Monday, January 08, 2007
We made another movie: Part 1, the Light Bar |5:49 PM| (I promise this story picks up near the end)
We had finished the first day of filming, and I was sitting in my apartment mulling over the sound work I'd done that day. Oh alright, I was playing "Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2". But still, I mulled.
That's when I was called by the crew, they needed someone to decode and activate a light bar, like, the type on cop cars. They were out of ideas, and there was even someone lamenting in the background of the call, "Help us [Cecil]! HELP US!"
After some research, and some digging around in my house, I called back. "This may seem like a crazy question, but I am serious. Ask around and see if anyone knows CPR."
As it turned out, one of our crew, the lighting guy, was a damned EMT. On being electrocuted, he said "You get shocked once, we'll shock you twice. The other EMT's might be pissed if my CPR cracks your ribcage, though. "
Great! Safety concerns resolved, I headed out to Joe's with tools, goggles, and some power supplies in hand. And this is what I found.
A decent lightbar (10 years old), and from the packaging it was acquired one way or another from the set of "Walker: Texas Ranger". The wiring harness had been simply cut, probably off of the wiring header, without regard for its next install. There was some jury rigged wiring, but there was no indication of function. I had one red wire, one black wire, and a third, much larger, black wire. The big grey cable you see in the photos was a bundle of (I believe) 12 wires. With some clever research online, I found a wiring diagram, and work began.
Work at Joe's house yielded no results. I knew basically what had to happen, I just didn't have enough juice/power/mojo. Elliot then referred me to a friend of his, who had experience with electronics and car modifications. At his house we dissected the light bar. This guy was damned intelligent, probably a genius, and his advice was key to getting enough power into the bar, which made this whole goddamn project work. Once he told me the principles of getting it to run without exploding, I was damned sure I could make it work.
With wiring supplies in hand, I started work at 6:30AM on the second day of shooting. Christ I look like a doofus, and I'm wearing a silly hat, and I'm using laundry cord for a belt, so I kept showing plumber's crack that morning. Refer to the next post about why.
During testing, I kind of forgot which wire was the ground, and which was the negative terminal one. Whoops. Experiment time. I explained to Brian what to do. Upon reflection, having the EMT helping with the wires wasn't an effective use of resources. In any case, though you can't see it in the following photo, I was wearing safety goggles and a face mask whenever I dealt with the battery.
I touched the wires to the battery terminals...and....they INSTANTLY turn red hot, BRIGHT glowing red, like, coils in a toaster red hot. I yell to pull the other wire as I yanked my own. Why the facemask? Because of stuff like this.
Oops. As I was pulling the melted chunks of insulating plastic off of my gloves is when the driver of the car walks up. "Everything is fine!"
A quick wire switch, and VICTORY
The next part is when I really earned my keep, assembling/designing the harness fuse block and switch. But it's boring, just a of jumping around, curling things, merging wires, screwdrivers and allen wrenches. Let's leave it, that I earned, my, keep, and sadly no one could help, just watch. (complete with in-car safety key)
This is when shit started to go wrong again. With it wired up, I tried to start the car.
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
Said the starter.
FUCK said the Cecil.
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
Said the starter.
"Fuck, okay, let's jumpstart it!"
With the car running to charge the battery, I left to help load shit. That's when I was told the car had died again, just sputtered and died.
Fuck. I tried starting, and it would click a bit, start to turn over, and die.
"Oh goddammit, I blew the alternator somehow! It ran off of battery and then poof!"
While panicing I projected an air of confidence, especially in front of the car owner, which was handy back in tech support. I then noticed the gas light. "Josh! Were you low on gas?"
Josh: "Uhhh, not that low. Low, but we should be okay."
Me: "Goddammit, I'm sending a PA to go get gas!"
The only gas can we had was equipped with a big fucking hole. Standing against Josh's car with my hand over a hole that was not for venting, I got enough gas into the car to get us through, but also enough gas spilled to cover my arms, his tire, and a large part of the immediate area. "This is now a NO SMOKING zone!"
Victory in hand, alligator clips connected, and crew impressed, I walked away to lead the sound department.
We made another movie: Part 1, the Light Bar |5:49 PM| (I promise this story picks up near the end)
We had finished the first day of filming, and I was sitting in my apartment mulling over the sound work I'd done that day. Oh alright, I was playing "Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2". But still, I mulled.
That's when I was called by the crew, they needed someone to decode and activate a light bar, like, the type on cop cars. They were out of ideas, and there was even someone lamenting in the background of the call, "Help us [Cecil]! HELP US!"
After some research, and some digging around in my house, I called back. "This may seem like a crazy question, but I am serious. Ask around and see if anyone knows CPR."
As it turned out, one of our crew, the lighting guy, was a damned EMT. On being electrocuted, he said "You get shocked once, we'll shock you twice. The other EMT's might be pissed if my CPR cracks your ribcage, though. "
Great! Safety concerns resolved, I headed out to Joe's with tools, goggles, and some power supplies in hand. And this is what I found.
A decent lightbar (10 years old), and from the packaging it was acquired one way or another from the set of "Walker: Texas Ranger". The wiring harness had been simply cut, probably off of the wiring header, without regard for its next install. There was some jury rigged wiring, but there was no indication of function. I had one red wire, one black wire, and a third, much larger, black wire. The big grey cable you see in the photos was a bundle of (I believe) 12 wires. With some clever research online, I found a wiring diagram, and work began.
Work at Joe's house yielded no results. I knew basically what had to happen, I just didn't have enough juice/power/mojo. Elliot then referred me to a friend of his, who had experience with electronics and car modifications. At his house we dissected the light bar. This guy was damned intelligent, probably a genius, and his advice was key to getting enough power into the bar, which made this whole goddamn project work. Once he told me the principles of getting it to run without exploding, I was damned sure I could make it work.
With wiring supplies in hand, I started work at 6:30AM on the second day of shooting. Christ I look like a doofus, and I'm wearing a silly hat, and I'm using laundry cord for a belt, so I kept showing plumber's crack that morning. Refer to the next post about why.
During testing, I kind of forgot which wire was the ground, and which was the negative terminal one. Whoops. Experiment time. I explained to Brian what to do. Upon reflection, having the EMT helping with the wires wasn't an effective use of resources. In any case, though you can't see it in the following photo, I was wearing safety goggles and a face mask whenever I dealt with the battery.
I touched the wires to the battery terminals...and....they INSTANTLY turn red hot, BRIGHT glowing red, like, coils in a toaster red hot. I yell to pull the other wire as I yanked my own. Why the facemask? Because of stuff like this.
Oops. As I was pulling the melted chunks of insulating plastic off of my gloves is when the driver of the car walks up. "Everything is fine!"
A quick wire switch, and VICTORY
The next part is when I really earned my keep, assembling/designing the harness fuse block and switch. But it's boring, just a of jumping around, curling things, merging wires, screwdrivers and allen wrenches. Let's leave it, that I earned, my, keep, and sadly no one could help, just watch. (complete with in-car safety key)
This is when shit started to go wrong again. With it wired up, I tried to start the car.
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
Said the starter.
FUCK said the Cecil.
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
Said the starter.
"Fuck, okay, let's jumpstart it!"
With the car running to charge the battery, I left to help load shit. That's when I was told the car had died again, just sputtered and died.
Fuck. I tried starting, and it would click a bit, start to turn over, and die.
"Oh goddammit, I blew the alternator somehow! It ran off of battery and then poof!"
While panicing I projected an air of confidence, especially in front of the car owner, which was handy back in tech support. I then noticed the gas light. "Josh! Were you low on gas?"
Josh: "Uhhh, not that low. Low, but we should be okay."
Me: "Goddammit, I'm sending a PA to go get gas!"
The only gas can we had was equipped with a big fucking hole. Standing against Josh's car with my hand over a hole that was not for venting, I got enough gas into the car to get us through, but also enough gas spilled to cover my arms, his tire, and a large part of the immediate area. "This is now a NO SMOKING zone!"
Victory in hand, alligator clips connected, and crew impressed, I walked away to lead the sound department.
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