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This topic deals with Stellar Labs Par56 LED can lights and the Show Designer 3 board.
Current Lighting setup consists of:
(24) Conventional Dimmers (DMX Address 1-24)
(4) ADJ MegaBar LEDs
(8) Stellar Labs Par56 LED Cans
(2) Elation DesignSpot 250
We are having troubles with the Par56 not following scene intensity levels. The Par56s are a 5-channel unit with no backout or dimmer channel.
Channel 1: Self-contained programs for color change fades
Channel 2: Red
Channel 3: Green
Channel 4: Blue
Channel 5: Speed
Is not having a dimmer channel causing issues when trying to control the Par56s in a scene with conventional dimmer lights? or could it have to do with the LTP & HTP modes of playback?
Please advise.
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I think it might depend on how you are using them. If you are only using the RGB channels, you might try setting these up as conventional dimmers instead of self contained fixtures. You would need to make sure the other two channels are left at 0. When using as self contained fixtures as you are now, the RGB channels will run LTP mode so they will not follow the intensity of a HTP playback fader. The HTP playback fader only works if you have a master dimmer channel on the light.

In version 1.15 of the SD3 software we added a feature where RGB lights without a dimmer channel can be controlled by the Grand Master fader, but I don't think that is your problem.
We currently do have the conventional lights set on HTP and the Par56s on LTP which you indicated as probably our problem since these fixtures do not have a "dimmer" channel. I will probably switch to the conventional dimmer idea.
However, can conventional dimmers operate under the LTP mode or just the HTP mode? If so, what kind of behavior should I expect from the conventional lights & the Stellar Pars under LTP mode?
The advantage to using HTP mode is that when you assign the scene to a HTP playback, the playback will control the dimming intensity of the scene. In LTP mode the channels will simply go to their preassigned levels as you move the playback fader. If you are calling scenes with buttons, you might not see that much difference.
Thanks for the education lesson Ken.
Are you suggesting that when you program a scene, you should not mix conventional lights with smart fixtures on the same HTP playback? Or it is ok to do so as long as the smart fixtures have a dimmer channel such as the ADJ MegaBars combined with incandescent light dimmers thus to have the ability to control the intensity of the whole scene?

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