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If your hall has tungsten lanterns but no installed dimming, this is the missing box. The Zero 88 AlphaPack sits between an ordinary 13A wall socket and up to three lanterns, or three groups of them, and lets a lighting desk fade each channel over DMX. Three faders on the front mean it also works with no desk at all. It hires at £16 per day, dry hire or with a technician.
Plenty of halls own a few tungsten lanterns and nothing to dim them with. Plugged straight into the wall they are on or off, and usually on all night. A dimmer pack is the box that fixes that. The Zero 88 AlphaPack sits between an ordinary socket and the lanterns, and gives you three channels that fade smoothly from a lighting desk over DMX. Ours are the current Alphapack 3, the latest of a design that has been quietly running school shows for decades.
Each channel takes up to 6.3 amps, which is one 1kW or 1.2kW lantern, or a pair of 500W or 650W fresnels on a splitter. The pack as a whole is limited to 16 amps electronically, but the real ceiling is the socket you plug it into: from a standard 13A wall socket, plan on about 3kW across the pack. The Autoprotect circuit watches the total and holds the output back rather than letting the pack take more than the supply can give, which is exactly what you want in a hall where the stage shares a circuit with the tea urn.
The three outlets are UK 15A round-pin sockets, one per channel. That is the standard theatre connector, so most school and hall lanterns plug straight in. If yours have ordinary 13A plugs, adaptors sort it, and splitters let two lanterns share a channel. DMX arrives on 5-pin XLR and loops through to the next pack, so a second or third pack simply daisy-chains on, each fed from its own socket. The pack can be addressed to any DMX channel to match your desk.
There are three faders on the front, so it works with no desk at all. Set the levels once for a display or a foyer and leave them, ride a fader by hand for a simple fade to black, or hand the whole thing to DMX when the desk arrives. It is convection cooled with no fan, so it makes no noise under quiet dialogue. At 3.7kg it hangs on a bar with a hook clamp through the M10 mounting points, clamps to a stand or sits on a table, with a safety bond point for anything overhead.
One warning worth repeating: dimmers are for tungsten and halogen lanterns only. LED fixtures must never be plugged into a dimmed channel; they take direct mains and do their fading over DMX. Tell us what is hanging in your hall and we will say plainly what needs a pack and what does not. Hire is £16 per day.
See whether this is free for your dates. This is an indication from our current bookings, not a reservation.
| Manufacturer and model | Zero 88 Alphapack 3 |
|---|---|
| Order code | 0011-000001-02 (UK 15A socket version) |
| Product type | Portable DMX dimmer pack |
| Channels | 3 |
| Load per channel | 6.3A maximum, 0.2A minimum (about 1.4kW at 230V) |
| Total capacity | 16A, electronically limited by the Autoprotect circuit |
| Outputs | 3 x UK 15A round-pin sockets, one per channel |
| Control | DMX512 on 5-pin XLR with loop-through, addressable to any channel; three local faders |
| Channel protection | 20mm 6.3A HRC fuse per channel |
| Supply | 200-250V AC, 50Hz |
| Cooling | Convection, no fan |
| Mounting | M10 threaded holes on top and rear, safety bond point, optional wall bracket |
| Dimensions | 308 x 242 x 82 (H x W x D); 336 high including safety point |
| Weight | 3.7 |
No, and this matters. A dimmer pack chops the mains waveform, which is exactly what a tungsten filament wants and exactly what an LED power supply does not. Plugging an LED fixture into a dimmed channel can damage it. LED fixtures take direct, undimmed mains and do their fading over DMX. If your rig is all LED you do not need a dimmer pack at all; if it is mixed, the tungsten lanterns go through the pack and the LEDs go straight to power. Send us a list of what you have and we will sort it honestly.
Each of the three channels takes up to 6.3 amps, which is one 1kW lantern or two 500W or 650W fresnels on a splitter. Across the whole pack, the wall socket is the real limit: from a standard 13A socket, plan on about 3kW, so six 500W fresnels is right at the ceiling. Ask for more and the Autoprotect circuit holds the levels back rather than blowing the supply. For a bigger rig, add packs and feed each one from a different socket circuit.
The pack's outlets are 15A round-pin sockets, the standard theatre connector, and many school lanterns already carry the matching plug. If yours have 13A square-pin plugs instead, we supply adaptors, and a splitter lets two lanterns share one channel. Tell us what is on the ends of your lanterns when you book and the right adaptors will be in the case.
Yes. The three faders on the front give you full manual control of each channel, so you can set levels for a concert and leave them, or ride a fader by hand for a simple fade to black. It is also how a followspot dimmer works: one channel on one fader beside the operator. When you want proper cues, add a small DMX desk to the hire; the pack takes 5-pin DMX and we include an adaptor if your desk or cable is 3-pin.
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View & check datesSee the rest of our stage lighting hire stock, or browse everything available to hire.
Tell us the venue, the dates and what the show needs, and we will confirm availability.
Call 0333 404 0621, email sales@1stintheatre.co.uk, or send us the details of your production.
Related: Theatre production · Dance shows · Live events · Venue support · Production toolkit
