Recently I've been spending a lot more time bouncing around in both of our performance spaces than I'd like, especially because one space is Congo and the other is Express, but I'll spare you the bitter details of how Congo can make even the most simple light console confusing like none other, while still being an excellent console.
Given the extra time I've spent hanging around our gear and putting it through heck and high water, some oddities have appeared that I'm curious if anyone else has noticed or is having issues with.
Q1: Congo is acting funny.
The past two nights I've used our Congo Jr.(which I adore), but I've had a recurring problem. Once each night I was running using the console, which was acting as normal except for an added "click." The first night the console sporadically shut down while I was patching. Prior to it shutting down, I heard the single "click" noise a short while earlier and didn't think much of it. When I went to reboot, the rocker switch(the spring-loaded one, not the PSU's on/off) on the back to turn it on was ajar. I figured it must have gotten stuck while I was turning the console on, and had been shaken up just enough as I was programming that it shut the console. Didn't think much of it, finished rebooting, got over the fact most of my patching had been lost, and started from scratch.
Then the next evening, during the performance, I had just hit the go button when I heard an ominous "click," and being wiser this time, looked at the back of the console to notice that the rocker was ajar again, which I abruptly returned to it's normal position before risking it shutting down the console again. I believe I remember making certain that the switch wasn't ajar upon starting the console up specifically because I didn't want to repeat it shutting down in the middle of something, though I could be wrong.
Am I connecting too many things together and making a problem out of nothing, or is this an indicator to a real problem?
Q2: Anyone consider putting solitaire or anything else on their Congo? I noticed that through the Find/Configure CEM+ command, it opens Internet Explorer, which I used the address bar to access the hard disk partitions, and am pondering whether or not to put my own easter egg in their, like Zero 88's have frogger.
Q3: Our theatrical supplier loaded us up with a couple dozen S4 PAR's for our new install, also with a bunch of new barn doors. However, the more recent (in comparison to our 2003-models of S4 PAR's in our stock) now have L-shaped accessory clips, where they used to be l-shaped. That, coupled with a larger diameter in the barn door barrel, means we are not able to use our new barn doors with our new S4 PAR's, as they slide into the accessory slot, but the clips will not shut, and we have no intention of using barn doors without the clips closed down. Has anyone else had similar problems? Our older barn doors work fine with the new clips, and the new barn doors work with the old clips, but not the new with the new.
Also, our theatrical supplier has not been returning our phone calls, despite calls now to their service tech, systems integrator/designer, project manager, and owner. We've been playing nice so far -- calling them at their place of business, but having worked with these guys in the past, I have all of their cell phone numbers which I may have to resort using. It gets better, because recent phone calls about ordering custom gobos were responded to instantly, but calls about incompatible barn doors are not returned at all.
Q4: Recently had a TP22 socket failure. It actually melted one of the pins of the lamp into oblivion. I expect that means we need to replace the socket, but as a general question, how common is such a failure and while we're at it should we purchase some extras for anticipation of future failures? We have about (x12) 6+yo fixtures, (x18) 1+yo fixtures, and (x100) >1yo fixtures. I believe this socket failure falls in the oldest batch.
Q5: What kind of abuse does it take to cause a brand new S4 yoke to get bent out of shape? We've been using them in a relatively controlled environment, indoors, and though they've spent some time on side arms and floor mounts, I don't see those being likely to cause non-elastic deformation. Wide-spread, I haven't even seen it at all except in one of our S4 25/50's, but I continually wonder what we did to this brand new fixture that didn't cause problems with any of the other fixtures. It's only been in our stock for 7 months, so we're really scratching our heads on this one.
Given the extra time I've spent hanging around our gear and putting it through heck and high water, some oddities have appeared that I'm curious if anyone else has noticed or is having issues with.
Q1: Congo is acting funny.
The past two nights I've used our Congo Jr.(which I adore), but I've had a recurring problem. Once each night I was running using the console, which was acting as normal except for an added "click." The first night the console sporadically shut down while I was patching. Prior to it shutting down, I heard the single "click" noise a short while earlier and didn't think much of it. When I went to reboot, the rocker switch(the spring-loaded one, not the PSU's on/off) on the back to turn it on was ajar. I figured it must have gotten stuck while I was turning the console on, and had been shaken up just enough as I was programming that it shut the console. Didn't think much of it, finished rebooting, got over the fact most of my patching had been lost, and started from scratch.
Then the next evening, during the performance, I had just hit the go button when I heard an ominous "click," and being wiser this time, looked at the back of the console to notice that the rocker was ajar again, which I abruptly returned to it's normal position before risking it shutting down the console again. I believe I remember making certain that the switch wasn't ajar upon starting the console up specifically because I didn't want to repeat it shutting down in the middle of something, though I could be wrong.
Am I connecting too many things together and making a problem out of nothing, or is this an indicator to a real problem?
Q2: Anyone consider putting solitaire or anything else on their Congo? I noticed that through the Find/Configure CEM+ command, it opens Internet Explorer, which I used the address bar to access the hard disk partitions, and am pondering whether or not to put my own easter egg in their, like Zero 88's have frogger.
Q3: Our theatrical supplier loaded us up with a couple dozen S4 PAR's for our new install, also with a bunch of new barn doors. However, the more recent (in comparison to our 2003-models of S4 PAR's in our stock) now have L-shaped accessory clips, where they used to be l-shaped. That, coupled with a larger diameter in the barn door barrel, means we are not able to use our new barn doors with our new S4 PAR's, as they slide into the accessory slot, but the clips will not shut, and we have no intention of using barn doors without the clips closed down. Has anyone else had similar problems? Our older barn doors work fine with the new clips, and the new barn doors work with the old clips, but not the new with the new.
Also, our theatrical supplier has not been returning our phone calls, despite calls now to their service tech, systems integrator/designer, project manager, and owner. We've been playing nice so far -- calling them at their place of business, but having worked with these guys in the past, I have all of their cell phone numbers which I may have to resort using. It gets better, because recent phone calls about ordering custom gobos were responded to instantly, but calls about incompatible barn doors are not returned at all.
Q4: Recently had a TP22 socket failure. It actually melted one of the pins of the lamp into oblivion. I expect that means we need to replace the socket, but as a general question, how common is such a failure and while we're at it should we purchase some extras for anticipation of future failures? We have about (x12) 6+yo fixtures, (x18) 1+yo fixtures, and (x100) >1yo fixtures. I believe this socket failure falls in the oldest batch.
Q5: What kind of abuse does it take to cause a brand new S4 yoke to get bent out of shape? We've been using them in a relatively controlled environment, indoors, and though they've spent some time on side arms and floor mounts, I don't see those being likely to cause non-elastic deformation. Wide-spread, I haven't even seen it at all except in one of our S4 25/50's, but I continually wonder what we did to this brand new fixture that didn't cause problems with any of the other fixtures. It's only been in our stock for 7 months, so we're really scratching our heads on this one.
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