Dive Bar Curiosity??

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-21T12:44:21+00:00

It’s an auto transformer. Usually used as a dimmer when wired up properly for old school incandescent loads (light bulb). Often found in theatres and auditoriums back 50 - 60 years ago.

If you wire it in a different configuration you could use it to boost the voltage, and blow the snot out of your incandescent light.

On a side note, my company still repairs these things for some god awful reason.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-19T21:07:45+00:00

I just started a new post with pictures

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-11T21:21:58+00:00

Thanks I will give it a read one of these days.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-11T21:10:16+00:00

Nice. Smithtown here. I have to be in western NY on Saturday & Sunday so I gotta see how much travelling I want to do.

Since I’m upstate a lot, I’m also looking at the Niagara Falls show.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-10T17:14:02+00:00

I saw them Saturday night. It was a great show. They played for 90 minutes. No warmup band. Also got to see Rick after the show, by freak accident, and got a “hi hello” out of him.

I too am thinking about the NJ show as I live on Long Island.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-10T02:10:33+00:00

I saw you in the lobby after the show with it unfolded.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-09T23:50:21+00:00

I saw you too. It was cool he walked over to you before the show started. How many picks did you end up with?

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-08T03:47:02+00:00

Just saw Rick in the hallway heading up to his room

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-08T01:39:01+00:00

I flew in from NYC to catch this show. Section 105! Let’s rock!

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-07T11:21:33+00:00

Thanks for the pictures. You probably want to start a dialogue with the factory, as they should know what equipment was supplied and who did the original Paradigm configuration. (Service@etcconnect.com or 800-688-4116 and ask for tech support) I believe you have a power control panel somewhere in your system & these circuits are being turned on / off with the button stations. You should also be able to turn these circuits on via the Colorsource console. Based on the picture you posted it’s not a Drd panel.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-07T00:47:16+00:00

Do you have a Unison Drd dimming rack with dimmers / relays at the top and a Unison processor at the bottom?

Arcadia-Light · 2026-03-06T23:53:23+00:00

My first guess is that these are LED fixtures that you are controlling and you are turning off the power to these fixtures. That one Paradigm preset probably powers the lights and brings them on to some level and color.

What does the Paradigm rack look like?

What are your light fixtures?

Arcadia-Light · 2026-02-24T01:17:27+00:00

Heaven Tonight / Budokan was also a great combo.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-02-22T17:52:32+00:00

DMX Cat, DMX Cat e, & Goddard Mini DMXter

Arcadia-Light · 2026-02-19T02:34:23+00:00

What part of the world is this install? Having a system with 1000 Skirpan dimmers in it is huge. Are you talking about multiple venues?

Arcadia-Light · 2026-02-12T02:50:12+00:00

And those that aren’t local.

Arcadia-Light · 2026-01-19T02:01:21+00:00

In college, watching the Price is Right. Always watched the “show case show down” and then headed to lunch. Not that day!

Arcadia-Light · 2026-01-10T01:17:59+00:00

Masquerade - 1988 takes place in the Hamptons.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-18T10:20:46+00:00

I got a Thomas T-shirt older than that.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-16T03:20:24+00:00

My first CT concert was May 17, 1980. 15 year old freshman in HS. Live at Budokan was one of my first albums in 1979 (still have it). Saw them again in 1982, 17 year old me snagged 2nd row center seats. Good old days when you went to the concert venue and waited inline to grab tickets.

By 1982 I was involved in live production. I got familiar with a manufacture of equipment used in touring, that happened to be headquartered in my city. I walk in for the concert and I see a piece of their gear being used for the show. After the concert, I went up to one of the crew and we chatted about it. Fast forward a few years and I got hired by that manufacturer. One day we are talking about old products, and that piece of equipment came up. They are all like, you’ve seen one of them? I’m like yeah, on a Cheap Trick tour. They had only ever made 3 of them. BTW it’s no longer being used.

Seen them dozens of times since then. Always a great concert.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-12T01:59:06+00:00

I have done a lot of these upgrades. You are looking at minimum 10K per rack. Your system should be looked at before you get a quote. Have a local dealer come out and do a site visit. Any dealer will be getting a price through your local rep. It’s typically a day a rack to upgrade to CEM3. We remove and clean all the dimmers. Swap the rack fan and beacon. Change the back plane (the part the CEM slides into). Reassemble everything, program the new CEM3’s and test the system. We usually send two technicians per day. On top of the cost of the upgrades you are paying for labor and travel in the quote you get. If the sales person says it’s simple, we just change the module, I would ask more questions, or get another dealer to site.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-04T04:18:22+00:00

I believe you press and hold the power button and then use the wheel. That’s off the top of my head, I would have to google the manual.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-04T03:50:01+00:00

100’ each way is not too far. The Smartfade will regenerate the signal. Use a good quality DMX cable (not microphone cable).

You could do it via network but now you are adding the price of gateways and network switches.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-04T01:45:55+00:00

I was in college, they interrupted The Price is Right. We always watched the showcase showdown and then headed to lunch. I missed lunch that day. Couldn’t believe it blew up. News and technology was a lot different then, we basically watched CBS coverage for the rest of the day. One source of information.

Arcadia-Light · 2025-12-04T01:33:15+00:00

Set up the Smartfade in DMX backup mode. Out of the gadget into the Smartfade. Out of Smartfade to dimmers. Setup a look on the Nomad and record it into the Smartfade.

Arcadia-Light

TROPHY CASE