|  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

However, in the five theatres I've worked for and/or serviced over the past, say, ten years...I've only swapped out one three-phase breaker during a "process of elimination" and, as it turned out, that breaker was not the cause of our problem.

So, in fact, I've never actually had a breaker go bad.

My point? I think the electrician has a point, but the odds don't seem to be very high in favor of a premature failure.

Maybe it's a concern if the breakers are just no darn good for starters. I'm using "Square D" and I think that's a well-respected brand. (But I'm sure someone will let me know if it isn't. )

------------------
~Manny.

"The brown acid that is circulating around is not specifically too good."

-- An announcement in the film, "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music."

 |  IP: Logged

Steve

 |  IP: Logged

We have the main console which consist of two 36 channel Mackie boards, a separate rack which holds all of the CD players, tape decks, and the patch bay. Another rack in the booth has all of the wireless mic receivers, effects processors, assisted listening transmitters, etc.. In a room about 20 feet away from the booth we have a "processor rack", which holds all of the cross-overs, digital delays, EQ's, and a bunch of other stuff nobody knows what it does. Then finally in a 8'x10' room behind the choir loft (near the baptistry - approx. 80 feet away from the sound booth), we have the "AMP Room". It has three 8 foot high racks loaded floor to ceiling with Crown Macro-Tech amps and all of the cooling fans for the amps.

To turn this whole system on, you simply insert a key into the main console in the booth, then reach over and press the "START" button. It's one of those "sequencer" type of things, that turns on each set of equipment, in a predetermined order, several seconds apart. If you don't have a key.... you get NO sound - PERIOD. We had a really bad problem with the teenagers trying to figure out the sound system, and finally resulted to "total lock down". To turn the system off - same thing - just in reverse. Turn the key in the opposite direction and hit the "START" button again.

Two weeks ago, someone had a wedding photographer in for a wedding and the remote flash the photographer's assistant used was radio controlled. During the photo session before the wedding... every time the remote flash went off - the video screen started rising out of the back of the choir loft.... it's radio-remote controlled (like a garage door opener).

And now back to why the hell you would care, when it was first installed, it used radio signals to control the movements. This resulted in constant shutdowns during productions in front of live audiences. Now we run off of a hardware network with an additional hardwire backup line in case of failure. Now the only thing that stops the stage is if an actor is smart enough to forget to get out of its way and sets off one of its extremely sensitive sensors.

Dave