Wheezy
Member
I agree with annual for a clean install. I have worked in several black box theatres in which I inspect and clean the filter every show. There is that much dust in there.
Design Lighting System Completely Down
- Thread starterNikolasR
- Start date
I agree with annual for a clean install. I have worked in several black box theatres in which I inspect and clean the filter every show. There is that much dust in there.
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
One of my favorite stories. I was called in because school had a $400,000 "quote" to replace dimmers and that justified having an architect and team. One look in dimmer room explained the occasional rack shutting down. Boxes jammed on top of all racks, storage piled in front of racks, a layer of dust that could be pulled off like a quilt. A super service call, upgrade 20 year old electronics, all junk relocated, led retrofits in indicator lights, and all better than new for less than $50,000.
Can you reveal the make and model of racks?
I've always been impressed by how much abuse many racks can sustain and keep right on working.
Many people seem to think proactive maintenance is a "dirty word".
Not to promote, or pick on, one brand but in my area we had quite a few original CD80 48 slot / 96 dual 2.4 K AMX192 racks that ran year round for up to 40 years. Some now have Johnson Systems electronics / fans while some have been replaced with ETC Sensors.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
EdSavoie
Well-Known Member
Sheer curiosity, what do you think of the Johnson refit? A bit of searching around yielded a fair number of "it broke" comments, so despite wanting nice things like fitting contactor modules on the CD80AE model, and the CPU package that they require you install to use them sounds nice, I'm not so sure about messing with what's been working fine for the last 23 years.
There was one original CD80/AMX rack in my area which Strand upgraded to AE to add DMX and wall station capabilities back when they first introduced the AE cage. This allowed the cathedral to retain their AMX only original white mini-palette, add a new alternate DMX console and install three permanent plus one portable wall stations. At the time this was a match made in heaven for them. If neither console was powered control was automatically passed to the wall stations. If they powered their original AMX console for routine services, the 'Advanced Electronics' recognized the AMX and gave it priority over the wall stations. When they powered down the console, the AE automatically reverted to the wall stations. If they powered their new DMX console for special services such as Christmas and Easter, the AE cage automatically gave DMX priority. After something like three decades of reliable service, the Advanced Electronics were becoming unreliable. As this rack controlled all illumination within the cathedral plunging the place into darkness whenever it burped, the writing was on the wall. Neither of the Johnson retrofits support the wall stations that worked with the AE. The fans normally supplied with the Johnson retrofits howled like banshees when installed in this particular installation where the Strand rack was located within an acoustically coupled niche next to a secondary set of pipe organ pipes. The cathedral had suffered a devastatingly damaging fire in the seventies which had basically destroyed the entire interior. Imero Fiorentino and Associates had been hired to redesign the entire interior and the cathedral's main space was out of service for a couple of years. This was when some P. Eng' thought it was a good idea to install the CD80 rack where it made the most sense conduit routing-wise but resulted in the rack's noise coupling acoustically with the cathedral's interior. Their quick solution to reduce the noise to an acceptable level was to enclose the rack within a dual-walled plywood 'phone booth' with a gasketed door and Roxul insulation within the walls. Acoustically a great solution but thermally they'd just created an 'E-Z Bake oven' powered by a 3 phase 300 Amp 120/208 fused disconnect. The original designers flew back to NYC and prayed the rack would outlive their warranty. The rack operated amazingly well considering it was being cooked to death by its own heat. After a number of years, SCR dimmer modules began to fail routinely and when Strand developed the AE Advanced Electronics they replaced the original AMX electronics cage, the phone booth's door was left ajar and the Strand wall stations were added. It was only in the spring of 2014 when the Johnson electronics were installed along with ETC wall stations and a Unison / Paradigm system to replace most of the AE's control / protocol conversion / merging capabilities. It was determined Johnson's 240 volt fans, when powered by 120 volts, could still move enough air to keep the rack thermally happy. Replacing the original fans with the higher voltage fans reduced audible noise to a very acceptable level. It wasn't so much the level of noise produced by the normal fans but the pitch of their howling. I don't believe there have been any hiccups with either the Johnson electronics or the ETC controls driving it since their installation in the spring of 2014.
With apologies for another of my long-winded replies.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard. (Stroke survivor and now heart attack survivor too.)
EdSavoie
Well-Known Member
Wow! Thanks for the detailed response. My CD80AE rack sits in a well ventilated room sitting where once was a 1960s dimmer system, and I don't think anything has failed on it, both CPU modules are still in working order and all dimmers work (I can't say the same about some of the old light bridge twist lock connections)
I have no doubt the old thing will operate until someone finally condemns it, then it will die in a blaze of glory like our old sound board. (That's another story)
I have no doubt the old thing will operate until someone finally condemns it, then it will die in a blaze of glory like our old sound board. (That's another story)
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
I've told this before - Colortran D192s - 5 racks. The SCRs and chokes are basically the same as CD80s and it's ancestors and as Sensors, and I think most or all designed or partly in conjunction with by Dave Cunningham. Replaced electronics and replaced switch and vane for airflow - a recognized flaw of the D192. (Casual observer's view: its literally a vane or blade in the air stream on the end of a long arm on a micro switch to detect air floe and when dirt builds up on the vane, even good air flow won't lift it.) We also replaced or rebuilt the architectural controls.
BillConnerFASTC
Well-Known Member
First, I'd look in the manual. I'm pretty sure that has instructions. Somewhere - I think in the door - there is a filter - like a furnace filter - covering the intake. Just vacuuming that will do a lot but power down teh rack and pull a few modules and see if they are covered in dust. If so, pull then all and get the dust out with vac and if needed compressed air. Ditto electronics bay and fan.
Or hire a technician and have them do a thorough cleaning and check of the whole system.
Similar threads
