THIS TEMPLATE REQUIRES MICROSOFT EXCEL'97/2000
The downloadable file ‘Avo72.zip’ contains the template file 'Avolites 72 way.xlt'. This needs to be saved to your normal ‘templates’ folder. Then selecting 'new Office document' from the Start Menu and choosing this template is all that is needed. Any patch saved will be given an ‘.xls’ extension.
Support for this template is not available from Avolites
Any queries or suggestions relating to this template should be addressed to myself at: -
The macro’s may be disabled without affecting the operation of the template as they are only necessary if you choose to alter the ‘lamp table’ (see later)
This template is provided as is, and no responsibility can be accepted for any loss or problems however caused.
Finally, I hope that you find this as useful as I do
Kissarmy
An introduction to the automated patch sheets for Microsoft Excel 97.
The objective of the patch sheet templates is to reduce both mistakes and the time taken while filling out a patch sheet, and at the same time making it easier to balance phase loading by continuously calculating and charting circuit loading. This makes it easier to try various patching configurations. Once the patch is entered, the template will print out both reference sheets and scaled rack marking strips that can be stuck directly to the front of the racks to facilitate set-up and fault finding.
The templates main points of reference are two user editable "lookup" tables, one for the various lamp types and the other for socapex designations.
PREPARING THE SHEET (Back to Top)
Firstly, at the bottom of the workbook select the tab named ‘socapex label’
After having chosen a labelling system for the lighting rig enter the details here, the numbers 1-40 do not relate to the socapex numbers on the back of the rack but are purely for shorthand entry
e.g. 
Do not include any ‘Hot power’ fanouts.
Now select the tab labelled ‘Lamp Tables’
.
The column marked ‘enter’ shows the shorthand entry for each type of lamp.
It is worth familiarising yourself with the shorthand entries. Please note that these are my choices. Do feel free to change anything to your own preferences.
It is important to note that this table must be sorted correctly. If you change the shorthand entry for any lamp, or enter a new type at the bottom of the table (max. 40 types) it is necessary to press the sort button to reset the table.
Next, select the tab labelled ‘data entry’.
Firstly set the reference number for the rack, then the DMX start address for the rack (as selected with the switches on the Avolink decoder), this will modify the DMX addresses shown for each channel.
There are two types of patchbays available for Avolites dimmers, Series wired or parallel wired. Using the up/down buttons select the correct type of patchbay for your dimmer. This tells the spreadsheet whether to count shorting plugs, series splitters and what sort of warnings to issue.
Note that most sheets are protected to prevent accidental overwriting of formulae, on these sheets only cells that are hilighted yellow can be altered.
Avolites supplies dimmers with three variations on the mains inputs. The reason for this is that if you were to daisy chain three dimmers, all with the same mains configuration you would end up with: -
This gives the potential to 720A on Red phase but 1080A on both Yellow and Blue phases.
As you can see it is therefore necessary to be able to change the phasing of modules in order to balance the load more evenly.
In practise, there are two ways to alter the phasing of dimmer modules,
Using the up/down buttons on the spreadsheet permits you to set the phase for each module, allowing you to either match how your rack is set-up or to balance your load. Setting the phasing up correctly is most important if you are to be able to balance your loading properly, especially when you have many mains powered units such as Goldenscans to take into consideration.
FILLING IN THE PATCH SHEET (Back to Top)
Now were ready to start our patch, for example, on the plot we have bars Red 1 and Red 5 which need to be patched to the same desk channels, Red 5 being a mirror image of Red 1.
The only entries that have been made in the above example are in the yellow highlighted cells.
This is the result with the patchbay selected as Series wired; it shows that two channels require shorting plugs. A totaliser at the bottom of the sheet calculates the number of shorting plugs required. A single 120volt lamp on a channel causes a reminder for a dummy load to be displayed
This is the result with the patchbay selected as Parallel wired; it shows that four channels require series splitters. A totaliser at the bottom of the sheet calculates the number of series splitters required. A single 120volt lamp on a channel causes a danger warning to be displayed
THE LOADING CHART (Back to Top)
At any time while patching you can select the ‘loading chart’ tab to check the state of the load balancing. The levels for each phase are shown in Kilowatts. The graph re-scales automatically to emphasise any imbalance.
THE FINAL PRINT-OUT (Back to Top)
The final printout is virtually identical to the ‘data entry’ sheet, however all the shorthand entries are hidden. The sheet should print out the entire rack on one piece of A4 paper, however this can be dependent on the make and model of printer used.
If your printout is more than one sheet, select ‘page preview’ then ‘page break view’ and drag the dotted blue line down to the bottom of the sheet. This will force the sheet to be scaled to the available space allowed by your printer.
RACK LABELLING STRIPS (Back to Top)
Once you have finalised your patch there are two tabs labelled ‘Rack Strips ABC’ and ‘Rack Strips DEF’. These take information from your patch sheet and format it into labels suitable for printing, cutting out and attaching to the front of the dimmer modules.
If you have a colour printer and want to colour-code the printed labels, pressing CTRL-C brings up the 'Colour picker' which uses the same colours as P.V.C. tape used for cable marking.
Colour-Picker copyright Fraggles Rock Lighting
These labels are designed to be cut out separately, leaving ‘wings’ at each end. The strip with the circuit information should be placed above the row of fuses/trips and the strip with the desk channel information between the fuses/trips and the load neon’s.
Strips of black PVC tape can be used to stick the wings down with. If your rack strips do not exactly match up with the fuses/trips due do differences of various printers enter ‘page preview’ then ‘set-up’ and either increase or decrease the scale percentage until correct.
Once you have your final printout and your rack labels, look at the socapex outputs used on Module A, these should ideally be outputs 1-4 as marked on the Avolites dimmer. Module B outputs should be 5-8 as marked. This keeps all patchcords running up/down in parallel, though it is not always possible with complex patches.
Copyright Kissarmy - September 1999
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