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San Diego's Fireworks Show Over In 15 Seconds
First time accepted submitter fotoguzzi writes "Garden State Fireworks is investigating how the entire Fourth of July show was launched after a signal was sent to the barges that would set the timing for the rest of the show after the introduction. Can anyone suggest how such a trivial step could go so disastrously wrong?" It's not the first time such a thing has happened, either.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15611160
I'd rather watch these short ones than be stood out in the rain (England) for hours.
...for fireworks to be like that, just constant rockets and explosions non-stop for 10-20 minutes. Why do fireworks shows limit their bursts to a Grand Finale?
Put me in charge of destroying money like this, and I'll create a number of bursts that keep you watching for the entire show, leading up to a ridiculous ending worthy of shore shelling from the Iowa.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
Don't do that. No one reads the comment subjects. When you stick the whole message there, you just look like an idiot.
Well.....
There we go. That's more accurate, lol. I think "ruining the show" is a bit harsh :-P
By the way...
What ****ing planet is this person from?! It is NOT COLD in San Diego at the moment at any time of day.
Watch for yourself
http://youtu.be/lrPCEubDZ9A?hd=1
Electric matches on the circuits take 5 milliamps to ignite them.
That's a bit low (see: http://www.pyromate.com/Basics-of-Electrical-Firing.htm). 5 mA sounds like the test current.
It's going to be an interesting investigation. Most modern pyrotechnic controllers incorporate a shorting system to keep the squibs from being fired inadvertently by static electricity or single point control failures. To fire each circuit, the safety shunt must be removed and then the firing voltage applied. That's two failures at the lower level of the controller. And on every circuit simultaneously. I doubt it.
From the video, it appears that the fault was common to three separate sites. They almost certainly used (at least) one controller at each location, tied together through somee communications network to a central control unit handling the timing. My money is on a software failure at that central point.
Have gnu, will travel.
I was, up on the hill at USD. The sound-wave alone was AWESOME. Probably far more memorable than the actual show would have been.
A am a pryotechnician that works exclusively with computer fired shows. From what I'm hearing on the mailing lists so far, they were using the Fire One controller. We also use them (we have over 100 modules at $795 each). I haven't been involved in the "Loading" of the show into the embedded controller for the past few years, but I was called into action about 3 years ago when we had the same problem with our "semi automatic" shows (press a button for each event). I found there was an additional step when downloading the show from the PC to the firing controller called "Assign Delays" that had to be manually entered when loading. Without that step, all shells for each event fired immediately. I don't know if Fire One ever fixed it because it's now part of our written checklist for loading and we haven't had a problem since, and Fire One is notorious for fixing a problem with one customer, updating the firrmware but not telling the rest of their customer base that there is an update.
If you are using Fire One, you can thank me for the new Line receivers in the new modules, I had to go to the plant and show them the problem.
I'm a licensed pyrotechnician (FPO) in Texas.
(Hand-fired) reload shows are still done to this day, mostly because they are cheaper and the customer naturally wants to pay as little as possible. It's also how it was done when my grandpa first got into the business in the 50's.
The last two shows I did were reload shows, and yes, it is basically just the shooter walking up and down the line of mortars buried in the ground touching a fusee (a.k.a. road flare) to the quickmatch fuses. Running behind the shooter are his helpers with armloads of live shells, dropping them down into the empty mortars that often still have smouldering paper in the bottom. It's quite a rush, and although I personally prefer an electronic show, there are plenty of adrenaline junkies who won't do anything other than hand-fired shows.
Starting in the 70's you would see shows fired electronically, with a master control box where the shooter hits a switch for each shot in the show. This was the era when choreographed shows starting becoming possible. Many shows are still done this way. Nowadays lots of shows are computer-controlled with a laptop and an RS-232 (or other) connection in place of the shooter and switch panel.
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.