Phild Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Well here it is one night before the big nite and I am still trying to recover my system after vandals hit it two nites ago, they yanked my data cables out of my light o rama boxes breaking the sockets off two of my four units, needless to say these two units are done for the season. My other two boxes have sustained some damage as they will not run a show, when the show starts the lights will only go to shimmer mode, even in hardware mode when I turn all lights on they are not stable they shimmer or one or two sets of lights will shimmer some go on some go off. I am sad to think that there will be no show tomorrow especially, but more concerned that I have lost all four units forever. JEEZ some people. Any Ideas ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 So sorry to hear this story. What did the police say? There is still hope for the controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 The boards are repairable, open a ticket with LOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 And if you dont have yet, get a video security system. Use some hi-rez cameras like 600TVL rated. Also make sure that they are what some call 0 lux night vision cameras.Sorry to hear that some jerks had to spoil others enjoyment of your show. Get back at those jerks by running your show next year. But this time get them on video and help the cops help you to capture the jerks. Also get shotgun with rock salt shells. Not aiming to kill, just tagging them so that when they go to hospital they will be easier to ID. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Sorry for your vandalism.But this brings up a very important point - everyone needs to make sure they are providing strain relief for their data cables. I typically use 2-3 zip ties connected to either the stake I hang the controller from, or one of the power cords. Make sure you put plenty of slack between the zip ties and the data jack because it will still move a little with a hard jolt. You'll thank yourself even if you don't get vandalized, but trip on one of the wires out in your yard. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingeddies Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Man, that's too bad about your controllers. These things are expensive - I only have four of them and I'm petrified about how easy they would be to steal. I'm thinking about locking them down somehow...not sure about how to go about doing that. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I used U bolts to mount a controller to an element. Pound two stakes in the ground, use carriage bolts to mount to both posts. It would be pretty tough to pull two posts out together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I have been thinking about this since I read this thread the other day. Since the HWU can discover all the controllers.. why can't it monitor the hardware (controllers only of course) when it is not running a show? At night when the show is waiting the next event to start, if it keeps looking for controllers and then after a scan or two of a missing controller it could output to you PC to do something.. like warn you via... phone, pager, coffee pot.. what ever works.. Kind of an acative loop when the show is in sleep mode... Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 When Dan pitched LOR at PLUS 2003 he mentioned something like this would be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Have to do a little searching, but there was a thread a while back about using two of the pins on the LOR Cat-5 cable connection that just pass between the jacks. Could be wired to create a loop at the end of the controller string. Then it would be easy to detect that the loop opened if a cable was unplugged or cable cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I use ELLs to three different sections of my place and then string the controllers from there.. so if there was a way to talk back to the main show computer that would rock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Don't think that would work with the ELLs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 The ELLs are two way... Why wouldn't it work? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Cause if I am following this correctly. This is how it works if you are hardwired the whole network. Pairs 1&2 or 7&8 are not used by LOR. So you make a RJ-45 plug with a jumper between the 1st pair or last pair as noted above. Then you modify a cable end at the RS-485 adapter, pulling either the first or last pair out of the plug. Lets say you are using the 1st pair. So with the #1 wire (org/w) apply say 12VDC. Then take the #2 wire (org) and connect this to a 12VDC relay coil. And the other end of the relay coil to the negative source terminal. Put your choice of buzzer, horn or light across the contact of the relay.Now why wont this work with an ELL. Ok, how are you going to take this signal that is a normally closed loop and opens if someone breaks the circuit by removing a controller. I suppose you could use it like someone pressing a show start button. But as far as I know, this is only programmed to start a show. Dont know how you would port this out of the software and then out of the computer to sound an alarm. Remember the audio out is going to your FM Transmitter. So, I could be wrong, but I just do not see how a RF Link would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Cause if I am following this correctly. This is how it works if you are hardwired the whole network. Pairs 1&2 or 7&8 are not used by LOR. So you make a RJ-45 plug with a jumper between the 1st pair or last pair as noted above. Then you modify a cable end at the RS-485 adapter, pulling either the first or last pair out of the plug. Lets say you are using the 1st pair. So with the #1 wire (org/w) apply say 12VDC. Then take the #2 wire (org) and connect this to a 12VDC relay coil. And the other end of the relay coil to the negative source terminal. Put your choice of buzzer, horn or light across the contact of the relay.Now why wont this work with an ELL. Ok, how are you going to take this signal that is a normally closed loop and opens if someone breaks the circuit by removing a controller. I suppose you could use it like someone pressing a show start button. But as far as I know, this is only programmed to start a show. Dont know how you would port this out of the software and then out of the computer to sound an alarm. Remember the audio out is going to your FM Transmitter. So, I could be wrong, but I just do not see how a RF Link would work.I was not thinking about a hard wired loop.. if the HWU can pole the controllers and they can talk back.. all it has to do is continuously pole them and if a change happens for two cycles in a row..... ALARM! Remember, my thought was to have this happen when the show was NOT running.. so it could do this in a loop.. once established as to what controllers are on the system, the HWU only has to look for those specific units.. Should make it plenty fast enough I would think..This would in reality be nothing more then a piece of software... would work with all controllers and ELLs with no hardware change what so ever... At least is sounds like it to me.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indi Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 flyingeddiesI mounted my controllers in a weatherproof, loackable poly tool box. It's about 40" long and 20" wide and about 20" deep. I cut 2 rectangles in the bottom for the cables to run. I wrap the cat 5 around the controller box and leave a little slap where it attached to the controller. The took box does have a place to add a padlock to the box. I ran a chain from the padlock to my gas meter pipe. I did set the tool box on a couple of 4x4's so the cable could be run easier. Hope this gives you some kind of ideas.I bought this tool box from Lowes for about $54.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I was not thinking about a hard wired loop.. if the HWU can pole the controllers and they can talk back.. all it has to do is continuously pole them and if a change happens for two cycles in a row..... ALARM! Remember, my thought was to have this happen when the show was NOT running.. so it could do this in a loop.. once established as to what controllers are on the system, the HWU only has to look for those specific units.. Should make it plenty fast enough I would think..This would in reality be nothing more then a piece of software... would work with all controllers and ELLs with no hardware change what so ever... At least is sounds like it to me..The more I think about this the more I see my idea working for me, but perhaps not overall for others. If you cut the power to your controllers at night this scheme of course won't work. If you have a large array of controllers... This won't work so well because of how long it take LOR to pole the system. I only have 14 controllers out there now so mine would be relitively quick at scanning the system... Perhaps the hardwired, battery operated monitored loop is the way to go. Could be done for a few $$ and it would be instant to trigger if vandelized. I just gotta quit over thinking this stuff.... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Cause if I am following this correctly. This is how it works if you are hardwired the whole network. Pairs 1&2 or 7&8 are not used by LOR. So you make a RJ-45 plug with a jumper between the 1st pair or last pair as noted above. Then you modify a cable end at the RS-485 adapter, pulling either the first or last pair out of the plug. Lets say you are using the 1st pair. So with the #1 wire (org/w) apply say 12VDC. Then take the #2 wire (org) and connect this to a 12VDC relay coil. And the other end of the relay coil to the negative source terminal. Put your choice of buzzer, horn or light across the contact of the relay.This would work! You can also use this as a trip to turn on security cameras or anything else. First thought that comes to mind is having it turn on a 1.5Mvolt Tesla Coil and scare the crap out of them....but camera's, strobes and taking pictures should be enough. If the OP lives in a close-knit community, put a sign on the front lawn letting people know what happened. Someone might have seen them or know something. Yes, there are additional ideas that would stop them but lets not go off the deep end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indi Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Put up a game camera with flash. They are fairly cheap and it would maybe scare them off when it flashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I was not thinking about a hard wired loop.. if the HWU can pole the controllers and they can talk back.. all it has to do is continuously pole them and if a change happens for two cycles in a row..... ALARM! Remember, my thought was to have this happen when the show was NOT running.. so it could do this in a loop.. once established as to what controllers are on the system, the HWU only has to look for those specific units.. Should make it plenty fast enough I would think..Yes that would work, but would require LOR support. The "closed loop" idea could be done now, with existing hardware (except for older CTB-08's which don't pass along those extra pins).Personally though, I think video cameras and perhaps an audio feed from your yard to where you sleep would be cheaper and more effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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