58 replies to this topic

[ChesterPFX]

Nice. What power have you got going in there?

[broadsword]

Looks like AC! Because unless my eyes are seeing something, im sure thats a RCCB! A must for everyone using AC to power their units! Peronally I wouldn't medal with AC especially when you can use DC!

[Arthur Brown]

The Shrike is a high voltage firing device (400+) It has a major safety circuit to prevent it being fired into a human body as it would certainly cause irregular heartbeat problems. It is designed for use in ordnance disposal where several igniters may be fired at once at the end of a LONG command wire -- I'd want to be a long way from a 10000kilo ex military device.

For cat 3 and cat4 pyro a 12 - 24 volt power supply should sufice. It is unlikely that any responsible firer would be more than 20 metres from the devices. If you are further away then you cannot secure the perimiter without aid.

[Kembang Api]

Yes it is an AC powered but only for the PLC (The red color cable). To ignite the ematch I used a DC power source (the black cable). The other cable is for the 4 cue that run to the ematch.
PLC controller is Mitsubishi FX1s-10MR-ES/UL.

Edited by Kembang Api, 26 November 2004 - 05:27 PM.

[cat]

Ha ha, you got me bang on there. I would love to be able to find something to allow me to do that. As I said, my electronics expertise is next to none, but I'm learning. I'm thinking about looking at visual basic programs that could automate the firing program so I can run it off a laptop, but that is for next year.

All the cables are 25m by the way, rated to 60V, 1A per core.

This is truly a nice panel. Bravo!

If you?re interested in doing a laptop powered show ala VB there are a number of ways to handle that. We can assume you don?t want to buy a shrink-wrapped solution? Your computers printer port will probably be the easiest thing to control (what?s you?re programming experience?). Anyhow that gives you 8 data lines and a few control lines to work with. I?m not much of an electronics geek so I stole my plan from the web (http://computerchris...ow_to&HowToId=4), you will need to isolate the output lines with a relay or SCR or something so you don?t draw to much power through your chips.

-Cat

[ChesterPFX]

Hey Cat,

Thanks for the link. looking at that site there should be room to manouvre from christmas lights to ignitors (same things really). Would never have thought of looking for a solution there!!

Your quite right about not wanting an 'off the shelf' program. I have great satisfaction in building something myself that works correctly and looks decent, it's part of the Barnes Wallace in me. (I am a secret avid fan of Scrapheap Challenge aswell )

[SwissTony]

Scrapheap Challenge OWNS!!!!
Found a box now for my panel Box

My mates "borrowed" most of the parts from his University.
Managed to get 200m of 8 core alarm wire fro ?25 delivered

I tried using a printer port before on a pic programming thing for a skool project.
Wasted my mobo

[Kembang Api]

Thanks a lot Cat, the link is something that open up my mind. A wonderful new project of mind in near future.

[SwissTony]

Probably best to use core 8 as a parallel common, then the command wire is as reliable as possible. If you need to fire two or more cues down one multicore at once the volts drop across the common could lead to misfires.

12 volts is enough for fairly long leads, a small stack of AA alkaline cells or a small rechargable 1 or 2AH alarm battery will fire all the cues needed for a night's show. LeMaitre firing boxes use two 9v PP3 batteries and they last ages.

What do you mean by a parallel common???


I have ordered all my bits today, so hopefully by the end of the week i should have my panel made
Now i need to make some electronic ignitors, cant afford the bickford ones yet
Anyone know a good method that works on low voltage???
I got plenty of quickmatch, as my uncle just got me a load.

Chester, what kind of LED did you use on your box????

[ChesterPFX]

5mm 12V LED.

I guess "parallel common" means using 6 of the 8 cores to run the current out and 2 of the cores, commoned together to run the current back. Double the thickness, less resistance, allowing mutiple cues to be fired at once.

[RegimentalPyro]

Now i need to make some electronic ignitors, cant afford the bickford ones yet
Anyone know a good method that works on low voltage???

You can make good cheap electrical ignitors with low power resistors. Available from RS [rswww.com] stock code 144-009

All you have to do is ensure that they are situated so that they press against the quickmatch core.

To do this I pull a bit of QM core out of the sleeve, fold it over with the resistor sandwiched inbetween, and then push the core back into the sleeve. I then twist the wire "tail" onto the resistor ends and insulate the lot with electrical tape.

They go in under a second at 12v on the end of 50metres of wire. I use 24v and they passfire almost instantly.

[broadsword]

Or get a fairly high restance resistor and carefully take the ends off then strip the wire off that you will find inside (this is Nicrome wire) and i gr8 as it will glow red hot and not melt depending on the voltage used.

So practice using different lengths if you cannot regulate the voltage and you should get the desired effect

[adamw]

By the way people, CPC dont require that you are a company

[Toby_129]

I'm currently working on a medium sized computer controlled firing system, using RS-485 for communication between the panel and the breakout boxes. The system is being built into Peli 1550 cases, and I also intend to add a DMX out from the main panel so that i can run intelligent lighting effects eg. Mac 500's (moving head lumieres) from the same system.

I'll keep you posted with pictures of the project, at the moment i'm building the outstations.

Toby

[broadsword]

Well my hotly awaited (by me) Ball mill has finally been fisished today! But im confused! im not sure if it is millimg very well!
how much media should i put in the container and how much green mix? My ball mill only spins at 60rpm i am assuming this is sufficient?

Any help much apriciated. Thanks