3 active phases are 120 degrees out of phase with each other. Each of the three windings in the motor are energised in sequence, thus causing the armature to rotate. Some one may want to correct or better phrase this.

Hope this helps!

Oh - by the way Dean if you (or anyone else) wants the user manual for the Jands Roadpack Digital. The nice guys there scanned me one and sent it as a .pdf

Cheers,


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## Dean (Feb 16, 2004)

Can you email me that - deanbarnett at netspace dot net dot au


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## ship (Feb 17, 2004)

I found a Aussie plug in stock. It was rated for 10A/250v. Are you sure about the 240v rating?

I did not have any of the US plugs in stock that would fit but do at home. I'll bring the receptacle to work in the morning and match up one to another. Looks like they just might work together in plugging one into another.


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## Dean (Feb 17, 2004)

240V 

BTW: more pics @ http://www.gycproduction.tk


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## Mayhem (Feb 17, 2004)

Our voltage is 240V single phase and 415V three phase but the plugs and sockets are normally rated at 250V (as you normally get about 249V at the source) and 500V for the three phase (as the phase to phase voltage is close to this level).

www.clipsal.com.au has an online catalogue if you are interested. I have not had a look for a while so I may be slightly off on my ratings.

Dean - did you get the manual?

Cheers,


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## Dean (Feb 17, 2004)

Yeah - Cheers 

BTW: Its playing up - put it on a DBO this arvo.. turned the board off... dimmer maxed out channel 2... PLUS dimmer was left on all night... 3/5/7 were full up :|


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## cruiser (Feb 17, 2004)

Yeah, I was just going to say what Mayhem said Ship.... It is rated at 250v although it is a 240v output


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## Mayhem (Feb 17, 2004)

Dean said:


> Yeah - Cheers
> 
> BTW: Its playing up - put it on a DBO this arvo.. turned the board off... dimmer maxed out channel 2... PLUS dimmer was left on all night... 3/5/7 were full up :|



Ok - this may sound a little patronising, but that is not my intent. It is something that can happen with this dimmer.

Have you checked that the "test" mode is not activated on Ch2 and that the test level is not on full? If this is the case, adjusting the test level will cause the intensity of the lamp to change. This is a very handy function of this dimmer (as is the inbuilt chases) but it can catch people out. Someone may have been ‘playing’!

If this is not the cause, check to see what happens when you fade up/down on Ch2 (via your desk) Does the lamp flicker? If so, it is probably the optocoupler. This is a little 6 leg IC that turns the triac on/off (in turn driving the lamp (very simple exp)).

These units have the optocouplers soldered directly onto the main board and it can make for a bit of fun to change them. They can be modified to accept IC sockets but the spacing of the legs means that you have to use the (cheap) std ones and it can be a bit tricky, as they have to be bent.

With the power to the dimmer disconnected race the output on Ch2 back to the triac, and then trace back to the optocoupler. Replace it. Also look for any mechanical faults and you may wish to replace the others that you are concerned about as well. If you are not confident in your ability to do this, have it done by a service tech.

If you have any troubles let me know and I will see if I can rip the lid of mine and take some pics to assist you.

Cheers,


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## Dean (Feb 17, 2004)

Nope test mode was off.. i even tried turning it on and dimming it down via that - lost ya on the rest of the post


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## Mayhem (Feb 17, 2004)

Dean said:


> Nope test mode was off.. i even tried turning it on and dimming it down via that - lost ya on the rest of the post



LOL - sorry! Probably best to source out someone who services electronic equipment. Or, if you have any teachers from an electronics course or perhaps the manual arts department you could ask them.

Did you test what happens to Ch 2 when you dim it from the lighting desk?

I was thinking about this a bit more and I am pretty sure that you can get to the underside of the main board by taking off the base plate. I can check if you like. It is a pretty simple job to replace an optocoupler BUT only if you are confident in your soldering ability.

Cheers,


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## ship (Feb 17, 2004)

The Australian plug did not match up with the NEMA plug closest to it. The Aussie plug had a slightly smaller distance between pins.

Normally in situations like this it’s just a question of making up adaptors. In fact, though I did not check it I probably have some adaptors pre-made already for our own uses or from shows that have gone down there. I know I have an entire 5-drawer file cabinet full of 16a Cee form adaptors to NEMA and stage pin plugs, plus the various misc. other foreign and odd adaptors taking up even more file cabinets.

Were I you given an intent to adapt to something in America or more around the world used, I would adapt to stage pin/slip 2P&G plugs. Same rating, but in general, nope it would seem they are not the same in fitting with other things. Plus that pin configuration/style is not used for much more than air conditioners here.


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## Nephilim (Feb 18, 2004)

ship said:


> The Australian plug did not match up with the NEMA plug closest to it. The Aussie plug had a slightly smaller distance between pins.



That's probably a metric vs imperial problem. Interesting info though, thanks


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