Fun FAQs & Helpful Hints
Pyrotechnic Controllers
Frequently
Asked Question: Why aren't there any really cheap wireless
controllers for setting off pyrotechnics?
Because it's not acceptable for stray radio signals to be able to
accidentally set off your pyro.
This means that a pyro wireless receiver must be capable of recognizing
a unique digital signal, that can only be transmitted by the pyro
wireless transmitter it's designed to be used with. The signal must
be one that can never be reproduced by any other device, and the
pyro receiver must know that it must never fire the pyro unless
it receives this one unique signal. (Theatre Effects Wizard Fire
II™ products transmit this unique signal 3 times in quick
succession, and the receiver must receive all 3 and they must match,
or it will not fire.)
Why can't I set off my pyro with my standard lighting or sound controller?
Because it's not acceptable for pyro to be so easily set off by
bumpling a switch or fader.
If you would accidentally turn on a stage light at the wrong time,
either manually or because your controller lost its programming,
that's not generally a big problem. But if you have a pyro effect
on that channel then it IS a big problem. Therefore you should only
use a dedicated pyro controller for these effects. When this is
the case, you'll only be working with this controller when you actually
intend for pyro to go off.
There are some expensive show-control, MIDI etc. multimedia systems
that can set off pyro, in addition to other effects (fog, lighting,
sound). When pyro is involved, these systems incorporate the concept
of a "dead man switch". During the time that the pyro
is scheduled to go off, a human who has direct line of site to the
pyro area must be actually holding down a switch. If the switch
is not down at the exact instant that the show controller sends
the signal to the pyro effect, the effect will not fire and the
show will proceed without it.
*********************************************
Theatre Effects Customer Service Department
service@theatrefx.com
www.theatrefx.com
Theatre Effects, 642 Frederick St., Hagerstown, MD
21740
Phone: 1-800-791-7646 or 301-791-7646 Fax: 301-791-7719 *********************************************
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