Belfast based BBC Northern Ireland has invested in 3 new Avolites ART2000 dimmer racks for it’s OB unit, which have been supplied by Production Services Ireland (PSI).

 The decision to specify Avo dimmers was made collectively by BBC NI’s lighting directors Philip Brines and Jim Devlin and their colleague, electrical supervisor Colin Irwin.

 “We needed something that was flexible, compact robust, reliable and portable,” explains Irwin. “Avolites also came highly recommended by everyone we spoke to, and we wanted a future-proof product to keep the lighting department up-to-date for several years in the future”.

 It was a major step forward, as BBC NI was ditching all its old single phase dimmers to move on to more modern 3 phase dimming systems for all OB work. This has brought numerous benefits including utilising multicore cables instead of having to run everything on individual lengths of TRS and the beauties of Powerlock connectors.

 Avolites ART dimmers have a worldwide reputation for being the toughest, best quality and most tourable on the market. The BBC NI team initially became aware of the extent brand’s rock-solid reputation through working with PSI, whose Brian O’Reilly co-ordinated the deal and the delivery of their dimmers. Irwin further  comments, “We also knew we would get excellent service and support from both Avolites and PSI – not that we need it very often as the kit is so reliable!”

 BBC NI’s three ART dimmer racks are made up of one 48-way containing 16A modules and one 24-way fully loaded with 32A modules, with the third a  custom configured unit comprising twenty-four 16A channels and twelve 32A channels.

 The mixed rack will be ideal when they are working on shows using a wide variety of lightsources, which is a common occurrence in the world of OB.