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duration/interval timer smoke machine

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:53 am
by RonaldH
Hello all,

I'm looking for a timer to control the smoke machine by turning on and off the pump.
It is a function on the manual control, but I would like that on QLC+ also.

It would be nice to have a speed dial to control both functions duration and interval seperate.
Also a speed dial for just the interval and a fixed duration time would work.

I tried a chaser, but than both times are the same so I'm stuck to 50% duty cycle.

Please, if anybody has a solution for this and want to share, this would be great!

Regards,
Ronald

Re: duration/interval timer smoke machine

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:22 pm
by GGGss
RonaldH wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:53 am both times are the same so I'm stuck to 50% duty cycle.
Easy: in chaser setting choose 'hold duration' per step
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If you want to be in control of the duty cycle, I'm not going to give you a solution... Learn by searching for 'loopback timer' or a similar search term.
[edit: I possibly sounded harsh to you, IMHO you don't need those 2 parameters into the equation, you only need to be in control of the output of smoke over time. If it is a hazer we are talking about, let it 'puff' throughout the night. If it is a smoker, rearrange your VC to have flash button bursting out smoke, and have a background fog with slight short 'puffs' now and then... You really don't want to trigger fire alarms do you?
[/edit]

Re: duration/interval timer smoke machine

Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 8:40 am
by RonaldH
The chaser setting and "full" button as you describe is what I use for several years now, but as the ventilation changes, the amount of smoke changes.
To keep this up, I have to change the OFF time, and I want to change it in the VC because I'm mostly not the lightguy.

Loopback -> I will have a look if that offers me a possibility, thanks for this info!

I only use a waterbased smoke machine because the oil based hazer leaves to much residue on the fans and electronics of the moving heads.

Re: duration/interval timer smoke machine

Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:33 am
by RonaldH
SOLVED:

The scenes "smoke on" and "smoke off" are still in use.
Added 3 chasers, "smoke on", "smoke off" and "smoke on/off".

settings of the chasers are

smoke on:
function: scene - smoke on
run order - single shot
hold 1s

smoke off:
function: scene - smoke off
run order - single shot
hold 1s

smoke on/off
function: chaser on and chaser off
hold 5s (assign to change with speed dial)

Insert speed dial on VC
Function: chaser smoke on/off
Duration factor: 1/2

And this works fine for me.