Many of our customers are currently preparing for lengthy holiday breaks or shutdowns in their operations. Before you shut everything down and run for the door (and sunny beaches or powdery slopes), take a minute to think ahead to what is best for your audio visual systems.
Sure it makes sense to power down and save on electricity for a week or two (or longer you lucky people), but there can be a downside to having an AV system be dormant for long periods of time. If you leave systems on, warm wires can attract rodents that can gnaw at the wires when there is no activity from people in the space keeping them at bay, unknown leaks can cause corrosion that might go unchecked for longer than normal, dust collects on fans/filters either way, but left untouched for a longer than normal period of time will mean taking care when repowering the system to avoid any failures.
Even though there are benefits to powering down, there are some things to think about before powering up.
Power Supplies and other electronic components can dry out, capacitors may fail or not perform the function they were intended to perform (produce power).
Alignment and calibration can degrade which affects a number of things including alignment, focus, color match, brightness, and other calibration issues. Issues that may affect the quality of the image and data you are working with.
If the room or space that your audio visual system is located "dialed down" the HVAC system for a period of time, there is a risk of thermal shock. If the HVAC has not consistently maintained normal room conditions, thermal temperature shock (allowing overheating in summer and excessive cold in winter) is not always healthy for electronics, especially older systems.
For systems that have been running consistently (always on, always running), cooling systems are important but when fans get caked with dust, or when filters get caked with dust so cooling systems can fail and not cool as designed causing overheating and degradation of system hardware. This kind of risk can affect projectors, network hardware, rack hardware - anything with a fan in it drawing air. Dirt makes systems noisier, less efficient, and not as cooled as designed originally.
When restarting after a break:
- Start by having one of your typical users dedicate time to run through all of the functionality that is normal to your workflow.
- Have them start up and operate the system and confirm whether everything still works properly. This involves powering on all system devices and testing all functionality. Make and receive video calls. Play content from multiple devices. Change any cable/satellite channels. Raise and lower the lights and/or shades. Change HVAC temps.
- Take a close look at your video wall or projected images and data. Does the color balance between panels or tiles in a video wall or across the entire projected image on screen? Are there any dead pixels or gaps visible?
If you encounter issues, we can help:
- Phone Support to help you navigate through issues, troubleshoot, and solve problems.
- On-Site Service Technician to conduct color calibration, alignment adjustment, power/voltage check, cleaning, and bulb/filter changes.
- Repair or Replacement of any Failed Hardware.
If you are not certain what to do (which can vary depending on the type of audio visual systems you have), consult your Audio Visual Integrator. They can recommend the best course of action so you can take that holiday break and not worry about what you will return to when you get back to work.
About IGI:
Immersion Graphics, Inc. (IGI) provides audio visual design, engineering, consulting, product sales, control system programming, custom fabrication, installation, preventative maintenance, and extended support services out of its headquarters location in Detroit and west coast operation in Los Angeles. Additional offices are located in Indianapolis, and Grand Rapids.
Founded in 1998, IGI has installed numerous large-scale, ultra-high resolution systems throughout the U.S. in the automotive, higher education, medical, financial, and energy transmission markets, and for the United States military and other government agencies. Applications include industrial design, engineering, data visualization, mission-critical command & control room environments, presentation systems, video conferencing, digital signage, and a variety of commercial AV solutions. To get an in depth look at what we do, see our website at www.werigi.com, we are IGI.
IGI is minority owned, veteran owned, and a small business and SBA 8(a) program graduate.
