ianknight

@Geo23 Good to see some Mini 2's still doing their thing 😄

@NW1 I saw the announcement on FB - well done for keeping a community venue going 🙂 As @kgallen has said - the Fat Frog is handy for running stuff side by side but it can only control 12 fixtures. If you're 'donating' things like MAC's in to venue then I would urge you to seriously consider replacing the Fat Frog - whist it's certainly possible to run two controls side by side, it can get complex & frustrating for inexperienced users so I'd try to bring them under one desk ASAP. I'm a little out of touch with the current 'de rigeur' desk but having sold desks in the past as well as lit with them - do take in to consideration that it might not always be you plotting shows and playing them back so pay close attention to any desks UI & whether it can be configured for less experienced users or not. You should also have half an eye to what happens at 6pm Saturday night when you power everything ready for 'the half' and the desk gives it's last gasp - what will you do for backup? Choosing a desk that's used by other venues nearby might be handy in such circumstances... If you're not happy serving the current racks or desks (and you might not find someone local who is) - then I can help too. Good Luck with the venue 😄

@Tbird From past experience - the chances of getting a goodwill refund are negligible to non-existent. Unless the pyro was out of date when you bought it, then LeMaitre won't entertain the idea of a refund & they'll likely pass you back to the dealer that sold you the the smokes. Bear in mind that this was the company that when dealers tried to exchange sealed boxes of pyro that time expired during the pandemic because ho one was buying pyro - they weren't helpful apparently. 😞 They will rely on "You should have read the instructions to remove the bung therefore you weren't using the item correctly so not our problem" - the dealer you bought from (if not LeMaitre - if they do direct sales these days) will likely not want to take back any opened boxes of pyro either. Things were different 6 or 7 years ago when Elaine Frost was Sales Manager & she was very helpful because she believed in the brand.

@sunray - it was intended for all the folks reading this thread to hopefully inspire more folks to reach out to help schools & to suggest that they shouldn't presume what the answer will be when they offer to help. 😄

I've seen this from both sides - I worked for 19 years with an install company & then a couple of years in a school (just before Covid happened) & it's bizarre to see how different schools handle it. When I was installing - some schools wouldn't let us near without clearance whether they had someone to accompany us or not - some just gave us a cheery hello, asked us to sign in and left us to it. The school I worked at had an 'approved contractor list' which largely meant pre-approval but they also took DBS details from 'new faces' or had technicians accompanied if no clearance (and it's hard for small/solo contractors to get a clearance in their own name) - sometimes (I was site staff) we were told to leave them to it and get on with our own work! I think my point is - if folks want to offer to 'volunteer' to help out a school then go ahead and do it - don't assume that they will want DBS (or conversely that they will accept your offer - some site managers & head teachers are picky) - they'll be glad of the help in most schools. Don't push it though - don't get upset if they have someone accompany you, don't assume that because the equipment is 'top of the line' that they know how to use it - the drama teacher who left 2 years ago specified that & didn't show anyone how to use it before they left because... Have the mindset of "I'm helping a neighbour..." and go from there - you'll make new friends most times & they might even ask you again and offer to pay - hopefully most schools will offer you a cuppa whilst you do your thing.

I think it's the "Owh no - we can't ask anyone for help because they'll charge the earth for just coming in the front door" syndrome? @Mylo There's plenty of folks here on the Blue Room (and other socials) who would be happy to call in for a look & to give some advice for the cost of a cheery "Hello" & perhaps a cuppa but no one's going to offer unless they know where you are in the UK - you might even find someone very helpful & just around the corner, I suspect also that your school is now 'panicking' because it's the school Christmas concert next week & after not bothering with lights last year - parent power is now looking for some 'atmosphere' this year. I've had 5 enquiries since this last week for desk repairs, replacement power supplies & so on but it's almost now too late 😞

@partyanimallighting - that would be my approach about changing over - empty the tank then run the machine for 5 minutes or so to flush the remaining fluid in the internals then fill with the oil based fluid and and run for another 5-10 minutes to get it circulated. After that - maintenance & servicing - I used to just ensure the machine was run regularly especially during quiet hire periods - the oil is a light oil so whilst it leaves a residue when the haze settles on surfaces it never seemed to clog the insides like a glycol based smoke fluid will in conventional machines. I think some of that is due to the fact that the haze fluid isn't actually heated - it's forced to decompose/mist by the compressed air. It might be feasible that once a year - you run some conventional cleaning solution i.e. a mix of distilled water and white vinegar through the machine for 5-10 minutes to clean it's jets. BTW - this last part makes sense in my head but I'll leave it to someone used to repairing or maintaining these machines to come up with better.

CTS used to have one of these in hire (and originally the original compressor based version too) & we never got good results in the new version with water based fluid (much to my boss upset because of the cost of the oil based fluid) & using water wasn't an option in the original. I refilled the machine with oil and after running it for 10 minutes or so to flush the remaining water it worked like a dream and gave that fab haze these machines produce -easily better than the Unique but not many folks liked having a compressor on the side of stage in a quiet theatre. I'd swap to the oil fluid personally...

@gaspipe58 that's the same problem as I have on the 520i that I've been looking at i.e. the LCD Displays don't display anything. According to @Kazeja when I eMailed him - there's some resistors on the mainboard (not the PC mainboard) that might have failed & need checking. I'll look out his eMail over the weekend and send you a PM. The button cell I don't think is a battery but the consoles ID chip but again @Kazeja will know better - that was the component that I believe Strand insisted was removed during the part exchange/upgrade deal they offered to get folks off 430's on to 500 series. I tried to get myself a second hand 430 from WhiteLight via Peter Threadgold (we were quite friendly - he used to work with my ex boss) but he said that although they had a 'skip full' the iD chips had been removed at Strands insistence. This might explain why there are so few 430's left? And the monitor in the wrong output thing? Yeah - done that a few times too - a real heart stopper isn't it? ** laughs out loud **

I have a box full of fader caps, keycaps and button caps for the 500 series (original & updated) so once you know what you need - drop me a PM and a picture of the existing ones so I can match them.

Winner, winner - Chicken dinner! (sorry been chatting too much with my nephews lately) 😛 That's fab news - nice one! 😄

To be honest - I wouldn't worry too much about software as long as the hard disk is intact - the three 'scrap/spares' 520's I bought a few years back all booted when powered. If the only issue is a failed motherboard or PSU I'd wager a sticky bun that the hard disk will be fine, the desk will boot and you're away. Push comes to shove - I've got one hard disk not spoken for in one of the 520's I have - I wouldn't have a problem loaning you that to image your drive - there are likely still many software tools that will make short work of imaging an IDE Hard drive 🙂

From memory - you will need a motherboard with a 16 bit ISA slot to take the riser card that connects the PC part of the desk to the desk processor - some mainboard manufacturers leave them out to make more compact motherboards with more logic/better graphics/sound & more RAM on them. You'll also need a floppy drive interface - the desk is running MSDOS 6.22 underneath it all and it only knows about floppy disks, hard disks via IDE & VGA Ports on D style connectors - the serial port & parallel ports aren't necessary but depending on the state of the trackball you may want to plug in a mouse (either serial or PS/2). The older more reliable the motherboard the better really - GeniusPro can't use a lot of extended memory - gets confused with ramdisks (got a couple of faded tee shirts around that) and don't expect faster performance by fitting a fast processor - it all gets dragged down by software timers & waiting for interrupts - you'd be just generating heat and noise from coolers.

That sounds like it could be the Intel mainboard failed or simply the PSU failed - the latter is a 'standard' type of PC PSU so easy to try a replacement, if it's the mainboard then it will be trickier to source a replacement as it's a Pentium 2 - I have no idea what would happen with a newer PC mainboard. If it were 'just round;' the corner it might be worth it to see if it can be revived but it might prove to be a paperweight as you say - it's a shame but that's where we are 😞

@GOODN537433 Sadly Zero88 don't take kit in for repair these days in the same way that they used to 😞 I do however repair Zero kit and am an authorised independent service centre (I can do warranty repairs too) - I also have spares around for LeapFrogs... Is it the original LeapFrog or the version that runs ZerOS? Hopefully it's not a LeapFrog 96 as transport can be problematic without a flight case. I'm in Coventry - if you want to carry on a conversation about this - then eMail me - ian at serviceguy dot co dot uk

It would help others suggest a suitable alternative if you told us what desk you're looking to replace & what sort of lighting rig you're looking to control?

@Tim Armitage if you mean that you have channels patched on the LeapFrog but the faders don't affect them and only the flash buttons do - then it sounds like you have some failed faders. It would be handy to know which version of the LeapFrog you have so that we can sure it's not a software issue but if it turns out to be hardware i.e. faders then either version desk is eminently repairable (and not expensive to do).

Spotted on Reddit by a friend of mine.. Reddit linky Someone looking for info about the desk - I never knew they built such a thing - I've never come across one. Luckily my friend has taken onboard my ramblings about The Historic Stage Lighting Collective & suggested it might make a nice donation (except now - someone will say "Owh - we've got 4 already!!").

A lot of the reason for the spread of "vartas' disease" is because of the second hand equipment market - the new buyers don't realise there's a battery inside that needs monitoring & replacement - even of things like 2032 button cells - I think they assume it's magic that lets their kit remember stuff between shows 😛 Sometimes they seem reluctant to ask about their 'new to them' kit - either they're afraid of the replacement costs or they assume that the issue will repair itself 😞

and thanks for your help - I'm just waiting for time time to get the beast back out of its case in my small workshop and on the bench to prod but pesky customers keep sending me repairs 😛

In retrospect, I'm sad that we didn't hold on to our MMS when we decommissioned it from the College Theatre in Coventry - it was a frankenstein system based around the Belgrades MMS some modules and the more modern Power rack from The Albery (we did skip the Belix rack!) but it was a lovely system. One never forgets the heart stopping moment when the alarm light illuminated on the memory module because the 5v rail had wandered on one of the Belix modules! If anyone does feel brave about trying to power one - it's worth remembering that there is a Strand schedule somewhere that details the data bus & power bus 'load' per module and there is a total load per desk that needs to be observed. I remember my eyes lighting up at getting a tape module from The Albery but being told by our friendly Strand Engineer that to use it - you need to unplug nearly everything else except the memory module! We also had a remote control for the MMS (a great big hunk of wall art it was!) but the module for the desk was lost so we certainly never kept that. It would be fab to see one come back to life one day 😄

I've spoken to Andy Syposz and he was very helpful without actually being in front of the console but as he admits - it's been a while since he last saw one too 🙂 The illlumination of the panels is OK - they light up and under the 500 diags there's come control over brightness & contrast (as much as there ever was really any control) but there's nothing being displayed on the panels. Swapping the panel assembly out does the same thing suggesting that the fault is elsewhere i.e. on the mainboard. I could swap mainboards from the other two units I have but I don't know how the CS chip behave in those circumstances or whether the swap is simply 'one out another in' (or indeed what to do if they have the same issue).

I'm sure someone will be in touch @J Pearce - The 520i with the dodgy LCD's is in my care at the moment (and I have two more for spares!) but I'm really a Zero88 'expert' so the fault is baffling me, it was working when I bought them from the Belgrade 5 years ago. What would be really handy is someone who knows which section to dust with 'magic spray' or where to poke - the desk powers up otherwise and works but the LCD's aren't doing anything sensible (nor did swapping displays help). Some of the arcane knowledge for keeping this kit going (and so presentable in a working condition) is disappearing as folks retire or move on - it would be nice (where we can do so) to preserve that knowledge. Even simple things like the old style Strand service manuals (even circuit diagrams for kit between Tempus & 500 series, Strand don't have them!) will help the collective and there must still be some lying in dusty corners - my small collection is already 'bequeathed' to the collective when I'm done. 🙂

Plus 1 for this too - a cracking little system that can have multiple control points as well. Commissioned one for a local church in 2017 to control some LED fixtures to give a variety of 'looks' - customer was (and still is) very happy with it.

It's a tough call and I don't have a hard & fast rule - it's really a sort of simultaneous equation using variables such as can the unit be replaced, is the unit really needed (or is it just 'nice' to have), are the parts available & how much time will be needed to fit the parts and get it working. If the unit can't be replaced or it would be expensive to buy new then it's worth 3-4 hours effort if there's spares readily available i.e. in the workshop otherwise it's time to scrap the unit. When I was selling LED fixtures for a living - the choice was the "Hari Kiri 24" fixture or the Clay Paky or SGM unit with a few hundred pounds between them - I always told the folks who couldn't afford the expensive option to open a savings account and put 1/3 of the price difference in that every year so they could replace the fixture when it inevitably stopped working & couldn't be repaired or buy 4 more than they need and leave them unopened to use as spares. My direct experience of the cheaper units was that they were built in batches using components surplus from other projects which is why finding replacement components after 2 years was so tricky - yes, we sold them but on the clear understanding they were sub £100 units (or what have you) and so were effectively disposable. If only the eco zealots realised how much of landfill was being filled with these scrap units & weren't being recycled then they wouldn't be so quick to get rid of tungsten (unless as the cynical voice inside is screaming now "it's all about the money!") 😛