Hey guys, a couple of friends at school asked me for help with the auditorium lighting system, as I'm quite good with computer and electronic related things.
Of course I've had no previous experience with theater control systems previous today, so I apologize if some names for certain devices and descriptions of some things seem a bit vague.
The system has a Leviton i96 Rack as well as an i24 rack, and the console is an Innovator 24/48.
The way I understand it ( as best described by my friends and some maintenance personnel) is that the system was working at the beginning of the year, but between some point and now all console control was lost.
There are some other odd quirks in the system too. They are single push button switches around the auditorium, probably 3-4 total, with a little green LED indicator light. I assume these are supposed to automatically turn on/off the house lights? Well they don't do anything, even when the green LED lights up.
Now backstage located in a black box is a 10(more, less?) fader "wall plate" I guess you could say, there is also an identical plate up in the booth. Both also have a push button "on/off" switch. Located right below the black box mounted faders is a little LCD display unit with several buttons, at first it was blank. The backstage and booth "wall mount" faders did nothing significant either, except if you put all the sliders down, the lights got *slightly* dimmer (every single light was on). The master of facilities let us in the rack room, from which we hit the reset on both racks. The console still did nothing, and neither did any of the on/off house lights or the "wall mount" faders, but the little LCD display in this box now says "Station 10". It may be unrelated to the lighting system, but I am unsure. None of the buttons on it do anything. I will try to get pictures tomorrow if possible.
Now to the booth, along with the console (and its accompanying monitor, on a side note, we also tried the console on the backstage console port, and the results were the same) was this fairly large black box, with a small label on it saying it was manufactured by NSI. This box had a bunch of gray insulated wires running hardwired into the wall, as well as cord with a standard 115v plug on it, plugged in. For the hell of it, we unplugged this box, then plugged it back in, and then suddenly all of the house lights went out, and most of the stages lights (a few were on, but very dimly), then after a few seconds all of the lights turned back on again. We unplugged it again, then plugged it back in, and this time all of the lights went out, but as before a few seconds later everything came back on.
So because we're high school students, and curious, we unplugged it again, then plugged it back in, this time I was paying attention to the status lights of the box. As soon as we plugged it in, the red POWER light lit up, then the green SIGNAL light, followed by an amber AIRFLOW light. The stage/house lights were still out at this point, but then suddenly the SIGNAL light started blinking something furious and the stage/house lights all came back on.
One of my friends unplugged it, then plugged it back in again, all of the status lights lit up again, but the SIGNAL light remained a solid green and the stage/house lights remained off, but now both the "wall mounted" faders functioned, the backstage LCD display still read STATION 10 however. The on/off button scattered throughout the auditorium still did nothing, and the console still did not work either. We tried unplugging the box again, and this time it returned to its old behavior - after a few seconds of being plugged back in, the SIGNAL light started blinking and the whole auditorium just lit up like a christmas tree. A few more unplug/replug cycles later and we got the SIGNAL light to remain a solid green, and the auditorium to stay dark.
Haven't a clue what the purpose of this box is, or why its doing what it is doing.
Onto the console though, on the main STAGE page, it of course lists all the lights, as you move the sliders up on the console, gray % numbers show up corresponding to the slider you moved. This seems normal, except my friends tell me the % numbers used to be yellow, not gray.
Well that is about it for now, so if you guys have any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
On a side note, my school recently installed wireless routers throughout the building, and there is one mounted to the wall backstage, quite close to the dimmer rack room. Could this be a possible source of interference?
Of course I've had no previous experience with theater control systems previous today, so I apologize if some names for certain devices and descriptions of some things seem a bit vague.
The system has a Leviton i96 Rack as well as an i24 rack, and the console is an Innovator 24/48.
The way I understand it ( as best described by my friends and some maintenance personnel) is that the system was working at the beginning of the year, but between some point and now all console control was lost.
There are some other odd quirks in the system too. They are single push button switches around the auditorium, probably 3-4 total, with a little green LED indicator light. I assume these are supposed to automatically turn on/off the house lights? Well they don't do anything, even when the green LED lights up.
Now backstage located in a black box is a 10(more, less?) fader "wall plate" I guess you could say, there is also an identical plate up in the booth. Both also have a push button "on/off" switch. Located right below the black box mounted faders is a little LCD display unit with several buttons, at first it was blank. The backstage and booth "wall mount" faders did nothing significant either, except if you put all the sliders down, the lights got *slightly* dimmer (every single light was on). The master of facilities let us in the rack room, from which we hit the reset on both racks. The console still did nothing, and neither did any of the on/off house lights or the "wall mount" faders, but the little LCD display in this box now says "Station 10". It may be unrelated to the lighting system, but I am unsure. None of the buttons on it do anything. I will try to get pictures tomorrow if possible.
Now to the booth, along with the console (and its accompanying monitor, on a side note, we also tried the console on the backstage console port, and the results were the same) was this fairly large black box, with a small label on it saying it was manufactured by NSI. This box had a bunch of gray insulated wires running hardwired into the wall, as well as cord with a standard 115v plug on it, plugged in. For the hell of it, we unplugged this box, then plugged it back in, and then suddenly all of the house lights went out, and most of the stages lights (a few were on, but very dimly), then after a few seconds all of the lights turned back on again. We unplugged it again, then plugged it back in, and this time all of the lights went out, but as before a few seconds later everything came back on.
So because we're high school students, and curious, we unplugged it again, then plugged it back in, this time I was paying attention to the status lights of the box. As soon as we plugged it in, the red POWER light lit up, then the green SIGNAL light, followed by an amber AIRFLOW light. The stage/house lights were still out at this point, but then suddenly the SIGNAL light started blinking something furious and the stage/house lights all came back on.
One of my friends unplugged it, then plugged it back in again, all of the status lights lit up again, but the SIGNAL light remained a solid green and the stage/house lights remained off, but now both the "wall mounted" faders functioned, the backstage LCD display still read STATION 10 however. The on/off button scattered throughout the auditorium still did nothing, and the console still did not work either. We tried unplugging the box again, and this time it returned to its old behavior - after a few seconds of being plugged back in, the SIGNAL light started blinking and the whole auditorium just lit up like a christmas tree. A few more unplug/replug cycles later and we got the SIGNAL light to remain a solid green, and the auditorium to stay dark.
Haven't a clue what the purpose of this box is, or why its doing what it is doing.
Onto the console though, on the main STAGE page, it of course lists all the lights, as you move the sliders up on the console, gray % numbers show up corresponding to the slider you moved. This seems normal, except my friends tell me the % numbers used to be yellow, not gray.
Well that is about it for now, so if you guys have any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
On a side note, my school recently installed wireless routers throughout the building, and there is one mounted to the wall backstage, quite close to the dimmer rack room. Could this be a possible source of interference?
