What happens to rides when the power fails?

Description:
Have you ever been in amusement park where the power went out? Have you ever wondered what happens to the rides when the power is lost? Today we’re going to talk about what happens to rides when the power goes out, and what we have to do to recover them.
Outage types 02:20
Power off 04:46
Power damage 06:42
Maintenance react 18:40
Priority one 25:52
Priority two 26:00
Priority three 26:30
Stuck on Lift crown 35:32
Generators 41:58
Knoebels powers out 50:10

[@theventuracountyrailfan]

Blip power failure happened at carowinds on April first. At first the app said 7/14 coasters were down and a minute later it updated to every ride being down. It was pandemonium as everyone filled the walkways wondering what had happened and maintenance was running all over. As a SoCal resident it sucked traveling across the country just to have the park shut down for hours

[@djsinkaz]

Your power out logo intro almost made me die laughing, and then you did the air hiss at the end and I lost it completely. Thank you for another awesome video.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Haha! I had to get the air hiss in.

[@TripleTSingt]

I had a power outage at our wave swings once. Just stopped the ride shortly after it got to the top, fault I've never seen before. So I tried lowering manually, didn't work. Went back into the faults, tried to quit those. After that, manually lowering worked and I just unloaded everyone and called in the ride stop. and then I waited for over an hour on the technician ^^ because, as we realized soon, I wasn't the only one with a problem and at least I didn't have any guests left on it. Turns out our high voltage line had a blip of about 10-15 seconds, messed up our water rides, our dark rides, most big roller coasters - Technician came, looked at the fault list, listened to my explanation and gave me the go-ahead to reopen.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Nice you were able to unload it quickly.

[@MagnoliaStreetTV]

18:45 Very true! Especially when you're out in the park walking around. The first few seconds of silence before it clicks that the power just went out is an eerie experience. You just get a feeling that something is wrong but aren't sure what it is for a few seconds.

[@aldoparise1224]

Love the humour you add in your videos (e.g. power out on video)

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Ha! Thanks

[@grayrabbit2211]

@20:00 - I can't believe this is allowed! In the various industries I've worked in, if power or air pressure was lost, the brakes locked on mechanically! it REQUIRED air pressure to keep them open, just in case something like this happened.

[@Jenlovescoasters]

Not Arrow coasters😂

[@imark7777777]

Yeah that's the first thing I said. If it doesn't fail safe it's not safe.

[@sharkheadism]

@@imark7777777 It does fail safe though. All the brakes close when the power or air pressure is lost.

[@paranoidzkitszo]

@@sharkheadism i guess you hadn't paid attention.... the setup is baCKWARDS.....as in..... air locked the brakes... no air = no brakes. Yeah, unless the commentator has it all wrong....but, clearly on multiple occasions they state this.....

[@sharkheadism]

@@paranoidzkitszo Regardless of whether it's a loss of air line pressure, a power outage, or an e-stop (which cuts power to the ride), the brakes will all close. The only exception would be trim brakes.

[@djhighscore]

i really enjoyed this one. super interesting. keep up the good work

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Thank you!

[@Davidvariance]

Currently recovering from a coaster hangover after riding top thrill 2 yesterday 9 times. This is excellent, i was just wondering power consumption on a per rider, daily, and yearly basis and costs associated. I learned the Cedar Point has a sponsorship by the big provider around here. That's about all i got 😂 would love to hear more about power management and energy efficiency with parks.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Not much unless your name is Disney or universal.

[@Davidvariance]

@@ryantheridemechanic 😂 well said. Do you think solar panels or self contained power generation offers advantages in less frequent or less severe power outages?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

@@Davidvariance honestly, no, not with the amount of power that industrial machinery eats up.

[@Porcf81]

The half hearted “scream” 😂Best. Intro. So. Far.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Don’t forget the air “pssssst” as well haha!

[@Porcf81]

@@ryantheridemechanic I was already laughing out loud. The air hiss was the cherry on top.

[@eDoc2020]

I would expect indoor rides all to have emergency lighting such as the standard 30-minute battery backed units you find in most commercial buildings. And if a park has some generators I would expect them to focus on food vendors (for the health reasons mentioned) as well as all other places that collect money. And as others have said, I'm super surprised there are rides which rely on air pressure-activated brakes.

[@dadude1425]

This earlier upload time was perfect timing for my Friday morning flight!

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Ha! Glad it worked out. I’m on vacation today so when I installed the video and have it the date I forgot to select the normal time. Not a big deal but the odd release times confuse some people. It’s one of the key things I’ve heard not to do on KZbin is confuse your audience.

[@noobcraft6225]

@@ryantheridemechanicI wouldn’t say confusing, more a nice surprise to get the video early.

[@mcb187]

It really surprises me that there is no inrush current protection on these things. Surely there is a way to prevent this issue, such as a large thermistor or maybe a switch that opens when the power is cut.

[@kylea9022]

Amazing video, great watch as always 👌🏻

[@ajhummel9187]

I experienced a power outage on a visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain a couple years back. When it happened, I was in line for Scream and waiting to board when the train returned (the park was dead, so just one train). As it approached the station, suddenly all motion stopped and I heard all the brakes lock up. Simultaneously, the music in the station cut off completely and everything went silent. The operator tried to make an announcement over the mic, then once they realized it wasn't working, just yelled out to the dozen or so guests in the station that the ride was experiencing a delay. One of the attendants went out to the stalled train, and when they returned I remember them saying something like "everything in the park stopped." At that point, I knew my day was likely over, so I decided to head out and certainly passed plenty of higher-ups speedwalking around the park on my way to the exit. Fortunately, I was able to salvage the day with a couple hours at Knott's Berry Farm which was on my route home anyway and still supplied with plenty of electricity (and despite living in SoCal, that remains the one and only time I've visited both Knott's and SFMM in the same day). Also, one note about the Knoebels Skyride: that's probably much easier to evacuate in a power outage than most theme park model chairlifts. Knoebels purchased that used from a ski area, and aerial ropeways installed for that purpose are almost always required to have a diesel evacuation motor in case there is a power failure so that skiers aren't stranded in potentially hazardous conditions. Provided the park didn't remove that, they could just fire it up and the lift would run at half speed to unload everyone without issue.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

From what I was told on similar skyrides is that there is something with using the evacuation engine where the cable passes the tower supports. So the mechanic I was talking to said mechanics or trained operators had to climb all of the towers to manually watch the cable and ensure it was ok. Not saying every park was like that but it turned their power outage process to needing a bunch of people (at least 12) to unload.

[@Colaholiker]

When it comes to what operations can and can't do, I think most US parks (especially the ones with an even number of flags) take it to a ridiculous level. Take any flat ride that just stops moving and is ready to load/unload. Like a Scrambler, Tilt-a-Whirl, Flying Scooters, etc. While they can unload people at the end of a ride cycle, why not when the ride stops for other reasons (and is secured against a restart)? There is literally no difference. Or what I recently saw at a park operated by that particular company. Coaster train comes back into the station, stops in its usual loading position (easy to tell as it aligned perfectly with the air gates), but the restraints didn't come up. We are talking about a 40+ year old ride here, restraints are purely mechanical ratchet type, with an unlock lever on the side of each coach. All you need to do is push it down and the restraints pop up. Operators were like "nah, we can't do it, we need to call maintenance". I get it that they can't do anything if the train is not in the loading position - but there it would have literally made no difference whatsoever. These ridiculous policies, created out of pure fear, just destroy whatever is left of common judgement people may have. It is time for a chance to a "common sense" based mind set with park officials. When I worked at fairs in Germany, we had a dodgy power wiring at one fair where I ran a Break Dancer ride. Every couple of minutes, power would be lost and come back a few minutes later. All that was for us to do was to tell people to remain seated (no central restraint locks or anything, just a spring latch that can be opened by the riders) until the ride comes to a complete stop (the main platform keeps spinning for quite a while when you cut power at full speed 😂) and then have everyone walk off as usual. If it happened early during the cycle, we would even jump onto the moving platform (the gondolas and crosses stop moving almost immediately) and hand the tokens back to the riders so they could ride again later. Somewhat annoying but a lot of fun...

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Yea I agree flags are very strict. I see so many park letting the operators do almost everything and there are some companies that just take that hard stance that if the ride does ANYTHING out of the ordinary ops can’t do anything. I also think they should define ordinary to include stops and power failures. The basic stuff to make life easy.

[@happycoasterdad]

Would love to see a video about evacuations, if you haven't already. Love your channel - thank you!

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I’ve made two already. The newest one kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYCxfGmHaMhlZpIsi=65SyDcD-xk_tHgDS

[@happycoasterdad]

@@ryantheridemechanic Awesome - thank you!

[@Stuntman707]

Interesting that Vekoma made rides without fail safe brakes. You think they would have made the brakes on by default with air pressure releasing the trains. So have them spring loaded closed with the air pushing them apart. That way if you had an air leak of power outage, the ride would fail safely. I know Gerstlauer has systems that lowers the trains back down the lift hills for evacuations as they make a lot of vertical lifts.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Everyone is quick to jump on that one. I’ve never heard of vekomas /Arrow brakes failing. They work great. I’ve been in lots of situations where we lost pressure and never had a second thought about them. The the testing and times I freer to. Those are a perfect storm scenario. In a brake run there are 4-10 brakes to hold the train. 1 brake has more than enough power to hold the train for a very long period of time. Just don’t want the wrong idea getting too far out there. The vertical lifts without a toothed rail are a dream to evacuate. But the ones with the rails, good luck.

[@imark7777777]

FYI if your bathrooms have automatic flush and automatic sink systems check those batteries regularly and find out which ones don't run on batteries. I was at a restaurant their toilets were mango flash but their sinks we're not and I believe they were plugged into the wall which didn't have power. The staff said they were supposed to work out batteries but if they did have back up batteries they probably haven't been changed. All the more reason for manual sinks they still work during power outages at the annoyance of having to actually use your hand to turn some thing.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Seemed annoying at the park (maintenance did not have to do this but,) all the auto flush valves in the park were battery operated. Went through hundreds of battery’s every couple of months. But I could see an electrical engineer saying no to adding power to a water system. Just easier to throw batteries in.

[@paranoidzkitszo]

Weiner zappers if grounded improperly....i can see why batteries were the go to also....

[@seabass450]

great video!!!

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Thanks

[@minorfunthemeparks]

Loved the intro this time 🤣

[@alexlail7481]

Have you considered doing videos with any old/older maintenance people something of an interview with their thoughts, experiences, etc.... assuming they're willing to divulge the top secret information 😊

[@imark7777777]

It's annoying some of the health department rules. you have all this food going to waste but you can't sell it before it goes to waste and then you have all this ice cream that's not melting because you can't sell it because it's not staying hot oh wait you're not able to sell anything as your register doesn't work (it's a shame we don't some sort of non-electronic form of payment) and can't give away the ice cream. There's a lot of food rules that aren't backed by science and are pushed by local health departments.

[@JMKING2008]

I live in Virginia, so I am lucky to have KD and BGW as my home parks. I would love a video talking about switch tracks, like on pantheon and what would happen if it failed, is it possible? Thank you for all the videos!

[@grayrabbit2211]

I'm not sure how often this happens in your park, but have you considered installing phase-loss protectors? At one of my workplaces we had these on all major equipment and the system also had a time-delay upon restoration of power. It'd keep the load disconnected for a random period of time between 5-15 seconds after power was restored.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Only had 2 rides with a phase loss monitor. I installed one on an air compressor but nothing else had it.

[@Scjheinen]

I laughed out loud at that intro. I can only imagine a full scale power outage, luckily the grid over here is very reliable so I doubt we will encounter it very soon (knock on wood). That being said it happened at a park nearby not to long ago, I spoke to some workers over there and they said it was a nightmare. Especially on indoor rides where the back-up generators and/or UPS systems didn’t work (guess they are checking them more often now). I do wonder didn’t your electrical equipment have surge protection? That’s a common practice over here. It doesn’t rule out damage during an insurge but it does reduce the damage done. Newer rides even shut down their own main power supply themselves if the control voltage main input goes out (first time I saw that I was amazed that wasn’t thought of earlier).

[@ryantheridemechanic]

They do have surge protectors. But surge protector circuits are made (in general) to work with the power on. When the whole line goes dead and then starts back up. Most surge protector circuits can’t handle that. The more technology that goes into the incoming switches this is becoming less of a problem. But not using those saves $$ when purchasing a ride. Any place, any industry, will almost always opt to cut cost on things alike that to take the overall budget down.

[@Jenlovescoasters]

Dealt with power outages many times. We have a revolution 20 (pendulum swing) and it started to rain, i told ops not to send the coaster, then it rained harder and i called rev 20 to tell them not to send it. They already had- POWER OUTAGE😂 I had to let those poor people keep swinging in the storm. Im like there is literally nothing i can do for you until you slow down....

[@Kevin.odonnell]

I watched this while I rewired my tablesaw to 240 precisely because of inrush current overloads!

[@lornetyndale7974]

Question - I know you mentioned some rides have small generators to help in a power outage situation, but do any of the large ride manufacturers, such as on a roller coaster, have the ability for a separate emergency generator connection? I could see that being useful so that in the event of a prolonged power outage, if the park had a large portable generator (not the small ones, but the ones that can be pulled around on a trailer by a truck which can produce a decent amount of power), they'd be able to pull the portable up to the ride, connect it (through a proper transfer switch / panel), and power the ride up at least enough for an evacuation. In an outage I could see this potentially allowing the ride to safely finish its cycle and in the case of a coaster unload the riders at a usual unload station. In the case where a train has crowned at the top of a lift hill I could see this type of approach possibly taking less time then trying to evacuate the ride as-is. Of course this might not be practical at all, just wondering.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Sky’s the limit for this stuff. I’m sure there are plenty of rides with generators capable of running the entire ride indefinitely during an outage.

[@FloriDUH_JBot]

Wouldn't a Round Up be problematic if it was stuck all the way up? I believe there is just a chain across the front of each ride compartment and the force of the ride rotation holding you in.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I can’t say for sure but I could see that style ride coming down with no power no estop.

[@glennmcgurrin8397]

What protections are in place for brownouts? I've seen more odd issues with IT gear with similar power profiles from brownouts than even blips, most places anymore Ihave good ups systems in place to prevent that, do plc's get ups's? The biggest brownout issues tend to be like your hill crest example, the out of spec voltages on the power supply output creates logic states that should be impossible in the silicon which creates all sorts of issues.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

The plc sit behind very good power conditioners. And the plc its self also has a power conditioner. Some rides have a control power UPS for conditioning but adds a layer of complexity when locking out the ride for service. Power off an ups out of sequence and you get ghost trains on 100% of the track. That’s a super pain to clear.

[@imark7777777]

Well I'm surprised that they don't implement more automatic shut off devices where if power drops the control circuitry doesn't reengage. All it takes is a relay. And they really could notify theme parks and you know large energy users to shut down. do they do that to hospitals? no because those are critical, but they could probably ask a steel mill to shut down during peak load?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

So a thought was if they told areas the power was going down. Malicious people could use that info to prep to steel or loot. Something stupid like that.

[@Bogarttherideop]

I had a power failure once while operating. It was super weird too cause I’ve never had the slc do this. I pressed open gates on the panel and boom. Light turns off and we hear a hiss like the ride estopped. Maintenance came out turned the ride back on and that was that

[@glennmcgurrin8397]

Do most have generators running lights in restrooms, etc? Otherwise I'd have thought lack of safe lighting after emergency light batteries rundown would be the limiting factor on your sanitary discussion.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Yea most are just some lights and power for freezers and fridge to keep food safe.

[@matb9027]

Really interesting to me as to why a manufacturer would design brakes which require power to engage opposed to using springs or similar and needing power to overcome them??

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Well they need air. If you remove the power they go full force closed but use air pressure to do it.

[@matb9027]

@@ryantheridemechanic ah as in it doesn’t need power as such because there is air pressure, but bleed makes them a priority for response when there’s a loss of power.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

@@matb9027 bingo

[@Project_Storm1999]

What would happen if the park experienced an earthquake? Great adventure had 1 not to long ago some rides came up within 30 mins some took a few hours. All we heard was maintenance had to recheck all the rides. Thanks for the videos I enjoy them a lot

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Really depends on the size of the earthquake (I come from earth quake country in California) but it’s basically just another inspection more structural in nature rather than mechanical.that’s about it. Make sure no cracks popped up in footer or bolts broke. If footers cracked, rides down. If a flange broke a bolt, all bolts at least in that flange, should be replaced.

[@glennmcgurrin8397]

Why not set up the ride to cut power out on power loss and stay off until reset? Many ways to do it but an electrically latching contactor where once powered up power holds the switch on but any loss of power cuts off the main feed until manually reset back to on.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I’m guessing due to the size of the components needed. Basically you’re talking about a shunting disconnect. They are expensive to add Other than cost, the occasional power outage is really not a concern of the manufacturer. It’s a rare thing like trying to design a cabinet for flooding conditions. You could do it but it’s rare.

[@markvolpe2305]

I think you meant power surge (not by Zamperla lol) instead of blip. I had worked in food service at Darien Lake in '95 and '96 seasons, one summer the power would go out at least once a week for a month! When the power would go out, at the time the park had a Huss Ranger, that would just swing back and forth until it stops at the bottom, but the riders would be stuck on the ride until maintenance comes by and releases the hydrolic pressure to open the lap bars, The Huss UFO I've seen full cycle when the power went out, it just spins and surprisingly still spinning fast enough to hold the riders in their seats (although they're standing lol) and slowly lowers till it's at the loading position. You're right about when the power goes out, it's eerily quiet and none of the employees can do much until it goes back on again. However, the only ride that remained running during the outage is the Intiman River Rapids ride Grizzly Run, and those pumps were so loud that you could almost hear them at the other side of the park, I still wonder how that ride would still have power when the rest of the park was dark?

[@paranoidzkitszo]

wow once a week? In a month? So......4 times ???

[@markvolpe2305]

@paranoidzkitszo yep, it was a common occurrence that month, but we were never sent home early, we just waited it out until power was restored.

[@chfilms1]

we got lucky when it happened it the park i worked at we were just having a morning brief and was just about get sent out to our rides for the day when the power went out turned out a truck went off the highway and took out the power line that fed our park and the surrounding area

[@jackschissler255]

My question. If you got one train in the course and one crowning the lift and the power goes out, mid course brake will stop that train but if you take and push the crowning one over to get it on free track, Won’t it collide when it hits the mid course brake train that’s stopped? And what happens to the Water rides (Intamin rapid ones) during a power outage? Does the water in the ride drain out and leave all the boats just sit in an empty channel?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

If the train was on the crown that means the ride was sending it over because the block was clear. Otherwise it would be waiting at a “park” position and good for evacuation. For rapids rides, yes some will stop mid flume and will have to be evacuated from there.

[@thelis4u]

How similar are different ride models from the same manufacturer? For example, would a B&M invert be similar maintenance wise to a B&M hyper or B&M dive? I know the park you worked at had a Vekoma boomerang and SLC, were the 2 of them similar maintenance wise?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

They are similar but it also depends on thresholds you cross as well. Inverts might be similar to flyers on the top of the train but wildly different on the bottom. Hyper and floor less might be identical. But the parks choose how to inspect them as well. So the manufacturer might have identical verbiage, but then the park specifies to completely different inspection criteria for similar rides.

[@BamaRailfan]

My only ride experience where the power went out during the ride was on Power Tower at Cedar Point. The power went out as we were dropping. The only side effect was we had to wait a while for maintenance to open the restraints. On another note, i have noticed some B&M coasters have a small diesel engine on the gearcase for the lift. Im assuming thats what they use in place of a backup generator? I have also noticed this setup on some Von Roll Sky Rides.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Hmm. I’ve never seen that? What B&m ride did you see this on? Or is there a picture of it somewhere?

[@BamaRailfan]

@ryantheridemechanic I got a pic of Gatekeeper's lift motor and engine today..as well as an unplanned closeup of Magnum XL200's lift motor and gearbox after we had to be evacuated from the C block brake run. Lol. Would love to send the pics to you if you want but can't remember the email to send them to. 🤦‍♂️

[@ryantheridemechanic]

@@BamaRailfan ha! Cool. You can send them to [e-mail] Let me know if you want your name or channel name on the photos.

[@BamaRailfan]

@@ryantheridemechanic email sent. Thanks!

[@brittariedel3446]

You did not talk about the magnetic brakes on modern rollercoasters. So I assume they would just do their job and stop the trains without problems? So you have not to worry about those trains colliding? Only have to evacuate the riders if they stop on a block brake then?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Yes. If you want to see a video about the magnetic brakes, it’s here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/el7InnmKrN5jotUsi=uUrbAe0A6R1KVmaQ

[@jackschissler255]

Hey Ryan. Off topic question. For all manufacturers like B&M, Vekoma, Intamin, Zamperla, Huss, everyone else. We will use B&M for this. But I know the Track and supports are made in Batavia Ohio and the trains come from their Switzerland plant but where does the rest come from? Do they have local businesses to build the Control panels, Computers, parts like the Big Bolts, All electrical, Lift Motors or do they have all this in Switzerland? And ship it to the park and once the ride is in and they done testing and turn it over to the park, How long does anyone from the company stay on site to make sure ride performs without any hiccups?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Most all of it comes from the manufacturer, wherever they are. The motors are typically tested prior to shipping. Everything come over in containers and is assembled for the first time on site. If the controls are a US manufacturer then the Motor control cabinet and panels will come from that builder. Local to the parks supplies the small stuff minor hardware wire pipe etc. the manufacturer has a rep that stays on hand throughout construction. Then how long they stick around after depends on what the company had in the contract. Usual seems to be about 2 weeks (ish). Then that’s it. There’s your shiny new ride.

[@TanookiOshawott64]

35:30 I saw a complete power failure at as a b&m hyper was cresting the top of the lift and I was operating a flat nearby. Made for a fun hour down there watching them trek up to the top.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

And once it’s crowning you have to be super careful. Chain it off both directions and unload the drop side first so weight can’t pull it over.

[@1BillionMarbles]

At my home park, we have a prototype S&S screamin' swing with no magnetic brakes, so when the power gets cut and the ride is swinging, the ride will (depending on how high it is) swing for hours and hours and hours. It's kinda hilarious. I actually got to witness this while operating with one of the swings last year since it was super tempermental that day. The problem was that th e ride's two massive swings were forced to run in sync, and the computer did not like that since one of the towers's cables just got replaced. Once maintenance turned off the sync it ran solidly.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Interesting. Just the inertia keeps it going or is it because they use the air as a counter balance on that one?

[@1BillionMarbles]

@@ryantheridemechanic they use compressed air. When the power goes out, airflow stops, and the ride doesn't stop swinging.

[@sendyboi7028]

Wildcats revenge had have the station evacuated today at passholder night, alarms were going off and they were rushing us out, it was having problems with that but what might cause it and does every RMC do it? Btw I got 10 night rides on skyrush so what a way to end the day! Ik I’m gonna have the coaster hangover if yk what I mean

[@ryantheridemechanic]

It doesn’t sound like a ride problem. Might have been the fire system. Ride issues rarely cause quick evacuations of a platform unless there is danger to guests like fire.

[@litz13]

You should try this in IT, imagine an entire datacenter going black. Those computers like it just as much as the ones on the rides in the parks. (hint: freezing temperatures and water in diesel fuel filters is a bad bad combination)

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I’d assume servers are way more sensitive even with advanced protection

[@litz13]

@@ryantheridemechanic maybe so, but it's still computers and big giant huge power supply systems. They HATE bad power. Trusting anything that's come back up possibly only partially never ends well. Your descriptions of always wanting to dead stop, and recover from a known dead state is spot on. It's the only way to KNOW it's recovered in a known good state.

[@4everpee]

Those old vekomas are not failsafe enough. They work like a diesel train brake system.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I haven’t heard of any crashing because of it though. Only time I’ve ever heard of a problem is when people lock out a ride for extended downtime and never block the train. (Maintenance caused the problem)

[@sharkheadism]

Train brakes are failsafe. Yes they will bleed out... after hours and hours, if not days. Plenty of time to tie the train down.

[@NewEnglandModz]

Is it possible for a Ferris wheel car to become inverted in strong winds? Or if not regularly lubricated, could the bearings which allow the car to freely rotate become stuck and allow the car to flip?

[@Spike-sk7ql]

It would probably take 3 years at the bottom of the ocean to seize the bearing to the point of not budging. Probably about 7 just in the elements, nor in a coastal area. Or it could just start wearing itself a bigger hole to be in without grease, and never actually seize. I would think it would be unlikely that wind blows one around, but I am no expert. I do have enough experience to make an educated guess about the bearings freezing up.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Honestly I don’t think that’s possible. Something came loose or jammed between the rotation point and the gondola, then I could see it but that’s about it I would think.

[@litz13]

Go look up the videos of ski lifts in strong winds. Even those chairlifts and gondolas don't invert.

[@iveseentoomuch]

I once worked at a parkas an operator and they had a Huss enterprise. I was told constantly during training to never hit the E-stop while the arm is up as they told me that when the power is cut the arm would just slam down. Do you know if there is any truth to this, or is it more like the arm will come down hard and might injure riders, or is it BS?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I don’t know that rides guts specifically. That being said. It’s completed BS. When you hit the estop or power out it would kill the hydraulics and the arm would stop movement. Won’t go up or down. Then you will have to open a bypass to lower the arm. Maintenance can suspend the arm to work under it. Huss in general would not allow the arm to fall down. I’m sure it was just a tactic to drive in the point not to accidentally hit the estop. Park fabricate horror stories to put emphasis on certain things.

[@rikp]

There's discussion of the Enterprise operations in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZ3GgYejoK50nq8

[@EveryoneIsFamily]

Why don't rides, upon power blips/anomalies, automatically shut themselves off as protection from inrush currents?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Some do. If a shunt hold the mom disconnect on then it will. But most incoming switches are not shunt controlled. I’m guessing because you have a live shunt circuit that has power on even when locked out. Bit hose are also very expensive. Not sure on the exact reason most are not shunt controlled.

[@sharkheadism]

Do ride air compressors work off of 120, 220, or another voltage?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Most are 480v

[@bpark10001]

There should be NO WAY that a meter test should be corrupted by finger contact, unless the maintenance person is IDIOT & has the meter set on K-ohm or M-ohm scale. Even the wettest hand soaked in salt water has AT LEAST 1000's ohms resistance. The lowest current fuse has no more than a few ohms resistance. The meter should be set on the ohms x 1 scale. DON'T USE AUTORANGING METER MODE! Knoebels ! Flying turns has a mini lift hill at the END of the ride, so unloading would have to be done short of the station.

[@steveurbach3093]

You realize 'Buss' And 'Littlefuse' are competitors. :) and not a style.

[@ryantheridemechanic]

I’ve always heard them referred to as this by most people. A lot of people don’t know what I’m talking about if I say I blew a bunch of FNM fuses. Great if you know what they are but in general I found saying glass little fuse works way better. I try to generalize as much as possible to keep the majority of people clued in to what I’m saying.

[@BulletResistant]

I don't have have a lot of knowledge here, but they don't have remote controlled circuit breakers and power loss detection systems that could be put in, that could switch off upon power loss >1 minute or something, and then prevent inrush current, and then let a central command turn on the systems in sequence? Is putting that in more expensive than letting the rides take the hit? I wonder what expensive industrial systems like a Tesla factory does when that happens. Thanks!

[@ryantheridemechanic]

The downtime and cost is super minor. Easy to justify those repairs. Much easier that larger capital money at the beginning.

[@sharkheadism]

9:27 that watch is huge

[@imark7777777]

21:20 wait you're telling me the entire system doesn't fail safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ryantheridemechanic]

It’s completely safe for at least 20min. We have tested up to several hours just to see what happens. I’m not worried about it. Basically the SLC had 17 brakes and 17 redundant systems. So all good.

[@sharkheadism]

@@ryantheridemechanic Do you remember which video it was where you talked about why some brakes are closed by springs and opened with air and others are the opposite?

[@ryantheridemechanic]

@@sharkheadism one of my first videos was on brakes. Only 3min long haha. I probably referenced it on the ride sounds video. Luckily a couple of weeks from now I’m releasing another brake video! 1hr long this time.

[@dindog22]

un plug it for 30 seconds and plug it back in. just like my WIFI router

[@ryantheridemechanic]

Haha!

[@chrissabds6975]

@@ryantheridemechanic call the geeksquad

[@chrissabds6975]

call the geeksquad