Shutting Down
Posted on December 22, 2007
Well, the day is finally here, it’s time to talk about shutting down. As things are established, they serve their purpose, then it’s time to move on and prepare for the next big thing. There’s honestly no easy way to do it and I seem to feel like I’m forgetting something.
I’m sure you have a lot of questions, like wondering what the heck I’m talking about. I’m talking about shutting down all of the equipment once the final service is over. What did you think I was talking about?
Every week, I am always making sure we shut everything off, projectors, tv monitors, sound board, light board, computers, video mixers, stained glass, lobby tv and probably other things I have forgotten. As various roles are becoming more defined, I am expecting each player to power down their area and that helps but I really don’t have enough people yet.
I think I need a check list but still not sure how effective that will be. What do you do? Am I the only one that walks out in the lobby and sees the blue screen on the tv that was left on? Am I the only one that notices the spotlights are still on as I’m leaving or the sound board was left on? Surely not. Ideally, I’ll have people in specific roles responsible for their area but I still feel like I’m ultimately responsible.
So, please enlighten me in how you manage your shut down process.
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If I have the chance in any church I work with, I put in a Lyntec panel. Even if it is just one of their 10 circuit relay panels. They make it super simple, lamp off your fixtures/projectors, hit the off button. Everything else is sequenced off, all you need to do, is identify how many circuits you need, and where they are located, its fairly easy to add a relay panel to your existing panel.
The company is great to deal with, http://www.lyntec.com/.
–Evan Hamilton
Great question, Jim.
First… automate whatever you can. An earlier comment talked about a sequenced breaker panel. This is a great idea for your sound system. Not only do you make sure you get everything off with one button, you also virtually eliminate the risk of damaging speakers with a spike from powering on gear upstream of the amplifiers in the wrong order.
There is other automation available. Cue, Creston and others make RS422 automation that will address any piece of gear that you can control with this serial data protocol. In our case… the CUE system turns every display and projector in the building OFF at 2:00am every day. Just insurance that something didn’t get left on.
For other stuff, use “Go Home” switches. Rack mounted power supplies supply power to several/many pieces of gear in a rack… so that one switch drops the power to all of them.
And finally… your checklist idea is invaluable. Each position needs one, for power up, preservice and postservice/power down. Don’t forget to include the final instruction…
“Please police and clean up your work area, throw away all old paperwork, and make sure it’s clean so that the little old lady squad doesn’t come and bust me on Monday!”
You people don’t have a clue.
You leave it to the pastor
He’s the last one to go home, just make sure he gets a copy of the check list to ensure he does the job right.
Well that’s what happens in the small church I pastor.
Seriously, it’s great to see you taking the tech stuff seriously- many churches don’t give it the attnetion it needs.
Keith, sadly, Jim and I leave after the pastor most weeks!
Power sequencers
I used to be on the tech team and there were 1-3 of us (depending on the year) that used to do the end-of-day shutdown check. I haven’t been on the team in a few years but I think they have it figured out a little better now. No checklists though (as far as I know); it’s all the same people most weeks anyway so they know what they’re doing
You could always pick up one of these Watt’s Up Meters and use it to demonstrate the importance of turning everything off to others by showing how much money it would save. Plus, it’s really cool…
I am a member of my church’s tech team (Nerdnight) and we have a switched power outlet with a power bar plugged in to either outlet. Flick the little red switch and everything we want to have shut off, shuts off.