Newbie - Best Budget Firing System?

[ZacharyB93]

Hello again, everyone!

First, I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my initial post here on the forum, https://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?9410-Newbie-Critique-My-Show-For-This-Year#post77393. I received a lot of great advice, and am thankful for each person's time. If you haven't checked it out, feel free to, and also feel free to leave any helpful information you can.

Along with shortening the duration of the overall show length, one of the most consistent points of advice I received was to invest in a firing system. Since I have no prior experience with these, the next obvious question in my "Newbie" series of questions is: Which firing system would be best?

Obviously everyone's interpretation of what's best is going to vary, but for our needs, we need something that maximizes value without sacrificing quality. I don't believe we necessarily need every available bell and whistle, but more so just something that will get the job done, and more importantly, get our feet wet in the world of e-firing, (I think that's the correct lingo), while not breaking the bank to do so.

After a very brief Google search, I came across a system I would very much like to hear feedback on, called Bilusocn. It appears to be in line with our needs, however I have no idea if it's any good, or if it's something we should put on the naughty list. If anyone has any experience with this system, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks in advance, I look forward to your response!

[BMoore]

Bilusocn is what a lot of us refer to as a "Chinese Firing System." It's very inexpensive, not the greatest build quality, but it does work. A lot of us, myself included, introduced ourselves to electronic firing with one of these systems. Within a few years I decided to move up to a Cobra system, but I still break out one of the old Bilusocn modules occasionally if I'm short a couple of cues, or if I have some item positioned off by itself and I don't want to use an entire Cobra module for just one cue. My opinion is there is nothing wrong with these systems but, if you keep advancing, you'll soon find yourself wanting something more robust.

If I was just starting out today and not wanting to get into a professional system I'd be taking a hard look at the Ignite system (ignitefiringsystems.com). This has a lot of the features of a professional system, but is really designed for the backyard user. It's made by Cobra which means you will get a top notch product and absolutely incredible customer support.

[twcstransam]

Hello again, everyone!

After a very brief Google search, I came across a system I would very much like to hear feedback on, called Bilusocn. It appears to be in line with our needs, however I have no idea if it's any good, or if it's something we should put on the naughty list. If anyone has any experience with this system, I'd like to hear about it.


I personally haven't used the Bilusocn but I know many hobbyists that use it with minimal issues if any for their manually fired backyard shows. Depending on how many cues you have you might go broke buying AA batteries 4 per receiver + whatever the transmitter uses (120 cue system needs 120 AA for the receivers about $65).

As you grow you will eventually want to move up to a more robust and capable system. Do your research and feature comparison then too.

You will hear cobra cobra cobra all over the place but what you might not hear is Mongoose from Simplifirepyro . com you will have some tell you cobra is cheaper per cue, well if you do an apples to oranges comparison sure it is but if you get everything cobra offers to get it close to the capabilities of mongoose out of the box well it is no longer close. As a professional shooter I carry 2 transmitters, when cobra's 18r2 was $400 plus the mongoose at $250 that was an easy choice. Cobra has their commander that shows more than the 18r2 by itself but last I knew you had to pay for that and it didn't give you near the information on screen you get with mongoose at a glance.

If you decide to make the move to a more capable system in the future, go somewhere and test what you are looking at buying/comparing I have shot with cobra it is a reliable system (if I only needed a 20-50 cue max system OK but I typically shoot 1300-1500 cue shows during the 4th and new years) but it severely lacked in comparison to the mongoose considering the size of shows I typically do. I want to see signal and battery strength constantly from all of my field modules during the show (great way to troubleshoot a failing battery if you see one dropping off fast during a show or identify you need a high antenna due to weak signal).

I hope this helps your progress forward into you follow up firing system if you ever get there.

Travis

[Engineer Cat]

There's quite a few of those Chinese systems that are identical but have different names. Bilusocn is probably the more popular name brand but they are all built the same. That was the second system I had purchased. I used it a few times and realized it wasn't going to work for what I was trying to do with it so sold it to a friend after I purchased the Firelinx. If all you need to do is shoot stuff remote without choreographing effects to music then the system works great for that. It's not super reliable but for how many cues you can get for the price it's worth it I think. And you can program multiple modules together so you can have multiple firing positions that shoot simultaneously.

I'm not sure how many Ignite modules can sync together but each module is only 18 cues. That's not going to be enough for your show. And honestly any more than 18 (if not the chinese system) you might as well make the jump into a pro system weather it be Firelinx, Cobra, FireTek, Mongoose etc.

Don't forget though for each item you want to fire electronically you will need either an initiator or talon to fire it so you will need to add those to your firework budget. Of course you can always fuse stuff together and have the initiator or talon light that group of product to save money but then you have to learn how to use different fuse for different timings.

And that my friend is how you get bit by the pyro bug. ;)

[Birdman]

I'm not sure how many Ignite modules can sync together but each module is only 18 cues. That's not going to be enough for your show.

Ignite is limited to 108 cues so that's six modules max.

[ZacharyB93]

I feel like at this point we will probably start with the Bilusocn to get our feet wet. As I stated earlier, we really don't have any plans for music being part of the show, or near-future shows, (maybe one day when we get a little more experience under our belt), so the choreography capabilities of a higher end system aren't really necessary right now. And considering I can get the system, plus 48 cues for around $160, I feel like that's a good price point for what we need right now.

[Birdman]

I think that's a good decision based on your wants/needs. There's a good amount of information out there but if you have any questions you can always ask here since many of us have used that system. Some may even have modules they would be willing to part with or loan you. With some careful thought put into how you are going to arrange and wire your cakes to the modules I think this will result in much better experience for everyone. Just be aware e-firing can become habit forming.

[Engineer Cat]

I agree as well. That's a good price to get started with e-firing and have a good amount of cues. Each one needs 4 AA batteries so that gets a bit pricey as well.

Indeed habit forming... I'm half way through my concept video. Need more product! ;)

[Scotty Rockets]

Be very careful of the buliscon and other low cost chinese units. They been known to malfunction and unintentionally fire. I know of at least 3 instances were this has happened.

[Engineer Cat]

Be very careful of the buliscon and other low cost chinese units. They been known to malfunction and unintentionally fire. I know of at least 3 instances were this has happened.

Interesting. When I had it for a short time my problem was it not firing cues when pressed. It also didn't play well with talons but the year I used it with talons was the year of TALONGATE, so I can't say it was solely an issue with the buliscon. However that put a bad taste in my mouth and have only used MJG initiators ever since.

[Birdman]

The only issue I had with my buliscon was a button that would stick. I only ever used MJG's. Any other issues were user error.

[PG2159]

I bought a 12 cue Bilusocn system for my first show last year. I did the full show on those 12 cues with a combination of cake boards with cake poking to connect to the next cake via fast fuse. I think I had 5 cake boards(10-20 cakes per) and 4 mortar racks. It was a one position firing setup, but I had angled cakes and multiple cakes at once, so I feel like I got a great spread across the viewing area. Heres the video to give it some perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neR1vCb06wc&t=832s I think the big take away is planning. Knowing how long each cake lasts gives you a good idea of how long each section will last and then build from there. I spend a bunch of time researching how to make this or that work.

Moving forward, I opted for a Crackle Cube. It gives me quite a bit of options within my defined budget. And I added 120 cues.

Someone mentioned about auto ignition when turning the module on. I read in the past posts similar, and that particular module always did it on that cue(think they just taped off that cue somehow, for the cost not sure why you dont just throw away). I am going to attempt to overcome that obstacle by connecting E-Match to every module and turning on to see if that is replicated prior to connecting to product.

[Mattp]

I don’t know how I never saw this or your original post,, but welcome to the forum,, and I would think that biluscon or similar system is where just about everyone e-firing started out,

[Scotty Rockets]

I would opt for the firefly or the ignite systems for a lower cost budget system. Both are far more superior when compared to the type that you’re looking at. The quality of build, ease of use, bidirectional communication and phone app software make these the obvious choice imo.

[Birdman]

I would opt for the firefly or the ignite systems for a lower cost budget system. Both are far more superior when compared to the type that you’re looking at. The quality of build, ease of use, bidirectional communication and phone app software make these the obvious choice imo.

Firefly or ignite would be somewhere around $11 per cue. He would need at least 2, likely 3 modules to fire his show. So that's a $400-$600 investment compared to $160 for a 48 cue Bilusocn (about $3 per cue). If I were looking at a $400-$600 investment I would seriously just consider a pro system instead. In fact I bought a cobra system when I outgrew my Bilusocn. In the end, with factoring cues I get using slats etc., I'm pretty certain if I did the math my Cobra is not much more per cue then one would pay for the same amount of available cues on an ignite or firefly system. Truly a matter of opinion and circumstances. I'm just putting my reasoning out there.

[Otherone65]

I was in the same boat as you but bit the bullet and got the Cobra. I am extremely happy with my decision. Their customer support was fantastic. I previously did an ok job with timing the fuse then got a cheap firing system. My last show with the Cobra (with spending minimal time based on time constraints) ended up being my best show by far. The other system was ok, but not nearly as easy to use and script. At the end of the day for the price difference I'm glad I went that direction. I'm excited to see what I can do with lots of time to perfect it. Good luck with whatever you pick! As long as it's fun who cares!