vinntec Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I am at home documenting a getting started guide for using our MQ60 at the Chesil. One of the things I want the operator to react to is a warning which says the desk is running on the UPS battery. Does anyone happen to know how you can tell that this is happening and what messages if any appear and where? I live quite a long way from the theatre and am hoping to save a trip for a 10 second test. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peza2010 Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 iirc there is a on screen warning to tell you it is running on battery. But for rhe life of me I cant remember the wording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LXbydesign Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 when the power fails - a good clue?!! :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 when the power fails - a good clue?!! http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gifBut when powering up and the desk is not connected to power? Not so obvious unless you know what to look for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I believe as peza said, when the mains is lost and the desk switches to UPS a rather obvious notification appears on the screen stating this, something along the lines of power is disconnected, and gives a couple of options such as to save and switch off. If it is switched on without power, this message will display on boot I had an MQ60 do this just the other week, but I'm afraid I can't remember the specifics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooly Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 For those that are interested it says on a pop up dialogue box: Power Fail - Using Battery. Save and shutdown now? Yes / No / Cancel... (And I defiantly didn't just pull power from my MQ60 Mid show to find that out! Thank goodness the battery worked! ;) ) I believe as peza said, when the mains is lost and the desk switches to UPS a rather obvious notification appears on the screen stating this, something along the lines of power is disconnected, and gives a couple of options such as to save and switch off. If it is switched on without power, this message will display on boot I had an MQ60 do this just the other week, but I'm afraid I can't remember the specifics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 For those that are interested it says on a pop up dialogue box: Power Fail - Using Battery. Save and shutdown now? Yes / No / Cancel... (And I defiantly didn't just pull power from my MQ60 Mid show to find that out! Thank goodness the battery worked! ;) ) Thanks Jack - its appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameschamsys Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Just to add to this, its only possible to power on the desk when connected to the mains. Once the desk is on and the power fails you'll get the above message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Just to add to this, its only possible to power on the desk when connected to the mains. Once the desk is on and the power fails you'll get the above message.Hi James - Thanks for your extra input. As you know we move the desk around so if we put it back and forgot to "plug it back in" then it won't power on? Presumably you hold the power button up but it doesn't "click"? Our policy is to get as many acting members to do some backstage stuff and LX operator is one of the roles a semi-skilled person might fill. Hence why the checklist needs to allow for likely and not quite so likely eventualities. I was concerned the MQ60 would just say "I am running on batteries" and unless the operator knew this was not normal, they wouldn't do anything about it and will later find the desk dead! So I think I can write this up now to be almost foolproof with a good idea of what the symptoms and messages are, Thanks to James and Jack in particular, and other contributors. PV Incidentally, is there a recommended time interval to replace the UPS battery? While we are about it, what about the motherboard battery? (MQ60) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmac Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Incidentally, is there a recommended time interval to replace the UPS battery? While we are about it, what about the motherboard battery? (MQ60) The MQ60 requires line voltage to connect the power relay at turn on. When power fail is detected there is a delay of around a minute to make sure it is a proper power fail....the dialogue box is then popped on screen with the above message. This delay serves to prevent the pop up message appearing for short power glitches and interrupting the operator. If the option to continue is exercised the MQ60 will run for 20 to 25 minutes before a warning dialogue box appears saying save and turn off with a count down to auto power off. This message appears when the battery voltage is almost at the minimum. The MQ60 will turn off cleanly saving files if need be. Should the main ARM processor not be running for some reason then a few minutes after the final message would have appeared the desk will hard turn off to prevent the battery being over discharged. At power on the battery is tested and if the result of this shows a low voltage the heartbeat LED (far left looking at rear panel) will flash at a faster rate. If this occurs for more than a couple of power on then the battery needs to be changed. Typically with modern batteries, made to be as low manufacturing cost as possible, life is around 2 years. The MQ60 is a custom single PCB design and the 'motherboard battery' is only used to power the real time clock. This prevents failure of the battery loosing BIOS information and creating problems when you try and boot as is typical on a PC based system. This battery is on the back of the PCB and should last 3+ years. Both batteries are easy to change by undoing the top screws and hinging up the front panel. George McDuffChamSys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 George McDuffChamSysHi George - thanks for the excellent explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fliggygeek Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Really obvious one is the fact that your desk lamps will extinguish as soon as you lose power. I don't think there's a way to override this, and is fairly hard not to notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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