Major malfunction - just something to keep in mind as possible

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aclawson
Senior Member
Posts: 760
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:28 pm

Major malfunction - just something to keep in mind as possible

#1

Post by aclawson »

About a week and a half ago we had a spectacular lightning storm - one of the best I've ever seen. May or may not be connected but I find the coincidence a bit suspicious.

That Sunday the organist came in to find her instrument apparently dead. Since the electric outlet is on the floor by the feet of the player (with the plug sticking up vertically) and gets kicked from time to time (everybody wishes that when the building was made they didn't put it there) she bent down and wiggled the plug a bit as has been done many times in the past.

Ear-shattering blast of feedback from every speaker in the building - every room that had one was so loud that all of the kids in the building were screaming with fear. Jericho's trumpets have nothing on this. They hit the power button on the organ and the noise stops. No breakers ever tripped.
The sound system was then dead. The power light would come on but no sound. The motor to raise/lower the pulpit, offline. The mic, no sound at all. The organ, silent. Oddly, the thermostats on one side of the building but not the other are now insisting that it is perpetually several degrees warmer than it really is and repeatedly set themselves back into air conditioning mode - set them to heat rather than auto and they cycle correctly, but if given the chance they will switch on the a/c and chill the rooms down to the low 60s.

FM group gets out there and looks for the simple fix of a blown fuse. One is quickly found. Then another. Then another. Followed by several more. Multiple relays are found - in puddles of melted slag at the bottom of wherever they happened to be installed. Parts are ordered, installed and more problems are found after that.

As of yesterday (2nd Sunday with issues) the podium still won't go up/down, the organ is still dead, the podium mic works but won't pick up anybody's voice unless they are with in 3-4 inches of the mic, there is no volume control on on the system - you either get a soft-level volume or nothing - and the mic at the sacrament table apparently has some weird stray voltage - it will not pick up any sound at all but if you touch the mesh that protects the mic you get a loud buzzing sound in all of the speakers.

FM says we are getting a new sound system and it should be installed within a couple of weeks.
PartridgeRM
Community Moderators
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:21 am
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

#2

Post by PartridgeRM »

I'm am very sorry for your troubles, but you made me laugh so hard I really appreciate it! Good story telling!
aclawson
Senior Member
Posts: 760
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:28 pm

#3

Post by aclawson »

Everything is _almost_ back to normal... the organ still has some apparently fried diodes that keep some of the stops turned on all the time and the pulpit won't go up and down. They're starting to talk about replacing the organ.

Also, one of the WAPs has failed (the power supply had previously blown and was showing the red FAULT light).
craiggsmith
Senior Member
Posts: 851
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: South Jordan, Utah

#4

Post by craiggsmith »

Wow, definitely seems like something related to the lighting storm.
Craig
South Jordan, UT
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