How To Run Multiple Shows Occasionally

[BaldEagleChristmas]

I have an one animation sequence and I know how to run this with a show -- for example from 5:00 pm -- 11:00 pm on Fridays. But, on Fridays when we or our neighbors have guests (which I may not know of before the show starts that night), I would like the the show to stay on until say 1:00 am.

I can do this by changing the times in the scheduler but A) I'm not sure if I can change the schedule while the show is running and I'm wondering if there is there is an easier way, similar to the manual override feature of my timer for static lights.

Thanks in advance

[iresq]

I don't know of any other way.

[BaldEagleChristmas]

iresq wrote:

I don't know of any other way.

Thanks for thinking about it. Do you know if I pull up the schedule while the show is running; edit and save the schedule -- will the computer then run the newly saved schedule - or will it continue with the schedule it was already running?

[Frank A.]

Good Afternoon

I would not modify the existing schedule

I would simply add the show file at the additional time that you want

Even if you seperate end time from beginning time by a minute the

dead time will not be very noticeable

Frank A.

[toddmoon]

If your show is already in progress and you at home something that I have done to keep the show running late is simply to change the time on my computer. If the show started at 6 pm and ends at 11 pm you can get on your computer say at 9 pm and change the time to 6 pm then you get three more hours of play time. The next day just change your time back to the right time.

[BaldEagleChristmas]

Thanks for the ideas. My Wife Anne, who is also my Elf, had an idea that might work also.

To understand her idea, you must first know that most of my display is static. And, ALL off my outside outlets are run by one timer. This year I just got a new electronic timer, but it seems very easy to override by putting it into manual mode.

So...Instead of the LOR schedule that I would consider "normal":

Sun - Thursday 5:00 pm through 10:00 pm

Friday - Saturday 5:00 pm through 11:00 pm

What if I programmed LOR to be on say between 5:00 pm and 3:00 am everyday. The line voltage power to the lights and the LOR boxes would only be on during the "normal" hours (because all outlets are timed) -- unless I manually overrode the timer.

So my new question is...does it do any harm to run the LOR program - sending signals to the LOR boxes - when there is no electrical current to the boxes?

Sorry to be so windy, but LOR is all new to me and I would appreciate any responses.

Thank you

Mike

[George Simmons]

Other than potentially generating a few error messages, I don't see what harm it would do. It would be kind of like calling someone who wasn't answering their phone...

[George Simmons]

toddmoon wrote:

If your show is already in progress and you at home something that I have done to keep the show running late is simply to change the time on my computer.

Hey Todd - thanks for this tip. I read it Friday afternoon and Friday evening I had the opportunity to use it. A couple minutes before the show was scheduled to end there was still half a dozen cars out front and I didn't have the heart to let everything go dark with all of them sitting there so I set back the computer clock by an hour and the show never missed a beat - just kept right on playing. About twenty after it was down to just one vehicle so I set the computer clock back to the correct time and when the sequence in progress ended the shut down sequence played just like it was supposed to. It really worked sweet.

[Steven]

BaldEagleChristmas wrote:

Do you know if I pull up the schedule while the show is running; edit and save the schedule -- will the computer then run the newly saved schedule - or will it continue with the schedule it was already running?

The schedule editor is smart. If you edit the schedule while a show is running to extend the end time, it will notice and it will continue running the show until the new end time you just saved.

It's also smart enough to know that if you set multiple schedules for the same show such that the end time is the same as the start time for the next (but same) show, it will not run the Shutdown and Startup sequences, but will just continue to run the show.

One thing to be aware: If you use the calendar to schedule a show on a particular day, Dec 24 for example, then it will ignore everything for that day in the weekly schedule. So if you want your show to run until midnight on Christmas eve instead of the usual 10 pm, don't schedule a show on Dec 24 for 10 pm to midnight, because it won't run the regular Thursday show. You have to copy all of Thursday, including the new times, to Dec 24.

[BaldEagleChristmas]

Steven wrote:

The schedule editor is smart. If you edit the schedule while a show is running to extend the end time, it will notice and it will continue running the show until the new end time you just saved. . . .

Thanks Steven. I will give that a try. I apparently don't have access to the calendar scheduler (this is my first year and I just bought the basic license).

I had tried setting the show to run from 5 PM 'til 2 AM every night -- with my timer that controls to all outside circuits turning off at 10 PM or 11 PM (depending on the day) or upon my command if I set it to "manual" for the evening. This worked okay for a few days....then on Saturday, the night of our party, only the first 10 seconds or so of the animation played...over.. and over.. and over. . .

So I spent the first 30 minutes of our party in the basement trying to get the lights to run properly. I eventually determined that if I disabled the show and ran the lights with the sequence editor, they worked fine. So I added a new loop level in the sequence editor that spanned the entire animation and set it to loop 1,000 times. Crude, but I was able to eventually get to our own party! (Next year I think I'll install a camera so I can see the lights from the computer and save all of those trips up and down the stairs!)

Mike