I really like this photo I took of myself on Halloween. Really I could get all fancy like this any time but this was just unusually good.
Then, a few days later, I had to go make a run down to our tower to deal with a lack of LED glow. I guess I could have just put my glasses up on top, but that wouldn’t have been compliant with FAA regulations.
So it turns out this needlessly overcomplicated crazy-ass thing that communicates with all the LED tower strobes will get stuck in A Bad State if the strobes lose power, and you have to reboot it. Weirdly, unlike every other tower strobe system I’ve ever worked with, if you lose communications or the controller dies, it seems like the strobes just power down and do nothing. Most I’ve worked with have a failsafe that comes right up wherein they switch to day mode (maximum intensity) and just strobe without any regard to synchronization. The effect of this is a tower that looks like a funky twinkling disco ball, but remains visible.
By pressing down this special key, it plays a little melody.
Ultimately, it would turn out nothing was blown and the controller needed a full power cycle, NOT a press of its reset button which stands out there right below that row of red LEDs. Go figure.