Allainthebrids Posted May 1, 2016 Share Posted May 1, 2016 Hi everyone, I was wondering how many of you knew about this... Because I found out about this for the first time about 2 weeks ago. These beautiful Confetti are made of conductive material... well 1 side of it is conductive..http://s32.postimg.org/gnhvs6kf9/20160420_115558.jpg It was the first time that I actually saw one shorting something Inside a fixture... Have anyone experienced problems with these before?This one got Inside the arm into the Main Control Card... I made a little video of the conductivity test : http://allainthebrid...l3500-spot.html This may explain why I sometimes wonder why certain parts fail with no obvious reason... little confetti flying in, shorting something then flying out again.. Wanted your toughts on this matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDYLASER Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Yes, we managed to blow the power supply to an ALC68 Argon laser due to glitter ingress. Shorted out a control PCB, which lead to loss of current regulation and wiping out 16 BUX33 TO3 transistors. Plus a reduction of revenue from the show, as we couldn't run the laser for the final 2 hours. After the repair, coarse foam was fitted to the fan inlets. Unfortunately, a lot of fixtures are running at thermal limits and restricting airflow with filter medium doesn't help. Its a question worth asking at events if pyro or glitter/confetti cannons are being used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexforey Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 I don't think it's unreasonable to mandate paper confetti if they insist on having it if you have movers or other expensive sensitive electronics in the line of fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 We hit a related problem at Christmas time. Confetti cannons were loaded with artificial snow. The venue has a moving stage, and the snow material was small enough to make its way through gaps in the stage and clog sensors in the space underneath. The stage couldn't be lowered for load-out until the sensors were cleared. The house staff were not particularly pleased, and understandably so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychosoundman Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 At our venues we are very strict on the use of confetti cannons and the like for just this result. Damage of equipment from flying conductive materials cause all sorts of problems. Cleaning up after several of these cannons being fired is also a nightmare in itself!, sweeping has little effect, as the brooms are not able to get every piece on the floor, so an army of Vacuum cleaners/Ushers has to be used to clean up the remnants. This is all charged to the client and explained to them (prior to the show) should they wish to use these cannons during their event, and inevitably the client ALWAYS take issue with the cost of cleaning. It's a good look to have confetti blowing out of cannons, however, the cost of cleaning it up is lost on some of the promoters. We have (as in this case) found conductive type "confetti strips" inside our moving heads and other lighting fixtures months after the cannons were used, the pieces get everywhere!! Your Venue should have a contract with cleaning/repairing costs for confetti somewhere within it to cover costs from damage to equipment. If not get it put in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allainthebrids Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Thanks for all the replys everyone, I love reading those gig stories... Being a repair tech, I've worked at my bench for the pas 16 years... So I don't get to see all the cool things the road techs talk about all the time.. Keep the stories coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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