So, I was running late to a midrun show (I think one of my children were sick...hard to do theater with little kids at home) but my students were pretty good at setting up for the show. We have a cafetorium (love those multi-use rooms) so we have to set EVERYTHING up every night...risers, audience, tech table (nope...no booth) sound board, light board. Pretty much a pain in the butt! Anyway..my lighting assistant was setting up the board to do a pre-show light check when smoke started pouring out of the back of the light board (old two bank split fade board).
So I show up an hour before the show and start scrambling to fix the problem. Open the board and yep...little crispie black things all over the circuit board. Why did the board fry? You may wonder...well...when you have a board that takes a 12v power source and you plug in a 15v power source..the board throws a tantrum....looove students.
Had to fix the problem...hmm..We had an old board but it was an analog board and it would not talk to the DMX dimmers. We called everyone we knew for a backup board but no go. Finally we started the show a half-hour late and I ran the show from the circuit breakers on the back of the dimmer pack. Some of the audience members didn't even notice!
Either that means I'm really good or the lights were so crappy the other nights you couldn't tell the difference.
Nah...I'm just that good.
So I show up an hour before the show and start scrambling to fix the problem. Open the board and yep...little crispie black things all over the circuit board. Why did the board fry? You may wonder...well...when you have a board that takes a 12v power source and you plug in a 15v power source..the board throws a tantrum....looove students.
Had to fix the problem...hmm..We had an old board but it was an analog board and it would not talk to the DMX dimmers. We called everyone we knew for a backup board but no go. Finally we started the show a half-hour late and I ran the show from the circuit breakers on the back of the dimmer pack. Some of the audience members didn't even notice!
Either that means I'm really good or the lights were so crappy the other nights you couldn't tell the difference.
Nah...I'm just that good.