Can definitely help with this! We just finished a busy con season, so it’s going to be at least a few months before we bring out the ECU again. Good time for some upgrades (and repairs).
Here’s how it looked at our event on this past weekend:
You’ll notice that we now have two walls! Last year we built the second “shutdown” wall, it’s a simplified version of what appears in the film. This actually works like it does in the shutdown scene. Pulling the breaker switch down triggers a full shutdown sequence (flashing lights, alarm, even the analog gauge on the ECU drops to zero). You can probably see the hazard tape on the carpet running between the two walls, that’s what connects the breaker switch and red lamp to the main ECU electronics.
Here’s a (fairly janky) video of our test rig showing the Startup and Shutdown sequences. The analog gauge does work, but the test one I’m using here is a bit unstable (it doesn’t move as smoothly as the one installed in our ECU).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R3plnFtEBE
If the shutdown switch is in the upright (connected) position, then the ECU does a “fast boot”. The lights flash, the analog gauge climbs, and then the lamp/button goes green.
If the shutdown switch is pull down (disconnected), then it triggers the full shutdown sequence. We decided to shorten this from the film to make it more con-friendly, as having a loud alarm going for too long might cause complaints. Once complete, the red lamps remain solidly lit.
Then to get the ECU back online again, we have to do a “slow boot”, which requires digging out the instruction manual and working through the steps with a member of the public. It essentially adds another layer of interactivity to our display.
The steps we currently have are:
- Person A dials the ECU teardrop knob to the lowest position
- Person A holds down the red button
- Person B lifts the breaker switch back into the upright position
- The yellow button starts flashing
- Person A dials the ECU teardrop knob to the correct position until the yellow button turns solid
- Person A presses the yellow button
- The green button flashes
- Person A holds down the green button for 5 seconds
- The ECU is now back to idle/ready mode (the caged lamp and green button are both solidly lit)
Here’s a closer look at the new wall:
Here’s a view of the wall supports on their own, it’s basically the same setup on both walls (everything is now colour coded):
Gym weights are added to the two posts at the back to make sure it’s stable and can’t be tipped over. There’s also a PVC pipe frame which allows us to hang curtains on either side to hide everything (usually we also put display shelves here but it’s not possible at every event):
Here are some additional shots from a convention in June showing the teardown process, and how everything is packed up for transport out of the venue:
A few additional updates/notes:
- Our main ECU wall now has tubing running to the front for smoke effects, for now it’s just triggered via remote during shutdown sequences. Eventually we might be able to control it via a relay, but it’s not a priority.
- We had considered rebuilding our trap bay to fit the HasLab traps, but decided against it for now (it’s a big project, and also we’re concerned about potentially damaging the traps)
- The handle for our 3D printed ECU trap broke during an event, we’ve epoxied it back together and it’s holding well. But we definitely need to build a second trap and have this on standby.
- We may build some aluminium trap handles, as this seems to be the part most likely to break on a trap
- A patron bumped into our wooden ECU handle during the convention on Sunday afternoon and completely snapped it in half. We managed to glue/tape it back together and it held up for the rest of the day, but it means we’ll have to build a new one before October. We’re hoping to try also making this from aluminium at the same time as the trap handles.