3 weeks ago I switched on the stage lighting in a community hall for the first time since the Panto, First time as the only tech guy as my predecessor finally made official his oft mentioned intention to leave, however he had fairly obstinately refused to pass on any local knowledge and kept everything close to his chest.
So the switch-on... 2 neons lit on the dimmer pack but the 50 or so light fitting did nothing, assuming there was 'something else to do' I asked our leader to email aforementioned techie who simply mentioned the cooker switch beside the CU several days later. The following week I tried again and found the same non functioning situation. Unusually for me I'd cleared the car out so only had an infrequently used multimeter which contained a flat battery and a LED screwdriver.
The system consists of: B32 mcb, isolator (cooker switch), about half a dozen DSSOs (lucky for me labelled 'DMX power') to provide permanent power to the LED fittings and the 6 channel dimmer pack, fairly obviously cabled out to 6 13A DSSOs... oh and a SSSO making 7. So actually not much to it.
Mysonic LED screwdriver indicated the sockets were live but would not power anything so assumed lost neutral and I spent an hour climbing into several loft areas trying to chase the rats-nest of fairly poorly installed cables, specifically looking for junction boxes - to no avail and not even sure I was chasing the right cables. I headed to LIDL to purchase a meter battery which of course proved a lack of neutral at the 2 sockets I tested.
I knew the dimmer pack had power as 2 of the 6 neons were lit but the dimmer is on a shelf directly above the main switch, the latter fitted wooden shelf prevented the removal of the cooker switch face plate. the cupboard is under 700mm deep, the shelf the dimmer pack sits on is 350mm" deep and about 200mm" above the top of the door, The dimmer pack is 130mm and roughly another 250mm to the ceiling.
The selection of different wooden shelves below it range from 225mm to 450mm deep and to compound the access issues the AED prevents the door opening past about 70º
For those still readingthe sight line is shown at best by the darker grey line and purple shadow but realistically by the light grey line and lilac shadow.
The orange square is this
6mm² T&E comes bottom left:
Red into a 4mm² Terminal, top of the terminal is the 6mm² T&E to the dimmer pack along with a 1.5mm² T&E feeding the 'DMX power' sockets.
Black into a 4mm² terminal with a 1mm² link wire arrowed orange, 3 more 1mm² links until the black 6mm² T&E to the pack. All circled blue
As can just be seen the red 6mm² and the 1.5mm² insulation are too big to fit in the space in the 4mm² terminal moulding
The same is true for the blacks but doesn't really show in the pic.
However testing between the 2 terminals each side of the arrowed link I was a little surprised to find full mains voltage, the link looked like this
Note the bottom end looks nice and bright but the top end is burnt and otherwise dulled due to heating.
Confession time now, to get lights working to do programming for the next show I cleaned the link but no way could I get it in the terminal with the 6mm² so instead placed it in the top shown as orange. Powering up there was suddenly all 6 neons lit on the dimmer pack (I wonder if the 2 that were lit before are the blue and black in the same 'N' terminal which were the only 2 working neutrals) and the LED fittings showed their DMX addresses. I suspect that it was never clamped in the terminal, just trapped beside it.
I've been told this was installed by a qualified electrician years ago and reconfigured about 10 years ago by him when they started using LED fittings which will be the red/black 1.5mm² prominent at the top in the top of the permanent power - reminder this is running on a B32.
I understand he was there today rebuilding it.
So the switch-on... 2 neons lit on the dimmer pack but the 50 or so light fitting did nothing, assuming there was 'something else to do' I asked our leader to email aforementioned techie who simply mentioned the cooker switch beside the CU several days later. The following week I tried again and found the same non functioning situation. Unusually for me I'd cleared the car out so only had an infrequently used multimeter which contained a flat battery and a LED screwdriver.
The system consists of: B32 mcb, isolator (cooker switch), about half a dozen DSSOs (lucky for me labelled 'DMX power') to provide permanent power to the LED fittings and the 6 channel dimmer pack, fairly obviously cabled out to 6 13A DSSOs... oh and a SSSO making 7. So actually not much to it.
My
I knew the dimmer pack had power as 2 of the 6 neons were lit but the dimmer is on a shelf directly above the main switch, the latter fitted wooden shelf prevented the removal of the cooker switch face plate. the cupboard is under 700mm deep, the shelf the dimmer pack sits on is 350mm" deep and about 200mm" above the top of the door, The dimmer pack is 130mm and roughly another 250mm to the ceiling.
The selection of different wooden shelves below it range from 225mm to 450mm deep and to compound the access issues the AED prevents the door opening past about 70º
For those still readingthe sight line is shown at best by the darker grey line and purple shadow but realistically by the light grey line and lilac shadow.
The orange square is this
6mm² T&E comes bottom left:
Red into a 4mm² Terminal, top of the terminal is the 6mm² T&E to the dimmer pack along with a 1.5mm² T&E feeding the 'DMX power' sockets.
Black into a 4mm² terminal with a 1mm² link wire arrowed orange, 3 more 1mm² links until the black 6mm² T&E to the pack. All circled blue
As can just be seen the red 6mm² and the 1.5mm² insulation are too big to fit in the space in the 4mm² terminal moulding
However testing between the 2 terminals each side of the arrowed link I was a little surprised to find full mains voltage, the link looked like this
Confession time now, to get lights working to do programming for the next show I cleaned the link but no way could I get it in the terminal with the 6mm² so instead placed it in the top shown as orange. Powering up there was suddenly all 6 neons lit on the dimmer pack (I wonder if the 2 that were lit before are the blue and black in the same 'N' terminal which were the only 2 working neutrals) and the LED fittings showed their DMX addresses. I suspect that it was never clamped in the terminal, just trapped beside it.
I've been told this was installed by a qualified electrician years ago and reconfigured about 10 years ago by him when they started using LED fittings which will be the red/black 1.5mm² prominent at the top in the top of the permanent power - reminder this is running on a B32.
I understand he was there today rebuilding it.
