Testing Equipment

[displayfireworks1]

Getting ready for my show tomorrow thought I would make a one minute video. Don't forget to test out your firing system and check your batteries. Great to see all the discussion on the forums.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWUtfwqLuZc

[Kenny East]

Just did a test, used some rise in the east... As opposed to just burning matches for nothing... Didn't do that last year, had a module lose it's pairing with the remote

[Pyro Paul]

I did my shoot last night, I am very disappointed with the cobra system. At this point I am thinking of using it for target practice.

[BhadDawg]

I am looking at the Cobra and trying to glean as much information as I can from different forums. I have been on cobras website of course, but here is nothing like information and feedback from actual users. The wireless aspect of it is one of my concerns as one of the shows I plan to use it for in the future involves a levee being between the public and the shoot site with some of the effects maybe being divided by the levee, which would affect the line of site.
1. how big of an issue is line of site.
2. Have any of you tried using an external antennae mounted to say a 15' mast at your control site.
3. Have any of you experienced any interference from particular frequency bands and/or public service in VHF 150's or 700 series band communications.
4. does the Cobras MESH system really work, making each module serve as a repeater? Am I understanding that correctly.
5. I did not see any options for hardwired between controller and modules, is that something I should be concerned about as a small shooter?

Again folks, I am just trying to learn here and was always taught the only dumb question is one that you fail to ask because I am definitely a rookie when it comes to electronic firing.

I appreciate any and all input on this, thanks.

[SCPyrotechnician]

I did my shoot last night, I am very disappointed with the cobra system. At this point I am thinking of using it for target practice.

You don't see many negative reviews of the Cobra, so care to elaborate?

[Shootit]

Cobra is wireless that can create interference issues you'll never solve for sure.
There are multiple software versions that occasionally have glitches.

It is a nice system and good capabilities for the price but like every system it's not perfect....

No matter how much fanboys scream it's the best thing ever.

[Pyro Paul]

You don't see many negative reviews of the Cobra, so care to elaborate?

The reason I am disappointed with the cobra system I purchased is that after all the weeks of work to get everything purchased and set up and scripted to music, when the time came for it to perform it was very hit or miss on firing the cues. The first 5 minutes went great and a little here and there, at least the finale went off like it was supposed to but mostly we got black sky, more black sky and lots of black sky while the remote showed the cues firing but they were obviously not. I had put brand new Duracell batteries in everything and did a dry run and everything executed perfectly. Spent the day wiring it all in and doing continuity checks and making sure that it was ready to go but to my dismay there were nice long spells of blackness instead of fireworks with an occasional cake here or there firing. I figured that with the inexperienced help maybe firewires weren't inserted right or that there was faulty product but afterwards I found about half the product unfired and module 2 asleep. So I turned the key on the snoring module off and back on to make sure there were no errors and walked back 100 feet and rebooted/rearmed the remote and pressed all the buttons that were lit up green for channels 1-4 to fire off the rest of the unfired items manually. Several went off and I went back after finishing to check again and still there were unfired cakes so I then walked back 50 feet and went thru all the green buttons again and was finally able to finish off the fireworks. Not sure why the cues were showing green whether or not there was a good firewire on the cue or not. Incidentally I did another dry run on the system and guess what, yep it all ran perfectly just like the day before when I was doing my checks before set up...

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I did my shoot last night, I am very disappointed with the cobra system. At this point I am thinking of using it for target practice.

That is very odd... Were you shooting multiple items off each cue? If so, did you shoot in parallel or series? What software version are you running?

[WithReport]

I ran test with the new FireTek system this evening. I set off 5 cakes with MJG initiator and the Martinez Red Quickfire Clip (brass awl into the first tube next to the fuse and then taped up). All the cakes went off almost instantaneously and without a hitch. I will be taking this approach on all the cakes now and adjusting the delay on my script tomorrow.

As for the MJG initiator and green visco with the MJG white Visco Clip - a number of them didn't fire. I'm thinking I'll go back to talon initiator for any green visco. I may double up the talons in parallel on the fuse. My original plan was to use some 1.4G Quick Match from Ace Pyro to transfer the fire from the MJG initiator to the green visco, but it was in the shipment of stuff that was lost by FedEx.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

As for the MJG initiator and green visco with the MJG white Visco Clip - a number of them didn't fire. I'm thinking I'll go back to talon initiator for any green visco.

One of the pyro's on here (I apologize because I can't remember who) said forget the white clips and just cross-cut the end of the visco to make sure powder is showing, insert the initiator head into the visco, and tape it up. He said he has a 100% success rate using this method. That's the method I'll be using tomorrow night.

[PYRODAN]

I did my show Sat. night. scripted show, 9 mods. 142 cues. no problems with the cobra system. I had one fire wire not fire. 2 cakes did not fire. The Firewires did go off. Must have been something I did wiring them. Need further evaluation. I would not give up on the cobra yet. I think the big thing after any show is to analyze what went right, what went wrong. Then objectively look at what went wrong, figure out why, and fix it. Oh, make sure the guy who is supposed to film your show with his brand new 4k camera, takes the lenses cap off..............

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Oh, make sure the guy who is supposed to film your show with his brand new 4k camera, takes the lenses cap off..............

OMG. You're kidding, right?

[PYRODAN]

Sigh...... no I am not. Trying to get the video off my wife's phone to play on my laptop so I can upload.

[WithReport]

just cross-cut the end of the visco to make sure powder is showing, insert the initiator head into the visco, and tape it up. He said he has a 100% success rate using this method. That's the method I'll be using tomorrow night.

I tested a bunch today by splitting the visco and taping the initiator in the fuse. It was quick, easy, and all fuses fired.

Thanks.

[vegassalute]

PyroPaul - So what do you think the problem was? Your post makes me nervous b/c I invested a lot of $$ into Cobra earlier this year. So far I've done 5 tests and 2 shows and have yet to have an issue. I'm using software 3.03. Do you think it was your e-match? What you described in your post is every pyro's nightmare. Black sky! What would you have done differently? Do you really think it was your Cobra system? Has anyone else experience what PP experienced?

[Pyro Paul]

PyroPaul - So what do you think the problem was? Your post makes me nervous b/c I invested a lot of $$ into Cobra earlier this year. So far I've done 5 tests and 2 shows and have yet to have an issue. I'm using software 3.03. Do you think it was your e-match? What you described in your post is every pyro's nightmare. Black sky! What would you have done differently? Do you really think it was your Cobra system? Has anyone else experience what PP experienced?

I wish I knew, at this point I'm waiting for the busy time to be over then I'm going to call Scott and ask him what I need to check out. It just seemed like the remote was not talking to the modules sporadically. When I tested the system with no cues attached and everything sitting on my shop table the cues were lighting just fine in time with the remote before and after the show. All the Initiators and E-match that was tied in all went it just took 3 tries with each try being closer to the modules. At Max I might have been 300 feet away when I started the show but then After starting the music I walked up to where my wife was sitting at about 250 feet distance and that's about the time that everything seemed to stop working. It was intermittent so I have no idea what was going on other than the R2 seemed to be doing it's thing. Could have been some kind of interference.

[vegassalute]

Please be sure to resurrect this post if you find anything out from Scott that you'd have the rest of us Cobra owners know. One thing to check, I distinctly recall the Cobra site advising against mixing consumer initiators and e-match on the same module due to the difference in fire time required to ignite (2 vs. .01). Perhaps that was a factor in your having to re-fire the same cues up to three times. Please keep us posted. Sorry to hear about the black sky you experienced.

[Pyro Paul]

Please be sure to resurrect this post if you find anything out from Scott that you'd have the rest of us Cobra owners know. One thing to check, I distinctly recall the Cobra site advising against mixing consumer initiators and e-match on the same module due to the difference in fire time required to ignite (2 vs. .01). Perhaps that was a factor in your having to re-fire the same cues up to three times. Please keep us posted. Sorry to hear about the black sky you experienced.

I remember reading not to mix the talon igniters and e-match because the e-match could short out and cause problems if you're using the 2 second ignition time for the talons. I'll definitely keep it in mind though as I research this. I was using firewire intiators mixed in with e-match so idk if there is a difference.

[Pyropug]

One of the pyro's on here (I apologize because I can't remember who) said forget the white clips and just cross-cut the end of the visco to make sure powder is showing, insert the initiator head into the visco, and tape it up. He said he has a 100% success rate using this method. That's the method I'll be using tomorrow night.

I do that to all my fuses when attaching quick match, I slice vertically on one side 1/32" - 1/16" opening the powder core. I have always had issues if I don't do this step.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Okay so let me ask you guys about the Cobra and scripting. My script didn't run at all last night. The ONLY reason I can come up with is, I didn't have an initiator in the first cue on the first mod. We were running late and the first cue was supposed to be wired to two 8'x2' boards of 200G cakes that started the show, but we ran out of time so I just hit each fuse with a lighter to start the show.

Can anyone either validate that theory or provide another theory why the script didn't run? That was a HUGE disappointment. I worked on that script for WEEKS!!

[Bazerk]

The reason I am disappointed with the cobra system I purchased is that after all the weeks of work to get everything purchased and set up and scripted to music, when the time came for it to perform it was very hit or miss on firing the cues. The first 5 minutes went great and a little here and there, at least the finale went off like it was supposed to but mostly we got black sky, more black sky and lots of black sky while the remote showed the cues firing but they were obviously not. I had put brand new Duracell batteries in everything and did a dry run and everything executed perfectly. Spent the day wiring it all in and doing continuity checks and making sure that it was ready to go but to my dismay there were nice long spells of blackness instead of fireworks with an occasional cake here or there firing. I figured that with the inexperienced help maybe firewires weren't inserted right or that there was faulty product but afterwards I found about half the product unfired and module 2 asleep. So I turned the key on the snoring module off and back on to make sure there were no errors and walked back 100 feet and rebooted/rearmed the remote and pressed all the buttons that were lit up green for channels 1-4 to fire off the rest of the unfired items manually. Several went off and I went back after finishing to check again and still there were unfired cakes so I then walked back 50 feet and went thru all the green buttons again and was finally able to finish off the fireworks. Not sure why the cues were showing green whether or not there was a good firewire on the cue or not. Incidentally I did another dry run on the system and guess what, yep it all ran perfectly just like the day before when I was doing my checks before set up...

I am a big fan of cobra, but I must say that I experienced similar issues on my last 2 shows. I believe it to be the MJG firewire to be honest. I have already spoken to Scott at Cobra and he said that MJG had some quality issues in the recent past and he believes this may stem from that. I had 4 cakes not fire nor did the MJG matches, however the module was telling them to. I love my Cobra system and will continue to expand it, but I may start buying 1.3g e-match going forward as I have had great success with those every time I have used them. If the script is running as it should and the show runs as expected without anything plugged into it, its hard to suggest that the Cobra equipment is faulty. Not saying its impossible, but rather unlikely.

[esgrillo]

no, Rick, that should not be a problem. You dry run without any cues loaded right?

[esgrillo]

Bazerk, I saw some of the same this year with MJG. Never have in previous years. They all test with good continuity and still had 2 that did not fire. I had a 100% success rate with MJG until this year.

[Bazerk]

Bazerk, I saw some of the same this year with MJG. Never have in previous years. They all test with good continuity and still had 2 that did not fire. I had a 100% success rate with MJG until this year.

As did I my friend.

[Bazerk]

Okay so let me ask you guys about the Cobra and scripting. My script didn't run at all last night. The ONLY reason I can come up with is, I didn't have an initiator in the first cue on the first mod. We were running late and the first cue was supposed to be wired to two 8'x2' boards of 200G cakes that started the show, but we ran out of time so I just hit each fuse with a lighter to start the show.

Can anyone either validate that theory or provide another theory why the script didn't run? That was a HUGE disappointment. I worked on that script for WEEKS!!

Would you email your script Rick? It sounds to me like it didnt get loaded on to your remote at all. If it did, then maybe you didnt set the Channel and fire button?

[Pyro Paul]

Does anyone know if overhead power lines could cause interference between the remote and modules on the cobra system? I was about 50 ft away from an overhead line, I didn't notice that till today and I'm not sure if that could cause the intermittent failure or not. Just a thought...

[Pyro Paul]

I am a big fan of cobra, but I must say that I experienced similar issues on my last 2 shows. I believe it to be the MJG firewire to be honest. I have already spoken to Scott at Cobra and he said that MJG had some quality issues in the recent past and he believes this may stem from that. I had 4 cakes not fire nor did the MJG matches, however the module was telling them to. I love my Cobra system and will continue to expand it, but I may start buying 1.3g e-match going forward as I have had great success with those every time I have used them. If the script is running as it should and the show runs as expected without anything plugged into it, its hard to suggest that the Cobra equipment is faulty. Not saying its impossible, but rather unlikely.

I had wondered about that, but if that were the case why would they fire afterwards doing it manually?

[vegassalute]

I had wondered about that, but if that were the case why would they fire afterwards doing it manually?

That is why I go with the what has worked for so long, E-match. The non-EM options are romantic in that they have a marketing story to tell but I'm not sold. They're generally more expensive and the inconsistency & reported failures are too costly a risk. To each his own. I'm sure there are others that have had less than 1% failure rate and if it works for them, go with God.

[Pyro Paul]

I'll just call Scott Monday...

[Bazerk]

I had wondered about that, but if that were the case why would they fire afterwards doing it manually?

I had one fire manually after trying a third time. Could be voltage related. I don't know. What I do know is that I will be sticking with e-match after I use the rest of the 8 boxes of mjg I have in the garage.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Would you email your script Rick? It sounds to me like it didnt get loaded on to your remote at all. If it did, then maybe you didnt set the Channel and fire button?

Thanks buddy. What didn't get loaded was my brain! Ed cleared up the confusion for me. In my haste to get my show going after the one hour rain delay, I decided not to wire the two 200G boards I was using to open the show. I just lit them with a lighter and grabbed the R2 to fire the rest of the show. Since there was no cue #1 to fire, I hit cue #2 to start the rest of the show, not realizing that cue #1 was keyed to start the script. Duh. Total rookie mistake, but a great lesson learned for next year.