Controlling an Ion from a laptop

[derekleffew]

gaff: [user]rochem[/user] said "fire DOOR" as in a one or two-hour rated door meant to contain or prevent the spread of a fire, not "fire EXIT" for the purpose of audience egress in an evacuation. However, he's still most likely violating life-safety codes, so I agree with the rest of what you have said.

 

[rochem]

Derek's right for the most part. No it's definitely not designed or even usable as a fire EXIT, mostly because its about 20 feet above the floor level. It's actually mandated by the fire marshall that the door remain closed whenever not in use, or so I'm told (it's not my theatre so I may be a bit fuzzy on the details). I'm not sure if Fire Door is the correct term, but it's designed to prevent the spread of fire. It's a big solid steel window with a swinging door that opens up to allow a view into the theatre. In the event of a fire, it's designed to prevent the spread of the fire either into or out of the theatre. But don't worry, it has absolutely no use as a fire EXIT.

 

[derekleffew]

Ever see a projection booth in an old movie house? The filmstock, cellulose nitrate, was extremely flammable. Thus all booth windows had guillotine doors on fusible links that would drop if the temperature rose. The windows are small in order to contain the light leaks from the projectors.

In this picture (courtesy of Projection Booth : Belasco Theater on eecue.com : Dave Bullock / eecue), the doors and rigging have been removed, but the tracks remain.

 

[gafftaper]

Glad to hear it Rochem.

Derek's picture reminds me of the high school I taught at. It had a 60's modified version of a projection booth. It was about 20' long and 8' wide. All cinderblock walls. There were two holes that were about 3'x3' with locking hinged metal doors.
Then there were four small projection holes about 1'x1'. That was it. We had no way to get front light in the theater so I purchased 4 S4 10 degrees and mounted them in the booth shooting out of the projection holes. It got warm in the booth during a show. Ahh the bad old days.

 

[venuetech]

Ok if i am reading this right, the real problem is that the door swings the wrong way. the swing path takes up any usable space. Can the door be rehung to swing out? if so could the ion then remain in place pluged in and ready to go?

 

[venuetech]

the other question is when the system set up and in operation, can the "Fire Door" be closed in the event of an emergency?

 

[rochem]

the other question is when the system set up and in operation, can the "Fire Door" be closed in the event of an emergency?

This isn't as nice as we would like it to be, but unfortunately it's the only way. Technically, the door could not be closed as it currently is in an emergency. In a real emergency, it would probably take about 30-45 seconds before the fire door could be pulled shut. The board and monitors rest on a ledge that runs the entire width of the theatre, so the whole thing would need to be thrown onto the ledge just to the left of the door and then it could close freely. This is not suitable for normal use since it would be very hard on the board, but during an actual emergency that is probably the best way to do it.

Ok if i am reading this right, the real problem is that the door swings the wrong way. the swing path takes up any usable space. Can the door be rehung to swing out? if so could the ion then remain in place pluged in and ready to go?

This is what seems to be the best option right now. However, like everything else in a school, it takes considerable time before anything will happen. One possibility is as follows: at the next school board meeting, the principal will present a proposal to the board, who will then create a subcommittee devoted to analyzing the relative advantages and disadvantages of rehanging the door. After a 12-18 month experimental period, they will present their findings to the board in the form of very colorful and impossible-to-read graphs on poster board, which may or may not be supplemented by old men speaking in monotone voices. Shortly thereafter, the board will call for a vote as to the future of the rehanging of the door proposal, after which the funds for said rehanging will have to be obtained. Most likely, this will cause for a raised yearly budget for the district, which will then need to be presented to voters as the new budget for the next year. After this is voted down by voters, the committee will continue to debate long and hard to find a method of rehanging the door which would not involve a raise in taxes. Of course by this time we will all be long gone and may well be enjoying senior discounts at the movies, while we laugh over the continued debate of the relative advantages and disadvantages of rehanging said door in said location. They will never realize that two high-schoolers, a power drill and a screwdriver would be able to do the job at no charge and in about 90 seconds.

Alas, the wonders of the public school system.

 

[photoatdv]

This isn't as nice as we would like it to be, but unfortunately it's the only way. Technically, the door could not be closed as it currently is in an emergency. In a real emergency, it would probably take about 30-45 seconds before the fire door could be pulled shut. The board and monitors rest on a ledge that runs the entire width of the theatre, so the whole thing would need to be thrown onto the ledge just to the left of the door and then it could close freely. This is not suitable for normal use since it would be very hard on the board, but during an actual emergency that is probably the best way to do it.



This is what seems to be the best option right now. However, like everything else in a school, it takes considerable time before anything will happen. One possibility is as follows: at the next school board meeting, the principal will present a proposal to the board, who will then create a subcommittee devoted to analyzing the relative advantages and disadvantages of rehanging the door. After a 12-18 month experimental period, they will present their findings to the board in the form of very colorful and impossible-to-read graphs on poster board, which may or may not be supplemented by old men speaking in monotone voices. Shortly thereafter, the board will call for a vote as to the future of the rehanging of the door proposal, after which the funds for said rehanging will have to be obtained. Most likely, this will cause for a raised yearly budget for the district, which will then need to be presented to voters as the new budget for the next year. After this is voted down by voters, the committee will continue to debate long and hard to find a method of rehanging the door which would not involve a raise in taxes. Of course by this time we will all be long gone and may well be enjoying senior discounts at the movies, while we laugh over the continued debate of the relative advantages and disadvantages of rehanging said door in said location. They will never realize that two high-schoolers, a power drill and a screwdriver would be able to do the job at no charge and in about 90 seconds.

Alas, the wonders of the public school system.

Exactly! Would anyone notice/care if you did just that?

 

[bdkdesigns]

One thing that I feel needs to be pointed out: The Client Dongle on a laptop only works with Windows based laptops, there is not support (yet) for Macs.

Because of this, I'm not sure about Sayen's question. I'm sure it could be possible by hooking up a wireless router somewhere along the line, but the Mac limitiations hasn't allowed me to explore this yet. We have figured out how to control SFX wirelessly even on a Mac, so I'm sure we will be trying things out when ETC releases Mac Client Control.

 

[venuetech]

Well it aint never going to get fixed if you don't tell anybody about it!

Look this is a safety and security issue.

The door must be fully operational for the safety of the building occupants.
Security is a issue as the control board and ledge area may be left open when the operator needs to go to the restroom, or called onstage to help with something

I would venture to say that the school board had to approve the purchase of the ION. those board members are going to want that device secured from theft and vandalism, and expect it to be in operational condition. You are just trying to make the school board happy.

Start with the school principal. ask that he put in a work order to the maintaince dept. request that it have a safety priority. Maintaince and operations usually will want to know why safety is at issue, so you will need to explain things to the principal. Take some photos and write up a brief description of the problem. (school districts LOVE documentation)


Likely this project could not be done when school is in session. But it could happen easily over spring break or during the summer. it is very likely that the M&O dept. has a staff that does nothing but deal with doors and locks. they could likely change it very easily. They would be very upset if they had to come in and "Fix" a students handy work. So try to keep these guys on your side.

Hey you are helping the students learn to work in a safe and secure environment. As a volunteer in the school the staff and administration should respect your opinions.

If you can find the right buttons to push, it will happen.

If they don't know its a problem, it wont get fixed.

 

[gafftaper]

Even if it isn't an emergency exit problem. My vote is to take out a few seats, build a platform with a locking cabinet and install that thing once and for all. Students could probably build it and it wouldn't cost much.

 

[rochem]

Even if it isn't an emergency exit problem. My vote is to take out a few seats, build a platform with a locking cabinet and install that thing once and for all. Students could probably build it and it wouldn't cost much.

I'm not really looking for a permanent solution really, unless we can find one that works better. I think the original plan was to get the district to rehang the door, or enlarge the platform that the board rests on. In the original post, I was more looking for a temporary solution (a few months or so) for the time that it would take to get these changes made. Thanks for the ideas though, I'll run some this by them next time I'm over at that school.

 

[wakkoroti]

Except for running on Parallels of course - which works perfectly fine.

One thing that I feel needs to be pointed out: The Client Dongle on a laptop only works with Windows based laptops, there is not support (yet) for Macs. .