What broke or what didn't work?

3491 Views 45 Replies 39 Participants Last post by Ghouliet, Nov 6, 2016

ReelSore

Discussion Starter · Nov 1, 2016

As usual something always breaks or doesn't work. This year was 3 of the 4 Chauvet fog machines. Man these things suck. Every year 1 or more doesn't work but the cheap ones work without fail year after year. Done buying Chauvet stuff.

So what broke or didn't work for y'all?

1 - 20 of 46 Posts

SewingPirate

· #2 · Nov 1, 2016

One of my ghosts feel down. And someone stole a witches leg in daylight

Blades006

· #3 · Nov 1, 2016

My brand new Grave Grabbing Corpse from Spirit stopped grabbing due to the motor burning out. El-cheapo motors I tell ya. Ran fine for 2 days, then nothin'. Other than that, things went pretty smooth

Rigormortor

· #4 · Nov 1, 2016

Good thread. All 3 of my foggers had issues. I think it was the timers, the foggers came on just for like 5 seconds then
wouldn't come on for like 30 minutes..... then my main radio running the main audio sound track using an Ipod from 2005
froze twice. Good thing I had a CD in the radio for backup which worked fine. My second radio running a 2nd audio track
performed flawless for the 2 hours running a CD.

LadyRohan

· #5 · Nov 1, 2016

I hear you about the cheapo foggers. I bought one years ago from Party City and that one never lets me down. Nothing fancy and no bells and whistles but it works. I had a few snafus. First, I thought I had a whole bottle of fog juice but I didn't. I had to run out real quick to make a purchase. Then my main prop I bought last minute just because I got a good deal was missing a part. Of course it was the last part I needed AFTER I spent time putting it together. Then the motor in my jumping spider burnt out so I could not use that. Now what did work in my favor this year was that it was a lot warmer than usual and the air was very still and my fog looked amazing! My whole cul de sac was fogged because of it. And I was able to play my music through my phone on a small bose docking station this year rather than having to hook up speakers to a computer like we have done in the past with just as amazing results. But much easier dealing with the small docking player.

See less See more

Tannasgach

· #6 · Nov 1, 2016

My props are getting so old I'm amazed every year when they do work. My Edwardian Butler's chest wouldn't breathe in and out but I was happy everything else still worked on him. The footpad on the jumping spider wouldn't activate (I had it placed in front of a static mannequin werewolf so when the spider goes off unexpectedly next to him, it scares the tots every time). The light sensor would not work either but it did react to sound and touch. Off to Spirit today to hopefully replace it.

Forhekset

· #7 · Nov 1, 2016

My fogger timer, which I neglected to test until last night, stopped working. So no fog this year. Also, the jumping spider I just bought on sale yesterday at Home Depot has a motion sensor that DOES NOT work in low light...which makes it kinda useless. Back to HD it goes.

Ditsterz

· #8 · Nov 1, 2016

My white fire and ice light from spirit worked for a short time before going dark. Not really surprised because I had to return 3 of them that were DOA. And when I tested three replacements, two worked for about 10 minutes before going dark. One worked for at least 20 minutes so I thought it would maybe last halloween night but it did not.

StanFam3

· #9 · Nov 1, 2016

We didn't have anything break this year. And I'm happy to say that everything we attempted to pull off, WORKED. We had a great haunt!

kuroneko

· #10 · Nov 1, 2016

One of my fog machines died, but at least I had a back up unit that worked to replace it. My rising ghoul from Spirit stopped rising and lowering properly, but I managed to get it to talk all night. This is the most amount of issues I've had. I was expecting the foggers to go at some point, but that ghoul is new. I'm leery about buying anymore items from Spirit, because I'm not sure about the quality anymore...

Tconahaunter

· #11 · Nov 1, 2016

We were having issues with Peek-a-boo Penny last year with her resetting. This year she would not reset at all (need to do some work in the off season). As well. One of out static light up props decided to not light up this year as well. Could be the numerous fall from years gone by? Aside from that, all worked fine.

I'm always surprised when we make it through another season without casualties. Many of our props are from Spirit, and they get cycled hundreds of times each year. I know they are not designed for the light commercial use we put them through, and always happy when none fail.

James B.

· #12 · Nov 1, 2016

I had lots of small issues this year. An old grave crawler i bought cheap stopped working, no big loss. I had a fogging zombie die. Looks cool but his head does not work anymore. My haunted tree had pipe works to keep it up, wind broke it and I have to put him away to fix later. My mausoleum lost a roof piece to wind, need to fix that.

Overall things went well.

Janie Ruiz

· #13 · Nov 1, 2016

My jumpin spider wouldnt work when I wanted it to, then would other times. I really need a new one.

EPD

· #14 · Nov 1, 2016

My jumping spider literally DID NOT stop jumping!!! She was fine early in the evening, sensor was working well, then, off she went! Non stop till the batteries died!!!

LadyMage

· #15 · Nov 1, 2016

I bought this cheapo ghost, cost me 3 bucks. The thing was a sail, I hung it from one clip off my eaves and it fluttered nicely for the afternoon. I noticed when the kids got home that it had sailed up and over and landed on my roof in a puddle. I had intended to get my light pole out and knock him back down to hanging, but I got busy and forgot. All the pics except the first one, he's a puddle of white fabric on the roof. I didn't remember until I saw his shadow fluttering outside my bedroom window first thing this morning - apparently he got over his stage fright at some point in the night.

ReelSore

Discussion Starter · #16 · Nov 2, 2016

StanFam3 said:
We didn't have anything break this year. And I'm happy to say that everything we attempted to pull off, WORKED. We had a great haunt!

I don't think I'll ever get to that point unless I stop doing anything, then I could say that. Awesome you had great luck with everything.

hopelesslyinsane

· #17 · Nov 2, 2016

The only thing that didn't work well was my fog machine. It's a 400 W with remote and I always forget to hit the dang button for fog. When I did remember most of the fog hung out by the side of house instead of creeping through my cemetery. I want to upgrade to a 1000 W and need to modify my fog chiller. It was just a tad too warm.

Palladino

· #18 · Nov 2, 2016

I rigged up a Swamp Monster prop with an animated face prop and an old dragon costume. I never figured out if he was sound or movement activated but my dog always set him off. LOL. He had a great spooky laugh and his eyes lit up. Great effect for a $20 prop. He doesn't look scary in the picture but in the dark he freaked a lot of kids out.

About a half an hour before we closed, his mechanism jammed and he sounded like a broken record making the same sound over and over and over. His eyes still lit up so I left him. It wasn't worth fixing that late in the night and it was too awkward to shut off.

When I came back outside hours later to shut everything down, he was still going - the poor guy! I shut him off and thanked him for all his hard work. He paid his Halloween dues and I couldn't ask for more.

See less See more

Reactions: 1

CrystalRose

· #19 · Nov 2, 2016

One of our fog machines stopped working and the animated mouth on my rising reaper stopped working. He still rises and has sound but the mouth does't move anymore. Other than that everything went ok.

Cali Specter

· #20 · Nov 2, 2016

My projector's connection wasn't reading the cable connection to the Micca Speck. I didn't end up showing any projections on Halloween.

1 - 20 of 46 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.