bigclive

What are your thoughts on the current DMX testers with RDM functionality, including remotely setting addresses? I'm toying with buying a Swisson unit, but would be interested to know what other options I should be considering.

You can also get the replacement atomiser disks in most countries from the gardening supply stores on eBay. Just search for 20mm fogger disc/disk. They're very common in the decorative pond foggers.

Intriguing. That possibly explains the programmable fog height concept, since the water fog is heavy and the glycol fog can be quite light. Mixing them in the correct ratio would result in different weights of fog. I'd guess the hygroscopic atomised glycol is attaching to the atomised water droplets. Hopefully that switchmode is well protected from residual water during shipping. The ultrasonic block uses replaceable piezoelectric disks that can be changed by unscrewing their retaining rings if they ever need changed. It's really important that they never manage to operate with no water to cool them. If they exceed their Curie point temperature it will delete their piezoelectric properties very quickly. I wonder if there's a sterilising routine for long term use when the water may go a bit slimy. Notice how I'm habitually assessing the units for servicing requirements.

Ah, so it is using a classic ten head atomiser block. I wonder if it adds a continuous stream of glycol fog to the atomised fog to create higher volume.

It would be interesting to see that. Especially if it uses a classic 10 atomizer slab or two. The atomiser disks have an optimal distance to the top of the water for the best effect, which is why the water will be cycled through that area, overflowing into the collection and recycling compartment. I can't really think of an easy way to transport this sort of technology without just draining the water reservoirs completely between locations. You could have a system that pumps all the water back into a container, but that would increase complexity and potentially have hygiene risks. I wonder if there's a routine cleaning required. Classic ultrasonic atomisers get a bit yucky inside quite quickly. If the glycol does get dosed into the water that could help with keeping it sterile.

The standard ultrasonic slab typically has ten disks on it. I wonder if they use multiple slabs. I wasn't expecting a separate fog machine. That could account for the high power rating. Now it makes me wonder if they are dosing the fog fluid into the water or if it's being added as a continuous stream into the output. Previous experiments showed that adding some smoke fluid to the water in a traditional ultrasonic room humidifier created a useful haze in the air.

The keywords on YouTube for a whole range of similar looking machines from China are "water low fog". I'm a bit surprised at the ratings of 2kW and 3kW as that is huge for an ultrasonic fogger. Even the ten head pond units are only rated around 300W. If the ultrasonic atomiser disks are being driven very hard then heat could limit the run time of these. The thing that really kills atomiser disks is heat.

What are you using them to lock/open?

That's quite neat. It appears to be a pond fogger with a pump continually circulating water to the atomiser reservoir for cooling and to keep it at the correct level. I'd guess the fog fluid is just dosed into the distilled water on each fill to get the correct density of fog.

Is this to imply setting fire to something? Is the thrown match going to remain visible? Could a "throwie" be used with a warm white LED to imply a thrown flame? (A throwie is an LED taped across a 3V lithium button cell with a thin shim of plastic between one leg and the cell to act as a switch when pulled out.)

In this application that's probably a desirable effect, since each player is getting their own stereo image.

Given the type of equipment it probably uses a standard solenoid pump like this:- Generic eBay solenoid pump. These pumps jam all the time. Usually when stored for a while. What liquid did you use in it? I'm pretty sure that model uses glycol/glycerine based fluid, so using the wrong fluid is not usually going to harm the pump unless you use an oil based liquid which can cause issues with pump seals. If you did use oil based haze fluid then you could try stripping and cleaning the pump. This video may help:-

This is one of the many areas in the tax system that has been polluted by "loopholes". Certain employees of the BBC registered as companies to avoid tax and NI contributions. When their loophole was found by HMRC they decided to introduce even more complex rules to identify between real companies and pseudo companies, the tricky bit being that many prominent government figures also use the same loophole system. This is why UK tax is so stupidly complex. Because it's an attempt to protect the financial interests of the looting politicians while still targeting the normal working people. Every year the government employs prominent accountancy firms (at astronomical expense) to create new loopholes for their financial gain while blocking the old ones they created in the first place. Perhaps the answer is to get rid of the root problem in the first place.....

Environmental departments and the career-whiners that moan loudly about any noise at all that comes from a stadium that they chose to live NEXT to, results in draconian noise limits being put on some shows. To the point of impacting the show experience adversely. People go to shows to be engulfed in an excess of sound, light and drama. If the volume is going to be turned down then there's no point. As mentioned in that article, working "in the round" where the performers are amongst the audience causes massive feedback issues that can require some creative processing and speaker placement to avoid. Not a huge issue if a show is going to be in a location for long enough to properly install and set up a well designed system, but that's not going to happen on a high turnover tour. Maybe the main venues should pre-install a backbone of in-audience speaker points with their own cabling and amplifier system. Perhaps an industrial version of the silent disco headphones could find their way into arenas in the future. That would be weird. A silent arena show.

A colleague used to use a small wireless camera and screen combo with battery pack on shows where he wanted to see specific details live.

The Silent Disco King system look interesting. I wonder how many of the headphones go missing on a typical gig.

After 7 years it's never been easier to find generic replacement parts online.

The SP21 series looks pretty good in the sense that it has a decent current rating and more importantly a large pin size allowing easier termination with a properly sized cable for the low voltage application. It's becoming clear that if you want industrial connectors you really have to go to China now. Even if that does involve an element of roulette.

Do you guys have any preferences for waterproof connectors for outdoor LED tape applications? I'm considering making up some leads for an application with RGBW tape so it would have to be at least 5 pin with 6 pin offering the possibility of doubling up on the common positive. I've got a Cliff style connector here, but it looks like it could be quite cramped to solder if a decent cable core size is used.

You're right. The sound of an explosives factory going up should be kept to below 150dB for realism.

The whole point of theatre is to deliver sensory stimulation above and beyond normal life. On a certain job I work on,if the pyro doesn't make the audience scream then it means we need more boom.

Any chance you could use a stage maroon in a bomb tank? (It feels so awkward saying bomb these days!) A maroon will produce a huge explosion and that can then be extended with a bit of speaker noise.

What would you guys say is a good base specification level for running an OBS system on a dedicated laptop or PC these days? I like the idea of experimenting with a multiple camera setup, but my existing computers are not really up to the standard of live video processing.

The two most common ingredients in vape liquid are glycerine and propylene glycol. The big cloud-chaser tanks can use near pure glycerine, but the Ego tanks you're using need runnier fluid which is probably a 50/50 mix of the two. Or you could use a cheap e-liquid like the stuff that Poundland sells. The nicotine isn't going to be an issue if people aren't sucking the output of the genie lamp. Most convenient source for glycerine is Boots the chemist. You can buy propylene glycol online as it's very popular with people who mix their own liquids.

You're using oil? Does it work in the vaping device?