Pending Dimmer Question

[kellison]

New Arena owner here. I'm having trouble figuring out how to patch a CMY ellipsoidal (Wybron Nexera) with an incandescent lamp controlled by an external (ETC Sensor) dimmer. Looks like something referred to as "pending dimmer" on page 55 of the Arena (Titan 10) manual allows adding a dimer to an existing handle (a VL5 is given in the example), but there's no further explanation on the procedure that I've found. When I patch the fixture then attempt to add a dimmer assignment, I get "Handle is in use for fixture Nexera. Please select another handle." Okay, then how do you associate an external dimmer? There's a Nexera 4-channel spot+dimmer, which I assumed was intended for the arc version of the fixture. I tried patching it, but can't apply the external dimmer to that one either. This seems like it should be a fairly straight forward thing to do. Am I totally missing something obvious to everyone else in the universe?
Keith

[niclights]

Unfortunately this looks like a mistake in the personality - the pending dimmer has not been defined. I will amend it but it will take a short while before it is available in the library installers.

If you need it urgently then it is quite easy:

In Titan:

- patch one or more of the 'Spot' (or 'Wash') modes
- Patch/[Edit Fixtures]/[Edit Personality]/[NeXera]

This will then open the personality for editing in the Personality Builder application.

In Personality Builder:

- Expand the 'modes' tree in the section on the left
- Select the mode you patched (ie. 'Spot')
- This should automatically select the 'Created Attributes' section at the top. Double-click on 'Dimmer' here
- Now select the 'Channels' tab at the bottom of the screen
- In the grid that appears click in the channel offset cell for 'Dimmer' and change the value to zero
- Finally go to File and select 'Save'

Titan should now prompt "Apply saved changes to show file?".

In Titan:

- [Yes]

(- Close Personality Builder.)


You can now patch dimmers on top of the Nexera handles. Note that the edited version will now appear as the [NeXera (User)] option when patching.

[kellison]

Thanks for the prompt response, I'll give this a try when I get back into the office after the holidays.
Keith

[kellison]

I followed the procedure detailed above in Personality Builder. When I select the mode. Channels tab and click in the channel offset cell for 'Dimmer' I cannot change the value. Typing a zero inserts a zero in the "Please select a personality to edit" bar at the top of the Patch View - Patched Fixtures window, but the value in the cell does not change.

[niclights]

This is now updated in the library but the reason for the problem is that the keyboard isn't focussed on the Personality Builder application. Try pressing the 'Break' key on your keyboard after selecting the Personality Builder window.