2023 show in the bag.

[Sassy Hatter OZFL]

here is our 2023 show, second year with cobra system, 4 mods/8 sequencers. in total had 26 slices, and 45 single shots and 8 cakes not fire. which caused some of the dead air. otherwise I would say it is a little "pukey" but thats cause im still a heavy cake user but i recognize my problem and am trying to get better :) https://youtu.be/dgVj_YyLDBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgVj_YyLDBMpardon my nieces impromptu shakey cam sequence and following me into the first fire ( instinct, forgot about pausing which i fixed later). and its hard to tell, but everything is kinda of shot at an angle, we are on a small key/pennisula with angles that break physics.

[Engineer Cat]

Wow 25 slices and 45 single shots didn't fire?? that's a lot. I call that dead air a palette cleanser. :D Honestly with a show that long, some dead air doesn't hurt to keep people focused. My heart always sinks when there's dead air in my show when I know I didn't script it that way. I think it's just not going to start up again, but it always does. Looks like a cake tipped over at the 14:20 mark and sent a crackle towards the audience. They are plenty ways away though so clearly wasn't a problem.


Did you have the cakes that caught fire tightly packed? It looks likes plenty of room to have them spread out enough so if they catch fire they can just burn out without igniting something else.

Only pyros know the effort that goes into these shows. And only we know when there's something that didn't go off properly because of the hours and hours of scripting and prep work we do. I can tell someone exactly what did not go off as soon as the show is over if they ask, but they never ask that. They think everything went perfect. LOL I had 26 shells of 48 that didn't go but no one knew. When I mentioned it to a few people they said wow, would of never noticed.

Anyhow, great job! I think it turned out well and everyone enjoyed the show. Grace looked a bit frazzled when she came back from putting out the fire that paused the show but hey, she's a pyro in training so that's expected. ;)

[Sassy Hatter OZFL]

Wow 25 slices and 45 single shots didn't fire?? that's a lot. I call that dead air a palette cleanser. :D Honestly with a show that long, some dead air doesn't hurt to keep people focused. My heart always sinks when there's dead air in my show when I know I didn't script it that way. I think it's just not going to start up again, but it always does. Looks like a cake tipped over at the 14:20 mark and sent a crackle towards the audience. They are plenty ways away though so clearly wasn't a problem.


Did you have the cakes that caught fire tightly packed? It looks likes plenty of room to have them spread out enough so if they catch fire they can just burn out without igniting something else.

Only pyros know the effort that goes into these shows. And only we know when there's something that didn't go off properly because of the hours and hours of scripting and prep work we do. I can tell someone exactly what did not go off as soon as the show is over if they ask, but they never ask that. They think everything went perfect. LOL I had 26 shells of 48 that didn't go but no one knew. When I mentioned it to a few people they said wow, would of never noticed.

Anyhow, great job! I think it turned out well and everyone enjoyed the show. Grace looked a bit frazzled when she came back from putting out the fire that paused the show but hey, she's a pyro in training so that's expected. ;)

The cake towards audience thing (white strobe finale) is actually that weird angle thing I mentioned, it actually fires over the "lagoon" area boat dock, which is water then other side is road, then water with a sliver going to 2 other houses at end as land fans back out.
And yes this entire piece didn't fire6693 along with a single shot rack on the east side. (Which looks like it's in the trees but is actually off of my fishing dock on ocean side)

And the worse offenders were the new racoon line for burning. Not tightly packed but not spread either. However none "spread". To others if that last fire had spread, my slices would of gone off lol.

[PYRODAN]

I am curious, have you determined why you had so many items not fire? Seems like a lot. A few years ago, (2019) I did a couple of big comet runs and one didn't go. Went through a ton of Firewires and a few calls to Cobra trying to figure out what happened. Eventually found my 72M was set to the wrong firing mode, causing the second run not to fire....Only made that mistake once.....

[Sassy Hatter OZFL]

I am curious, have you determined why you had so many items not fire? Seems like a lot. A few years ago, (2019) I did a couple of big comet runs and one didn't go. Went through a ton of Firewires and a few calls to Cobra trying to figure out what happened. Eventually found my 72M was set to the wrong firing mode, causing the second run not to fire....Only made that mistake once.....

Yup, 99% certain it was the wire from the cobra to the sequencer for that rack. They are homemade and just crimped. I think I will make some similar wires but solder them to a cobra breakout board. Sequencers where programmed right, every other sequencer worked except 1 row of single shots, otherwise it was all on one rack. Which leads me to wire. I "pre shot' the show and watched all the pretty lights and had igniters in cue 1 of all 4 mods.

[PYRODAN]

The wiring is home made or the sequencer? Any pictures? I would like to see your set up. The one thing I neglected to do this year was take set up pictures. I like to go back and look at them for future reference. The other mistake I made was having my son video the show, I'm still waiting to get the video!

[Engineer Cat]

I used these butt connectors to wire some shells in series and the majority of them failed. I had these other connectors that were almost fool proof but I thought it was easier to use these butt connectors when I was in a rush. Wont make that mistake next year.

Used these.
6720

Should have used these.
6721

Those last ones didn't fail me last year. I think I just brain farted in the thick of things.

[Sassy Hatter OZFL]

I used these butt connectors to wire some shells in series and the majority of them failed. I had these other connectors that were almost fool proof but I thought it was easier to use these butt connectors when I was in a rush. Wont make that mistake next year.

Used these.
6720

Should have used these.
6721

Those last ones didn't fail me last year. I think I just brain farted in the thick of things.

I use quick plugs to breakout boards or cobra straight to sequencer. ive had great luck with those scotch connectors and poor luck getting the quickplugs right.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I used those stupid butt connectors one time and the vast majority failed as well. Tossed them all in the trash.

[Birdman]

The only good thing about product not firing is that there's more for next time! Seriously though the audience doesn't notice or care. We all know how it feels when something isn't firing right and all you can do is put your hands up in the air and wonder why. I had to pack my cakes tighter together this year because there was a good chance of storms and limited tarps. Luckily the show was over before they really started going up in flames. When I have them that close together I try to group them by when they fire so I don't have a cake that fires early in the show next to ones that will fire later.

It was still a very entertaining show to watch!

[PYRODAN]

Well, i hate to be the contrarian, but I use those ( UY2 connectors) every year with no failures. Now I do splurge and buy the 3M ones and use the actual tool to crimp them. Not a fan of the WAGO connectors, although a lot of high end components used on emergency equipment use them. I have not seen any in service failures of them, but they just give me that "not so fresh feeling"6731

[esgrillo]

nice show! Always have some product that does not fire... it happens when you start shooting massive amounts of product!

I know you mentioned the camera issues... get a gopro on a tripod, you wont be disappointed. If you know someone that pilots a drone, that usually provides great shots.

Question, looks like there is a camper/car by your shoot site? Maybe the camera angle is deceptive? not sure... seemed pretty close