Photon Beard to launch silent distributed dimming at IBC 2005

The new generation of silent dimmers from Photon Beard feature IGBT (insulated gate bi-polar transistor) devices which eliminate the heavy, noisy chokes of conventional triac dimmers.
Because they are silent in operation these dimmers can be brought onto the set or distributed throughout the lighting rig close to the luminaries they serve. This greatly reduces the cost of fixed installations as there is no need for a separate dimmer room, patch panels or dedicated cable runs
All controls are direct on the panel, there are no menus to navigate or codes to remember. Each channel has a resettable electronic fuse operating a two pole contactor, so in the event of a channel overload the connected luminaire is completely isolated, which is shown on the channel status indicator. Pressing the reset button resets all unset channels without affecting channels already operating. The input current is automatically limited (16A or 32A according to model, see below), to prevent unwanted tripping of the overload breaker. When the current limiter operates the power indicator flashes and the current is automatically held at the maximum.
Preheat can be set to ON in which case the lamp filaments of luminaries will glow red at the minimum setting, a useful indication that the luminaries are live. If preheat is set to OFF there will be no channel outputs at the minimum fader settings. Soft start can be set to OFF for flashing applications, or to ON to maximise lamp life. Each channel has its own test switch to take the output to full power. External control is by industry standard DMX with in/out connection via XLR5 connectors.
The address is set by rotary switches, so it is not necessary to have power connected in order to set the start address. In addition to DMX control there is a remote analogue connection for a four channel hand held remote control (model H4 available separately) for a more localised temporary control of individual dimmer packs, such as testing lighting levels from the studio floor.
(GB)