fixing K8 prophecy clubs
aaron gregg
routine to pad out the length of my show for long engagements. I bought 5
K8 prophecy clubs from Neon Husky. They juggle incredibly well but there's
a problem: I've never really juggled them at all and they're not working.
I suspect it's a battery issue as they don't seem to hold a charge. Has
anyone taken them apart in order to fix anything? I'm pretty good with
electronics and batteries so I think I could deal with it but wonder if
anyone has experience. I really don't want to ship them to Argentina.
Thanks
-Aaron
www.comedyskills.com - don't tell your friends, tell your enemies!
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DSallee
Aaron,
You might consider bringing them with you to the PNWJC in Corvallis. Neon
Husky will be there and they might have some ideas (provided you don't get
your answer before then) and could potentially save you the shipping.
David Sallee (or just go with Aerotech . . . :-)
fettucinibro
Aaron,
From what I understand about these batteries... if they sit for a long
time without being used the
battery may lose it's ability to hold a charge. It's best to occasionally
charge them up and let them run
down. I do know in talking with Jim @ neon husky that they did have some
problems with a few
batches of those K8's. I own a set of 6 and they are working fine for me
so far...
And as far as Aerotech goes... do they have a loan officer with their
company yet?
Because at those prices, you've got to be kidding me...
Also, I would feel remiss here if I did not mention the fact that I
purchased a set of 8 of their Pro Balls
over time. I had nothing but problems with them. Meanwhile, $2000 - $2500
later I still do not even
have a set of 3 that hold a charge or work the way they are supposed to.
and this happened within
weeks of the purchase. Not a very good track record. There was a reason
Todd Smith quickly stopped
selling this stuff. It was too much trouble due to all the problems and
repairs. From what I understand
I am very far from being the only person to experience this with their
product. So needless to say, I am
not about to invest another red cent with this company's product until I
hear that they have made
some major improvements in the quality in durability of their product.
Just can't afford to buy over
priced crap that does work consistently. Being a professional juggler I
need my equipment to work for
me every time. Not to even mention that they do not offer software for Mac
OS to program them. What
are they thinking? Oh well...glad you like your Aerotech stuff, David. Let
me know how it's still
working for you after a while... please. Because if they ever "get it
right", I'd like to know.
DSallee
>
> Oh well...glad you like your Aerotech stuff, David. Let
> me know how it's still
> working for you after a while... please. Because if they ever "get it
> right", I'd like to know.
>
I'll do what I can Steve. I've only had the new ones for a while, so it
will probably be a bit before I can give a full report.
I can give you a history of my experience with the prior versions though.
I purchased 6 Red / Blue programmable, 2 Solid Green, and 1 Strobing Green
Aerotech ball back in 2001.
The Strobing Green was the first to give me problems. It didn't always
like to take a charge and eventually just died. I'd guess that it died
less than a year after purchasing.
As of today, 4 of the 6 programmables are still going strong, and both
solid green ones are working fine. I thought it was more that were having
problems, but it turned out that both my 5 point chargers were dead. So I
ordered a new 7 point charger and things have been good. If that charger
goes though . . . well . . . I'll probably be retiring them anyway, now
that I have 6 new ones.
The two programmables which stopped taking a charge both died about the
same time (approx. 1.5 years ago). They have taken quite the beating over
their life though.
I've had a lot of fun with them, and they served me quite well. At the
IJA in Portland I did a routine with 4 of them and they worked great.
Marco was in the same show with the K8 balls and he was having issues with
them backstage, even having one die on him as he was going onto the stage.
These weren't old ones either, having watched him take them out of the
package just moments before. Figured at that point, I probably made the
right choice.
The nice thing about the new ones is that there is an "upgrade path" that
gets you a bit of a discount for moving from the old to the new :-)
I don't know if the software they use to do the programming and such
supports Mac at this point. I'm a PC user, so unfortunately I can't help
you out there. You do have to have a laptop and powered USB multi-port
hub to get things going though. There were some learning curve issues
with initial setup between the computer and the balls. Plus some trial
and error with what software to use to help make the programming a bit
easier (currently using Notepad and Audacity).
I have my first "official" show with the new ones on Saturday, March 28th.
Will be fun to see how they perform under "stage" situations. The only
tricky part which I have some minor concerns about is getting the timing
right with the start of the music and the start of the balls.
The new ones have so much potential and are a lot of fun when the timing
and programming works (when it doesn't it's my own fault anyway and
usually easily fixed . . . heh heh). I really do hope they last and
continue working years down the road.
David Sallee (Giving you more than you ever wanted to know . . . :-)
fettucinibro
>
> David Sallee (Giving you more than you ever wanted to know . . . :-)
>
>
No, not at all David.
I appreciate your detailed reply. I do understand that there is a very
slight discount for upgrading.
Unfortunately it's really not that much of a savings, considering how much
I have already invested in
product of theirs that no longer works. I do agree, when the pro balls
worked properly, they look great. I
watched your video that you put up with your first programmed routine.
Looked cool. I hope that this
new product line is the ticket. If they prove the test of time, I may be
willing to send Aerotech another
pile of my money. Keep me posted.
Thanks,
S
aaron gregg
Thanks for the heads-up David. I'd thought about bringing them down and
now I will if Neon Husky is going to be there. I wonder if Jim is able to
help me with the batteries?
See you soon.
-Aaron
aaron gregg
>
> DSallee wrote:
> >
> > aaron gregg wrote:
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Aaron,
> >
> > You might consider bringing them with you to the PNWJC in Corvallis. Neon
> > Husky will be there and they might have some ideas (provided you don't get
> > your answer before then) and could potentially save you the shipping.
> >
> > David Sallee (or just go with Aerotech . . . :-)
> >
>
> Aaron,
> From what I understand about these batteries... if they sit for a long
> time without being used the
> battery may lose it's ability to hold a charge. It's best to occasionally
> charge them up and let them run
> down. I do know in talking with Jim @ neon husky that they did have some
> problems with a few
> batches of those K8's. I own a set of 6 and they are working fine for me
> so far...
I haven't been charging them up and draining them much over the last two
years but I'm kinda shocked that they won't hold any charge at all now.
Glad to hear yours are working Al/Steve. We'll see what Stormin' Jim
Dorman has to say.
> And as far as Aerotech goes... do they have a loan officer with their
> company yet?
> Because at those prices, you've got to be kidding me...
> Also, I would feel remiss here if I did not mention the fact that I
> purchased a set of 8 of their Pro Balls
> over time. I had nothing but problems with them. Meanwhile, $2000 - $2500
> later I still do not even
> have a set of 3 that hold a charge or work the way they are supposed to.
> and this happened within
> weeks of the purchase.
Some friends of mine have a good philosophy about glow props. They bought
lots of cheapish balls and heaps of batteries. They anticipate that the
balls won't work for too long but they always have spares. Of course this
doesn't work when you want programmability and fancy stuff but given the
problems nearly everyone has with glow props it seems the way to go - at
least for me.
-Aaron
stephenmcginley
I have a set of Prophecy clubs too, of which one or two has stopped
working (I feel they did survive a reasonable amount of use). Let us know
how you get on in your attempts at fixing them! I've been meaning to open
them up and have a look but haven't got around to it.
They came in very handy a few weeks ago when I got a puncture on the
Motorway. I pulled into the hard shoulder and put the red and blue clubs
on flashing mode 20m behind the car while I changed the wheel!
Stephen.
jonatha...@hotmail.com
contact me at jonatha...@hotmail.com
