Leave a channel always on?

[aesl1982]

Only my second year. Just was worried about the weather rain thunderstorms and so on while powered up. Always though water and electricity didn't work well together. So last year I only had three controllers. And had em pop on ten mins before start time. Worked flawless all season

[jjdurrant]

My controller are on 24x7 as well.. I have the 1602Wg3 though on a stand. 

[George Simmons]

I power up controllers as I'm setting up, and once powered they stay that way until Jan 1.  I've never had a weather-related issue that wasn't operator error (as in forgetting to close one or more enclosure covers) and the controllers endure everything from thunderstorms to 25 below zero. 

[sonoma]

If you use the background section during a show to have the "tune to sign" on, would those channels need to be off in your musical sequences? I have them programed into my regular musical sequences and there is a noticeable blink when a song changes. Assuming you are using the same channels in both. 

Edited November 25, 2015 by sonoma

[k6ccc]

If you have a background Sequence for your Tune To sign, that channel needs to NOT be in your musical sequences (not just off).

[Orville]

Also note: if you UNCHECK turn off used lights at the end of sequence, you may encounter lights staying on after the musical sequence ends, to turn lights off that are used in the sequence that you want off at the end, make sure you have at least ONE CELL for each channel at the end of your sequence, this will be an OFF command, empty cell at the end.  Only your tune to sign should have the lights ON all the way to the very end cell in a sequence.    This is how I did it before I moved to the Advanced License and it works, just means you may have to go back and edit every one of your sequences to accomplish it, yes, a bit of extra work, but then you can do it with a lower license level that doesn't support background sequences and keep that one item, i.e. the Tune To sign lit until the end of your show.

[Steven]

Also note: if you UNCHECK turn off used lights at the end of sequence, you may encounter lights staying on after the musical sequence ends, to turn lights off that are used in the sequence that you want off at the end, make sure you have at least ONE CELL for each channel at the end of your sequence, this will be an OFF command, empty cell at the end.  Only your tune to sign should have the lights ON all the way to the very end cell in a sequence.

Unless you want to leave some channels on (or dimmed) at the end of your sequences. When I update a sequence that uses my pixel tree (1200 RGB channels), there is a noticeable pause when the show player loads it the first time. I don't want all my lights to be off during this time, so I set up a state where several channels (the icicle eaves, walkway candlesticks, etc.) are at 50%. I saved this as a column in a saved clipboard. Whenever I start a new sequence I paste this column in the first and last column of the sequence. Now the lights stay on between songs, like at a concert.

 

I have a shutdown sequence that turns them all off at the end of the show.