Dimmers/Jands Rack

The Jands Dimmer system is a 48 way dimmer, system bought by the union in December 2010 to replace the old Betapack I dimmer racks and demux. It is located in the stage left wing next to the distro and rubber box.

The System

The Dimmer system itself is not a particular make or model, but rather 4 Jands FPX 12 channel dimmers installed into a flight case with power distribution, a patch panel, soca panel, Optosplitter and cooling system.

Jands FPX 12 Channel Dimmers

Each Jands FPX dimmer is a 12 channel unit. Each of the 12 channels has an individual circuit breaker. The system can be programmed with a basic chase, or controlled via DMX. Channels 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 are each on a separate phase.

The manual for these units is available from the Jands Website.

Power Distribution

The Jands dimmer system requires 125A three phase power, supplied via the Powerlock inputs on the rear, under the soca panel. These connectors are provided by a jump from the 125A ceeform, which comes from the Understage Isolators.

At the front of the unit, there are circuit breakers - one for each module, as well as the "auxilliary" 16A ceeform outputs on the back. We don't use these outputs, so when powering up the Dimmer Racks there is no need to switch the auxilliary section on.

Patch Panel and Socapex

The back panel consists of 16 soccapex outputs. Beneath are 3 16 amp single phase switching power C-form outputs, and 1 16 amp three phase switching power C-form output. Under that are the 5 powerlock connectors

On the top panel is a patch panel, which uses a wire-board patch system. Soccapex outputs are on the back end of the patch panel, and the channels are on the front end. Channels 1-12 link to the top FPX dimmer, 13-24 the 2nd, 25-36 the 3rd and 37-48 the 4th. The Gray cables used for patching are kept on the wall by the staircase to the floor. Cross phasing is not an issue with this dimmer system.