Pull The Plug?
- Thread starter ahoustondj
- Start date
Nah, never had the venue do it. Had some guests either trip over it, or purposely yanked it out. Never bothered me, other than the embarrassment factor -- laptop battery is always charged, so it'll keep running for a few hours. Unless you got hit with a lightning strike, it doesn't do any damage to the equipment -- it just stops working.
I did have one person at a venue inform me that at this time if the music keeps playing they would do that. I was quite and deliberate and said. Look we have no problems with each other. And we of course we go by any rules at their venue. My next words were well chosen. I said understand that there is no way I would allow anyone to just pull the plug on our equipment. If that were to happen then we have a huge problem and that any of the damages to our equipment would be directed to the person pulling the plug. I'm an adult and expect to be treated as an adult. I then referenced the cost or our equipment so they would understand very clearly what they would be paying for. ) They asked me then "So we have and understanding" I said yes.
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Nah, just unplug it (from the USB port) and plug it back in if it's externally powered when the power comes back on -- if it draws it's power from the USB port, it'll continue just fine. I don't use powered externals, so no worries on my part.
You should turn off Write caching on any drives you have attached through Control Panel->Admin Tools->Computer Management->Storage-> Disk Management. You can then open the Properties for a given drive, and select the Polices tab. That's where you turn off the Write caching. When Write caching is off, any changes are written directly to the drive as they happen. Also, always plug externals into the same port you used the first time, or the policies may change if you plug them into a different port.
You should disable Write caching on your internal drive(s) as well. It's a little slower, but a safety feature.
IMHO, a UPS is a pain to bring to a gig. I would suggest anybody test the scenario in their home before worrying too much about it.
1) Setup your system.
2) Start a tune playing.
3) Unplug the system.
If it's gonna break -- better to have it happen at home, then in front of a couple hundred people. It's called a disaster preparedness drill. Then you write your procedure on how to bring everything back on line quickly.
It's called practice.
Really? With all the crap that we bring to a show, is a UPS that big of a deal? Should we also not be bringing backup systems (in the event something happens to our systems)? Disaster preparedness = UPS. DO NOT just let the drives die.
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The commie bastards are heavy!
If you use your internal, if yer using a lappy with a battery -- then you have no problems -- hence why I don't use externals except for backup.
I've had the power go out here on The Farm, more times than I can remember -- never bothered any of my gear.
The one thing I would suggest though, is that you turn all your amps (our powered speakers) off, before you plug the power back in. That's the first thing I do on the Farm when the power goes out, is turn most everything off, so I can bring it back up properly.
The commie bastards are heavy!
If you use your internal, if yer using a lappy with a battery -- then you have no problems -- hence why I don't use externals except for backup.
I've had the power go out here on The Farm, more times than I can remember -- never bothered any of my gear.
The one thing I would suggest though, is that you turn all your amps (our powered speakers) off, before you plug the power back in. That's the first thing I do on the Farm when the power goes out, is turn most everything off, so I can bring it back up properly.
I agree that if you're using a laptop with an internal drive, you don't "need" one. Those of you using external drives and other devices plugged into your laptops really should use an UPS. In addition, those of you performing with desktop systems probably should have an UPS too. The difference here is that the laptop already has a built in 'UPS'.
I agree about turning the power off on your powered speakers (amps, mixers, etc) and other devices prior to plugging power back in.
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I think we are all talking about the Laptops and Externals here. When a plug is pulled that has amps, powered speakers etc connected to that same circuit it can cause problems to some transducers.
To any outside event we do, or any event that is not a professional venue. We bring a UPS it has saved me at least 4 times in the last few years. The main reason I bought one was after a power failure during a first dance. We had our own power and circuit and during the ceremony the caterers came and plugged into the same circuit and plugged 4 huge fans and someone else plugged in all the lights to the tent in as well. Of course the bride did not blame us but it was such a disappointment. I never wanted to see the sad face again. So I bought the UPS, all just part of being a professional. Here is the video when we were recording it because of the fun first dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjppAjRlkrw&feature=share&list=UU1mRAFkXgj1Xl8XPom_R-Tw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjppAjRlkrw&feature=share&list=UU1mRAFkXgj1Xl8XPom_R-Tw
I've never seen that happen Canute. The problems I HAVE seen, are when you plug them back in without having shut them down while the power is off. If they are still on, you get this cracking type noise and such, because they all come on at the same time.
The unplug is not the problem to the best of my knowledge -- it's the plugging back in, and not doing a proper startup in order.
Like I said earlier, try it at home. You'll see the difference in whether you had shut down the power switches before you plug the power back in.
During the excursion of a transducer, unplugging the power can possibly cause damage to that transducer.
Try it, and let us know how that works for you.
I assume there are reasons most have magnets on them -- that could be one of those reasons...
Say what you want, I HAVE seen a speaker "Freeze" because someone pulled the plug while it was playing. Why do you think for big systems they employ things such as Sequencers? Just as it is important to sequence up so too is it important to sequence down.Try it, and let us know how that works for you.
I assume there are reasons most have magnets on them -- that could be one of those reasons...
You win Canute -- I was only giving my experience over the last 39 years.
If yer not willing to disaster test your system, then maybe you can get Mix some gigs instead -- might make you $20 this year...
If yer not willing to disaster test your system, then maybe you can get Mix some gigs instead -- might make you $20 this year...