Hey everyone,
I have a pair of
Colortran i96 Dimmers for a high school
theatre, when the fire alarm goes off one of them is triggered into "Panic" mode and the entire rack goes to full. After
tripping several times with a faulty
smoke head across the building I'm getting tired of changing lamps and
gel (once it was on for 3 days when the school was closed and no one noticed - they silenced the alarm but were waiting for the company to come out for service). I'm looking to reprogram the rack so that way only the
house lights and a few '
no color' top lights come on.
Reading the
manual shows there is a
switch designate if it goes on in panic mode or not. I pulled the module and there is a
jumper where the
switch is supposed to be; I pulled the
jumper and it still goes on in panic. I called the installer and he said he needs to be re-programed via software (did not see this in the
manual) and the rack is set up to go all on by default so a certain number of lumens are on the
stage - this I can assure if I control which one(s) are on with out burning out 1/2 my rep
plot. The installer is going to
send me a quote but if it's fairly simple I would rather save the money and just do it myself; I've use Lumaedit to modify the soft buttons installed around the
theatre but thats not it and I've hit a brick wall.
Does anyone have any experience reprogramming these?
Thanks,
Joe
Hello!
Writing from Canada with the following comments.
ALWAYS consult your Fire Marshall prior to altering any programming that takes ALL lights to full every time the fire alarm is tripped. I spent 4-1/2 months in Las Vegas supervising an A/V and show control installation on a newly constructed Tussaud's Wax Museum. The Las Vegas Nevada Fire Marshall decreed that, upon activation of the fire alarm
system, all of our audio would
mute plus ALL of our lights would immediately go to 100% and remain there until a duly authorized member of his staff reset the alarm
system and signed off on it. This is quite a common requirement.
As we were still on site 24/7 programming various rooms of the space, we requested the courtesy of them letting us know when their testing / inspection was complete so we could proceed with our on-line programming. We emphasized we'd really still be working and waiting on site, no matter the hour, even if we weren't obvious, and suggested they might announce their departure via the alarm
system's "Fire Marshall's emergency announcement" mic. They really wanted ALL sub-contractors off site but were willing to take a chance on our remaining so long as we didn't interfere with their purposes in ANY way. As they'd agreed they'd announce their departure, we went our separate ways, they to their tests and inspections, us to our off-line programming.
Wax museum / ALL lights at full: You may be able to guess how this went down.
We were working in an out of sight equipment room.
The senior marshall the others were awaiting arrived, along with a couple of bureaucrats, and tripped the alarm for his test.
From within our room, the
Alcorn McBride gear let us know all was right so far as sensing the alarm, executing the silence and all dimmers at 100% instructions. We continued off-line programming. Hours passed. We'd observed neither a reset command nor any communication as to their testing being complete and / or their having exited the building. Eventually our company's owner suggested one of us should quietly tour the building, without interfering with their fire inspection in any way. I was voluntold. The place was eerily silent and blindingly brightly lit without any
trace of the Fire Marshall or his buddies. They apparently silenced the alarm and departed with out resetting the
system or announcing their departure. Upon touring display room after display room finding no one but our wax companions, I arrived in the R&R
Hall of fame room. There stood Madonna with a rhinoceros like
horn erupting from the middle of her forehead. As I'm off at a gallop to inform our owner and have him contact Tussaud's project managers, I observed traces of sagging and poor posture in a few of our other wax companions. I hurriedly spoke with our owner and he was on his
cell to the fire department in a flash. There was no one on site authorized to perform a
system reset. Darrell didn't want to phone Tussaud's management as it was well past midnight. Taking our display lights to zero wouldn't have plunged the place into darkness as the overnight cleaning lights were programmed to be on at that hour anyway. The fire department opted to issue a verbal authorization for us to reset our systems. We informed Tussaud's management immediately upon their 9:00 a.m. arrival and the folks who dress and maintain their creations found considerably more . . . modifications than we'd noted but took it as 'all in a day's work' and got down to business.
You may think there's no
point in running your
Lux 85 backlights at 100% as they're contributing little in the way of illumination once all of the more translucent colors are at full but I can pretty much guarantee your Fire Marshall won't see it that way or buy your argument. If he wastes his breath at all it'll likely be along the lines of 'In certain smokey conditions, those particular wavelengths MAY penetrate better for a fleeting few seconds and save a firefighter's life.' Trust me: Never argue with your Fire Marshall, or ask to speak with his/her superiors. Maybe if you're Donald Trump but I'd NEVER try it.
Oh yeah, we've had experience with
Colortran racks in Canada, the same
Colortran racks that set Disney ablaze and most of us share Disney's lawyers' opinions.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.