Normally I would be walking about backstage on this show, fixing things or preparing stuff for going out on the stage. But this year most of the crew have a list of cues that are keeping us busy.
Mainly moving lights in and out of position to allow performers to enter the stage area, but still give a continuous perfect row of lights for specific effects during the performances.
2024-08-15 02:19:47 +0000 UTC View Post
These lights are so new that they didn't even have flightcases for them. Instead they were shipped to us in their sealed cardboard boxes.
They're interesting lights, but the Nandos in particular had many issues with their software.
The first and most obvious bug was that they would randomly start panning back and forth with no data on the DMX network to make them do that. They rushed a software fix to stop that and we had to manually load it into each group of lights.
Next...
2024-08-15 02:15:37 +0000 UTC View Post
We got a report that one of our lights was behaving oddly. It's part of a group of seven that normally operate in sync, but this one was seen to take an odd path to some of its positions and shake slightly.
When we got up to it, it was slowly rotating continuously, making us think it had a pan encoder issue. So we swapped it out.
It actually turned out that the lighting programmer had been experimenting with using it for a lighthouse effect to match one of the video projections ...
2024-08-15 02:07:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Pifco is a very old British electrical brand that appears to have been bought by a company called Sabichi.
This is a surge protected extension I bought to check out the surge shunting circuitry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zr_7VrVnUU
2024-08-13 13:02:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Vince the crew chief on this job often travels around the world with his work. While in Cambodia he bought this light purely for us to take apart.
The charging circuitry is extremely minimalist.
2024-08-13 03:55:50 +0000 UTC View Post
As part of the job, I maintain the shady electronics of the Indian act's costumes. This year the quality is much better, although these headpieces still use a cluster of three 18650 cells to power the string of red LED signage modules.
They also have simple LED battons with alkaline button cells (one of which has exploded!) and neat wrist amulets based on multiple sections of blue LED tape with a simple 9V battery.
Here's the fairly enthusiastic Indian performance at this years Tattoo, viewed in rehearsal without an audience and then with an audience.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zwTSmoHRPys
2024-08-12 12:55:43 +0000 UTC View Post
First video from the current work accommodation. It's not got an ideal location for making videos.
The room is literally designed tightly around the bare minimum space for a bed, en-suite cube and a shaped bench with just enough room to get a seat at it.
The building also has a grass roof and is swelteringly hot inside even with the window opened to its small maximum limit, and the grass roof also makes a perfect place for seagulls to roost, and aside from the constant screaming ...
2024-08-08 15:12:11 +0000 UTC View Post
This "riser" or podium is a centrepiece for one of the acts in the show. We have two sections of RGB LED neon at the top and bottom, which are powered by battery packs and a wireless data link to the lighting control system.
Regrettably, the person who designed the riser has effectively made a Faraday cage for something that requires remote RF control, so I had to get creative with the antenna positioning.
It has a pneumatic system for lifting it up on its wheels while being move...
2024-08-08 12:52:45 +0000 UTC View Post
The Titan tubes are addressable wireless light tubes that are used along the sides of the arena, and then picked up and used by the dancers in a later part of the show, before they carry them off and hand them back to Tim and his big bucket. They then get put back on charge for the next day, or if it's a Saturday they get put back out for the second show.
Meanwhile me, Steve, Cara and Katie are busy shuffling lights on and off the stage for most of the show. This was filmed on the fir...
2024-08-04 19:06:13 +0000 UTC View PostFirst run of the show with an audience today. We've all got several cues on the stage this year, so it's going to be busy.
Once the show has been revealed to the public I can hopefully show you small snippets of it.
The Indian LED props are actually not too bad this year so far. We'll be helping them maintain them.
2024-08-01 03:06:59 +0000 UTC View Post
It seemed a logical thing to do. I decided not to go full "wedgie" though.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7awsk5eXXU0
2024-07-30 12:51:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Sometimes you get odd projection spill like this in the most unexpected places.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fmykquw8ohY
2024-07-30 12:47:50 +0000 UTC View Post
I can't show any of the actual projected content until the show actually runs. But I can show you short snippets of the projectors running.
Patreon have just changed something again, so this video has been posted as a link:-
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4kaQdDxBjZs
2024-07-30 12:45:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Not that I'm monetising it anyway, but YouTube says that this video is demonetised for being advertiser unfriendly.
https://youtube.com/shorts/jJJ5hZlzS6E?feature=share
2024-07-29 13:34:48 +0000 UTC View Post
This was from about a week ago during the load in of the lighting on the show.
We had a few issues this year, including the main equipment lift breaking down, and then out first crane had a technical issue too.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Hz2UiKyEYPk?feature=share
2024-07-29 13:32:08 +0000 UTC View Post
We had some pretty violent weather during the load in, but that's just something that happens.
Pot Noodle is my usual emergency food at work when the hours are long.
https://youtube.com/shorts/BOEo5vN39xY?feature=share
2024-07-29 13:29:14 +0000 UTC View Post
A quick look inside one of the new haze machines we have on the show. These have a stunningly fast 5 second heat-up time and use a glycerol based concentrate to create controllable levels of haze on demand.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cw7nscOL-DY
2024-07-26 14:01:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Very basic, but functional indicator units for mounting on DIN-rail in electrical panels..
Worst of the show load-in is done, so hopefully I can get an improvised video area set up.
2024-07-23 02:10:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Work has been heavy going, so I managed to fall asleep at the keyboard about four times while posting the last video here. This time I'm awake, so here's a very lazy video I pre-recorded of a very pink hack on a very pink Poundland light.
2024-07-20 12:06:12 +0000 UTC View Post
An interesting "vintage" ioniser with some unusual design features.
I'm trying to catch snippets of videos at work, but the long hours are limiting when I can film stuff.
https://youtu.be/vVgX_9j7cq0 ...
2024-07-18 21:27:16 +0000 UTC View Post
I made this video a while ago, but didn't release it. I didn't think it met my usual deep-dive standards. I was also travelling, and adding a VERY heavy traditional rack amplifier to my luggage was not going to happen.
2024-07-16 17:49:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Poundland often sells off excess stock of things like this, that have been withdrawn from the posh outlets due to errors in the instructions.
This reminds me of the USB socket that was recalled because the wire colours could indicate live being put into an earth connection. To be honest - I think that people should have a basic understanding of electrical wiring if they are going to start changing electrical accessories.
https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom
2024-07-13 04:57:47 +0000 UTC View Post
When I originally made a video about these units I was warned that it might fail, and that's probably why they were selling them off cheaply.
It has failed, and the mode of failure is intriguing. As if the resistive nature of PTC ceramic encourages accumulative surface tracking.
It's worth mentioning that the PTC heaters in glue guns and in heating valve actuators often fail the same way.
2024-07-12 11:10:44 +0000 UTC View Post
A look at Poundland's biggest solar light. It's got a really nice large-diameter globe for other projects like an ambient night light.
I've also included a script in the description for making a stand for it, but the script also has many other uses.
2024-07-10 13:19:32 +0000 UTC View PostI've been making more videos than normal to cover the start of upcoming work, and already have a large number you've seen - but haven't yet been released for public viewing yet.
I have some recent ones I've not released on Patreon yet to avoid swamping you with too much content. Do you want me to release them to you slowly or as one big video dump?
The main feature of this is that it prevents faulty devices from exploding , but there's still a high risk of the factory worker exploding when they use it.
Given how hard it is to get traditional tungsten bulbs now, I guess a suitable alternative would be a low power ceramic vivarium heater - although it would lack the visual indication of a shorted load.
2024-07-09 04:59:21 +0000 UTC View Post
https://www.twitch.tv/bigclivedotcom
2024-07-06 20:11:09 +0000 UTC View Post
I decided to test how many LEDs the boost circuit in a standard solar garden light can drive in series.
See if you can guess how many it will drive before I do the experiment.
2024-07-06 02:18:12 +0000 UTC View Post