# Emptied Dimmer Rack...



## Colin (Dec 14, 2021)

I have two studio theaters and a bigger stage at my new gig. The mainstage dimmer room had an exorbitant number of "spare" D20s stacked in a corner when I started, which tingled my spidey sense in a "hmm... Let's check the studio racks" sort of way. The pic is one of two SR48s some industrious soul... err... converted to SR24s... quite likely with some high school students participating, you know, for their education. Powered up, no disconnects to be found, racks unlocked, dimmer room door has a lock but the hinges are bent so it doesn't latch. Dimmer rooms being used for typical classroom storage (not any more) and given all factors I'm truly surprised nobody tried yet to stow their most prized treasures inside the rack and go boom.

Hire qualified people, and if there's a lock on a piece of equipment, in a school, use it.

Also makes me think about how the dimmer room doors and racks in places I've worked have almost always been unmarked with safety signage. In this building, the first signage you encounter is the Danger sticker on that exposed bus. My prior venue just did an arc flash assessment about 2yrs ago and posted that signage on racks and disconnects, but not on the door to the room in my recollection. Sure could help ignorant but responsible people figure out the right thing to do/experts to ask/don't let the know-it-all HS set designer in, especially in schools where qualified staffing is inconsistent. Doesn't necessarily keep a _truly industrious soul_ who "knows what they're doing" from trying to expose two feet of bus in an energized rack, but if there were two locked locks and lots of _this room will kill you zap bang _signage then maybe somebody else would intervene.


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## MNicolai (Dec 14, 2021)

That's terrifying.


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## Ben Stiegler (Dec 14, 2021)

You could offer the cafeteria chefs a new place to make French toast, no?


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## Amiers (Dec 15, 2021)

Even if they converted the rack why the fark would they take them out. I can understand not wanting to pay 50$ per AF20 but leaving them in isn’t going to hurt anything if the breakers are off. Super surprised someone hasn’t put/fallen/stuck something into it.


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## Colin (Dec 15, 2021)

I have a theory I'll start testing end of week, which is that a bunch of the D20s I found un-racked are bad, and rather than repair or replace, they just stole good ones from the studio racks which they never use aside from a few Unison circuits. It would be a lot of failures for the age of the installation, but it's very evident there has been zero maintenance til now. Racks are pretty clean considering, but have had some fireworks getting my first plot going, and lots more bad cables in our in-progress round of maintenance, including one with ground and hot swapped.


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## ChrisGLightingD (Dec 22, 2021)

I started at a theatre with two 96 sensor racks, and I found 19 bad D20s. Problem is that with the semiconductor shortage and budget planning, these have been at the shop for about 8 months leaving the exposed bus. Thank goodness for signage and locks!


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## Gobokat (Dec 22, 2021)

Just as an FYI, the reason that the AF modules exist is to add airflow resistance to the front of the rack. With those large unrestricted openings (aside from shock hazard) you're also depriving the modules below the CEM from proper cooling draw from the fans at the top of the rack. Either put the old D20s back with the breakers off or install a sheet metal plate or something to get the fans to draw through the modules in the bottom.


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## ChrisGLightingD (Dec 22, 2021)

Gobokat said:


> Just as an FYI, the reason that the AF modules exist is to add airflow resistance to the front of the rack. With those large unrestricted openings (aside from shock hazard) you're also depriving the modules below the CEM from proper cooling draw from the fans at the top of the rack. Either put the old D20s back with the breakers off or install a sheet metal plate or something to get the fans to draw through the modules in the bottom.


I just threw the main breaker for that exact reason! We’ve been dark since Covid so no reason to keep them on with that much danger!


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## FMEng (Dec 22, 2021)

Does the building get routine inspections by the fire marshal?


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## Colin (Dec 23, 2021)

FMEng said:


> Does the building get routine inspections by the fire marshal?


Nope. And you can tell. Not that I've ever seen a FM open a Sensor rack, but there's a lot of lower hanging fruit in the building too. Work in progress; they've never had someone like me around, so there's some cultural inertia to overcome. I typically meet with my FM within my first month on a job, but in this case I'm going to pick off some of that low hanging fruit and seed a safety culture first.


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