My wet pyromusical 2019

[Jay_]

Fast forward to about 1:38. Stuff didn?t go off at the beginning

So I got rained out on the 4th, so I postponed until last Saturday. All went well until about noon when a shower came in and soaked all of my product while we attempted to cover it up.

It rained for a solid 2 hours and really caused a train wreck of a setup. I was so fortunate to have a buddy volunteer to help me...because I would have never gotten it set up hadn?t it been for him.

Lots of cakes/effects were late/didn’t fire/ or were low breakers due to the soak down that they got in the early afternoon.

Show was fired with and audiobox, 7 18m’s and a 72m

I?ll explain in more detail when I don?t have a belly full of 80 proof ��

https://youtu.be/-q2Xxlyg59w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q2Xxlyg59w&feature=youtu.be

[BeerGuyEd]

Despite all the issues you had a very nice show. I loved the opening fan cake.

[Jay_]

Thanks Ed!

It’s prety much dark sky until 1:38. I had 10 cakes in the very beginning that did not fire. 6 of them were my fault, and the other 4 just failed to light.

Everywhere else that there is dark sky was supposed to be covered by 60 second strobes, or 30 second flame pots/lava drop fountains that did not fire.

Still don’t know exactly what happened on my comet run. The left side fired on time...right side failed. They were on different modules and should have alternated on the beat. The right side eventually did fire, but it was way late and not synced with anything.

A lot of the cakes were way slow as the internal fuses were soggy. Also had a bunch of low breaks and several cakes break apart and catch fire.

In the scramble to wire everything, also got some effects mixed up.

Pretty much a disaster and I feel fortunate that it did what it did. Finale did end up decent however

[BeerGuyEd]

See I and I'm sure your audience know nothing about what was supposed to happen. We just see what did happen and when it did happen it was pretty darn good. I think everyone has issues every show, and for the most part no one but us ever know much less even care about it.

[krayg]

Fast forward to about 1:38. Stuff didn?t go off at the beginning

So I got rained out on the 4th, so I postponed until last Saturday. All went well until about noon when a shower came in and soaked all of my product while we attempted to cover it up.

It rained for a solid 2 hours and really caused a train wreck of a setup. I was so fortunate to have a buddy volunteer to help me...because I would have never gotten it set up hadn?t it been for him.

Lots of cakes/effects were late/didn’t fire/ or were low breakers due to the soak down that they got in the early afternoon.

Show was fired with and audiobox, 7 18m’s and a 72m

I?ll explain in more detail when I don?t have a belly full of 80 proof ��

https://youtu.be/-q2Xxlyg59w

I like a good down pour before my shows but 2 hours is a lot. The show looked good. Was that a dominator 19-shot rainbow? Looks similar to the one I shot in red/white/blue. My audience loved those.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Been there, done that Jay. It sucks hard, but you'll get past it (apparently with some 80 proof libation) and come back even stronger next year! Last year was my horror show and the lessons I learned help shave 7 hours off my setup time this year! So don't despair. It will get better.

[Jay_]

See I and I'm sure your audience know nothing about what was supposed to happen. We just see what did happen and when it did happen it was pretty darn good. I think everyone has issues every show, and for the most part no one but us ever know much less even care about it.

Thanks again Ed. We all put a ton of hours and dollars into pulling off ?the perfect show?. We are our own worst critics.

Everyone in the audience did think it was great however.

Appreciate it!

[Jay_]

I like a good down pour before my shows but 2 hours is a lot. The show looked good. Was that a dominator 19-shot rainbow? Looks similar to the one I shot in red/white/blue. My audience loved those.

Yeah it was funny because we were both watching the weather from the northeast as there was a storm coming from that direction that barely missed us. This one snuck up from the southwest and took us by surprise.

Yes that was a dom 19 rainbow slice. It is a nice effect, but I prefer the 15’s I believe.

[Jay_]

Been there, done that Jay. It sucks hard, but you'll get past it (apparently with some 80 proof libation) and come back even stronger next year! Last year was my horror show and the lessons I learned help shave 7 hours off my setup time this year! So don't despair. It will get better.

Thank you Rick. Yes a little sippy does ease the pain a bit. I hope to have a change of fortune next year like you had last year.

I was actually pretty pleased with the finale as most everything went as planned save for the center station cake facing the wrong damn direction and firing about 5 seconds too long. My 50 rack with the bangers in it that I spent about 4-5 hours wiring up went off in the correct intervals at the very end.

I?m going to shoot my leftovers off in a few weeks so maybe I?ll get a little vindication.

[Pyro Paul]

I hope that 80 proof was jack Daniels Black label. That will keep you warm on a cold wet night. The important thing here is that your perservered and accomplished your goal. The fireworks were good and I heard cheering at the end so all in all it sounds like you were successful. Way to go!

[Jay_]

I hope that 80 proof was jack Daniels Black label. That will keep you warm on a cold wet night. The important thing here is that your perservered and accomplished your goal. The fireworks were good and I heard cheering at the end so all in all it sounds like you were successful. Way to go!

Thank you Paul, appreciate it! Sorry to disappoint but no JD black label...just crappy ol crown for me ��

[esgrillo]

Hey Jay great work and I can understand your frustration with the weather. We all keep our fingers crossed each year with that for sure. You persevered!

Were you using slats or onboard with your 72m?

[Jay_]

Hey Jay great work and I can understand your frustration with the weather. We all keep our fingers crossed each year with that for sure. You persevered!

Were you using slats or onboard with your 72m?

Hey thanks Ed! Yeah the 72m has series slats and 83’ cables. It was my first year with the slats so I learned a few things about them this year for sure. I still need some more electronics and probably will do 2 36m’s for next year to handle some comet duty.

I need to get better organized

[esgrillo]

Hey thanks Ed! Yeah the 72m has series slats and 83’ cables. It was my first year with the slats so I learned a few things about them this year for sure. I still need some more electronics and probably will do 2 36m’s for next year to handle some comet duty.

I need to get better organized

I used similar with my 72m. Used the onboard for all the slices on my left platform, (2) 83' cables to the center slices with slats, (2) 83' cables to the right platform. Was able to shoot over 200 slices that way with one 72m. Slats are great time savers too with set up. Those cables are damn heavy though aren't they lol

[Jay_]

Yes those cables are all there for sure! The first time I ever tested my system, I made the mistake of lugging them all out at once. That won?t happen again.

I don?t have the onboard queue module, mine is just a slat module. So out of my module I have (4)16? cables running out of the mod and into the slats, and then the long cables from slat to slat.

At the time that I bought my 72m, I had planned on pursuing my 54 this year and being able to put stations for big shells about 150? apart with the module in the middle. After I realized that my contingency storage options were not practical for me this year and would have just added chaos to what ended up being a chaotic day, I decided to not apply. That?s when I ordered the shorter cables and I ended up just putting the module on the right side and running the cables and slats in line on the left side.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

So now you guys have me interested in slats. Which version do you guys use? I normally wire in series so I'm guessing those would be the way to go. But I don't understand the difference between the series and the parallel. I mean... I know the difference between series wiring and parallel wiring... But what prevents you from jamming 4 wires into each side of a series slat and having it fire?? If the current hits the slat cue, it shouldn't matter if there is 1 wire in each side or 4, no?? What am I not understanding??

[Pyro Paul]

So now you guys have me interested in slats. Which version do you guys use? I normally wire in series so I'm guessing those would be the way to go. But I don't understand the difference between the series and the parallel. I mean... I know the difference between series wiring and parallel wiring... But what prevents you from jamming 4 wires into each side of a series slat and having it fire?? If the current hits the slat cue, it shouldn't matter if there is 1 wire in each side or 4, no?? What am I not understanding??

with series slats, you have a shunt at the end of the last slat and the circuit makes a big loop, so any empty cues have to have jumpers in them. In parallel slats it's just like any parallel circuit so it's like landing all your matches/initiators into the same cue. No need for jumpers or shunts and I believe the parallel slats have 3 plugs so you could put your module in the middle, run to a slat and then run two directions from each end of that slat whereas the series slats only have a plug at each end, so your module would be at one end of the run and the slats could only go in one direction from the module. There are pros and cons to each but you can run more e-match/initiators from series than parallel.

[Pyro Paul]

Thank you Paul, appreciate it! Sorry to disappoint but no JD black label...just crappy ol crown for me ��

Even better, goes down soooooo smoooooth. Gets me in trouble lol.

[Kooooou]

Despite all the issues you had a very nice show. I loved the opening fan cake.
I have to agree, great show even with the rain delay and water damaged cakes. Here's to drier skies next Fourth, or New Years Eve!

[Jay_]

Even better, goes down soooooo smoooooth. Gets me in trouble lol.

Lol! Yeah me too. It’s pretty easy to see the bottom of the jug by accident.

[Jay_]

I have to agree, great show even with the rain delay and water damaged cakes. Here's to drier skies next Fourth, or New Years Eve!


I appreciate it man! Thank you!

[esgrillo]

So now you guys have me interested in slats. Which version do you guys use? I normally wire in series so I'm guessing those would be the way to go. But I don't understand the difference between the series and the parallel. I mean... I know the difference between series wiring and parallel wiring... But what prevents you from jamming 4 wires into each side of a series slat and having it fire?? If the current hits the slat cue, it shouldn't matter if there is 1 wire in each side or 4, no?? What am I not understanding??

Rick after extensive discussions with Scott, if you have onboard cues and plan on using them with the slats plugged in like me, you need to buy parallel slats. The reason is the onboard cues are wired in parallel with the slat output so he said you need to be consistent with that. Plus with parallel you do not have to shunt the end

[esgrillo]

with series slats, you have a shunt at the end of the last slat and the circuit makes a big loop, so any empty cues have to have jumpers in them. In parallel slats it's just like any parallel circuit so it's like landing all your matches/initiators into the same cue. No need for jumpers or shunts and I believe the parallel slats have 3 plugs so you could put your module in the middle, run to a slat and then run two directions from each end of that slat whereas the series slats only have a plug at each end, so your module would be at one end of the run and the slats could only go in one direction from the module. There are pros and cons to each but you can run more e-match/initiators from series than parallel.

Paul... the parallel slats do not have 3 plugs anymore... Just one on on each end. At least that is the style that has been sent to me the last 2 yrs

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick after extensive discussions with Scott, if you have onboard cues and plan on using them with the slats plugged in like me, you need to buy parallel slats. The reason is the onboard cues are wired in parallel with the slat output so he said you need to be consistent with that. Plus with parallel you do not have to shunt the end

OMG... I feel a brain bleed coming on again...

I was on the Cobra site all morning looking at slats, and I spent a good amount of time on You Tube watching videos, trying to understand how they wire into the 18M. I still have no idea. I sent Scott an e-mail so I hope I see an answer from him when I leave work tonight.

As best I can tell, there is a conversion kit that gives you 2 new banks of 6 cues, and the third bank is taken up by a DB25 cable that connects to a 18 cue slat. So in my little brain that means I have 12 onboard cues and 18 cues on a slat. But I know that's not right because an 18M can't fire cue 1 on the mod and then another cue 1 on a slat. Soooooo...... What's the point of the 12 onboard cues? Are they really fake? Just placeholders? I just don't get the math...

But if I understand what you're telling me, the 12 onboard cues DO work along with the slat. So 1-12 on the 18M will fire 1-12 on the slat. Yes? But then that also means I'm losing 6 cues on the 18M because 13-18 is taken up by the DB25 cable, right? So for every 3 18M's that I upgrade to slats, it's like losing an entire 18M (18 cues). Yes? No?

[Robbro097]

Im not positive how the slat conversion work but theyr are the final 6 cues just below the slat connector theyr just tiny AF im pretty sure itd make it just like your 1st slat in the series. I can tell u that if u say running 3 slats and only wanna fireslats 1 and 3 u have to put a lil wire on that cue to complete the circuit. My only cobra experience is with a 72m and slats but if u like to fire at the same time from multiple positions they r freakin awesome.http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=4274&stc=1

[Robbro097]

Im not positive how the slat conversion work but theyr are the final 6 cues just below the slat connector theyr just tiny AF im pretty sure itd make it just like your 1st slat in the series. I can tell u that if u say running 3 slats and only wanna fireslats 1 and 3 u have to put a lil wire on that cue to complete the circuit. My only cobra experience is with a 72m and slats but if u like to fire at the same time from multiple positions they r freakin awesome.4274

Youd have to add the little wire on slat 2 to complete the circuit to clarify

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I always fire at least two cakes at the same time from opposite sides of my show front. That's why it's always the most time consuming on the 4th because I have to wire all the effects back to the firing mod in series. Obviously I can't pre-wire that stuff before the 4th. But if I used slats I could!! So that's the light-bulb that went off this year. But I just don't understand how the wiring works to the mod. Yet.

[Robbro097]

It does sound like a situation made for slats i loved that i was able to wire so much n shunt the slats really helped alot

[esgrillo]

OMG... I feel a brain bleed coming on again...

I was on the Cobra site all morning looking at slats, and I spent a good amount of time on You Tube watching videos, trying to understand how they wire into the 18M. I still have no idea. I sent Scott an e-mail so I hope I see an answer from him when I leave work tonight.

As best I can tell, there is a conversion kit that gives you 2 new banks of 6 cues, and the third bank is taken up by a DB25 cable that connects to a 18 cue slat. So in my little brain that means I have 12 onboard cues and 18 cues on a slat. But I know that's not right because an 18M can't fire cue 1 on the mod and then another cue 1 on a slat. Soooooo...... What's the point of the 12 onboard cues? Are they really fake? Just placeholders? I just don't get the math...

But if I understand what you're telling me, the 12 onboard cues DO work along with the slat. So 1-12 on the 18M will fire 1-12 on the slat. Yes? But then that also means I'm losing 6 cues on the 18M because 13-18 is taken up by the DB25 cable, right? So for every 3 18M's that I upgrade to slats, it's like losing an entire 18M (18 cues). Yes? No?

Rick I have done 2 conversions on 18ms to slats. You replace all the cue strips and the bottom one (13-18) has the DB25 and 6 small (really tiny actually) cue clips that retain the onboard capability on the 18m. The onboard and the slats fire the same cue at the same time. For example fire cue 1 and onboard 1 fires and all the slats connected fire 1 as well. That comet fan effect I did at 21:39 of my video is using one 18m with slat conversion feeding another fan rack with a 50ft DB25. I fire all 18 cues for that one including all the onboard on the 18m. That pic Rob posted is correct. The 6 cues with the DB25 are small. I took a jewelers screwdriver to push down on the spring loaded clip and popped the wire in. No folding over on these... too small. You can see they all fired perfectly. I freed up an 18m by doing that conversion.

The flame pot runs during my show were also done with one 36m with onboard connected to 4 36 mini slats. I had enough cues available that I simply just used a single flame pot at a time in the script and moved down the line. Sure I could have fired 5 devices on that cue and did only 1 but it worked good for those runs and I only used one module to get it done. That same 36m did all the gerbs, strobes, and fountains but I was firing all 5 platforms for those effects.

https://vimeo.com/347225074

[esgrillo]

I always fire at least two cakes at the same time from opposite sides of my show front. That's why it's always the most time consuming on the 4th because I have to wire all the effects back to the firing mod in series. Obviously I can't pre-wire that stuff before the 4th. But if I used slats I could!! So that's the light-bulb that went off this year. But I just don't understand how the wiring works to the mod. Yet.

Also Rick like I mentioned, Scott told me I needed to get parallel slats for my 36m if I planned on using the onboard at the same time and parallel slats do not need to be shunted so that part is similar. You just are limited by the number of devices you can fire at a time. I fired 5 without any issues.

[FBpyro]

Sorry to hear about your rained out show. I also ran into the same situation, I wasn't even able to set any of my e-firing equipment up after I had finished wiring all the product to the patch boards. I ended up having to hand light everything. Your show still turned out to be a good show though! Keep it up! I know how frustrating it was this year.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Believe it or not I think I finally understand how it works! I didn't realize there were 6 cues attached with the DB25 connector. So now it makes sense.

Ed - I have 12 of the 18M's and I plan on using the onboard cues. So based on your conversation with Scott, I need to buy the parallel slats. So I can use series slats only if I don't use the onboard cues, yes? Not sure I understand that, but... If that's the rule, that's the rule!

[Jay_]

Sorry to hear about your rained out show. I also ran into the same situation, I wasn't even able to set any of my e-firing equipment up after I had finished wiring all the product to the patch boards. I ended up having to hand light everything. Your show still turned out to be a good show though! Keep it up! I know how frustrating it was this year.

Thanks you sir! I’ll be better equipped for inclement weather and have a completely different plan for sure next year. It did turn out ok, although not quite what I had planned though. It was a little better than last year all together so I can live with it.

I’ll lick my wounds and go on to the next!