theatre4jc
Active Member
Today I had an all new experience. I've had a system set up in a church for the past week. 28' truss with 6 Mac 600s, 2 Comar Pro Spot 250s, and 2 Comar Digiscans. Cables are running through the attic to the distro. We have been rehearsing all week for the Passion play which opened Friday night and plays through Sunday night. So after a week of rehearsals and no problems all hell broke loose tonight.
Pre show checks finished very early at 5 with house open at 6 and show at 7. After checks I went to grab a bite to eat and upon coming back I discover one of my lines has began to arch and the connectors melted together and caused a small electrical fire. Fun way to start a show. After taking care of the fire I began checking the other lines and found another cable which was arching as well. So 2 lines arching and one causing a fire.
Then to make things even better our show has a run time of 2:20 and at 2:05 all power to the lights, sound, and video systems shuts down. This is a rented system, I did not handle the wiring or cabling, I'm just the moving light programer and operator. When I scrambled to find the main breaker I could only laugh at what I discovered.
The main panel box had a 100 amp switch feeding another panel that contained (2) 60 amp air conditioner units, (2) 20 amp air handler units, (1) 40 sub panel labeled Emergency...no clue what that means, and (1) 100 amp sub panel which feeds the sound and video. Then on top of that the lighting distro (pulling 100 amps) is tied into the sound sub panel. Now for those doing math, even if each labeled breaker isn't pulling full weight it is still way over capacity. I'm surprised this thing didn't pop before now. This was a fun show let me tell you.
Then just to make everything all peachy the assistant director decided she wants to add some more video elements to the show. I'm pissed about his because the video screens lower into the beams of my lights when they are focused on the side stages. Now here's what gets me pissed off. When she wants to add the new video elements is only in the scenes that use the freaking side stages. So she expects me to re-cue all my lights so they won't hit the screens, the only problem is they are all mounted to a truss and any angle I move them to hits the screen. She won't back off and I'm just a hired hand so I'm expected to do her biding. GRRR!!!!
Sorry this was so long.
Pre show checks finished very early at 5 with house open at 6 and show at 7. After checks I went to grab a bite to eat and upon coming back I discover one of my lines has began to arch and the connectors melted together and caused a small electrical fire. Fun way to start a show. After taking care of the fire I began checking the other lines and found another cable which was arching as well. So 2 lines arching and one causing a fire.
Then to make things even better our show has a run time of 2:20 and at 2:05 all power to the lights, sound, and video systems shuts down. This is a rented system, I did not handle the wiring or cabling, I'm just the moving light programer and operator. When I scrambled to find the main breaker I could only laugh at what I discovered.
The main panel box had a 100 amp switch feeding another panel that contained (2) 60 amp air conditioner units, (2) 20 amp air handler units, (1) 40 sub panel labeled Emergency...no clue what that means, and (1) 100 amp sub panel which feeds the sound and video. Then on top of that the lighting distro (pulling 100 amps) is tied into the sound sub panel. Now for those doing math, even if each labeled breaker isn't pulling full weight it is still way over capacity. I'm surprised this thing didn't pop before now. This was a fun show let me tell you.
Then just to make everything all peachy the assistant director decided she wants to add some more video elements to the show. I'm pissed about his because the video screens lower into the beams of my lights when they are focused on the side stages. Now here's what gets me pissed off. When she wants to add the new video elements is only in the scenes that use the freaking side stages. So she expects me to re-cue all my lights so they won't hit the screens, the only problem is they are all mounted to a truss and any angle I move them to hits the screen. She won't back off and I'm just a hired hand so I'm expected to do her biding. GRRR!!!!
Sorry this was so long.
