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Elton Prater advice seems really important "As someone else mentioned, 
on computerized exhibits, we put just the monitor on a remote and the 
CPU runs continuously. "

I evaluated a traveling exhibition last year where some of the exhibit 
components needed to stay on all the time because they required 
sequences of commands after a being completely powered down (the 
exhibition included a large-screen 3-D multi-player game). The building 
power was on a timer-based system that powered off from a central 
console that the building facilities department operated--that worked 
fine for exhibits that simply needed to be turned on and off. It didn't 
work when additional sequences needed to be initiated.  Making certain 
that the differing needs beyond power-up and power-down are accounted 
for and included in traveling exhibition manuals sees important as well 
as recognizing that power control systems sold for conservation and 
designed primarily for heating/cooling/lighting need to be accessible to 
the exhibits department.

Carey

Carey Tisdal
Tisdal Consulting
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On 12/10/2012 7:07 PM, Elton Prater wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related 
> institutions.
> ***************************************************************************** 
>
>
> This is not exactly what you ask for, but I am going to throw it in 
> the mix anyway.
> A large percentage (like 30) of our exhibits are on a remote control 
> system that we have been getting at ACE hardware. They are from 
> Carlon. 
> (http://www.smarthome.com/25508/Heavy-Duty-Remote-Control-HW2190/p.aspx) 
> and run about $26. They plug into a three prong outlet and have a 
> switched outlet on the other side that will handle 10 amps. They have 
> a pocket sized RF "remote control" that will work across a whole floor 
> of our museum. We have them all set to the same channel, so if you are 
> standing in the right place, you can hit 15-20 exhibits with one 
> click. All my exhibit techs carry one and the managers have one they 
> use on weekends. Any time we have a traveling exhibit come in, we add 
> remotes to their exhibits also so it makes learning the new exhibit 
> very easy for my people that don't turn on/off that often. As someone 
> else mentioned, on computerized exhibits, we put just the monitor on a 
> remote and the CPU runs continuously.
>
> We keep extras around and it is a quick process to reassign the 
> channel if we need them for something different, like Christmas lights 
> which we don't want to switch with the exhibits.
>

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