2022 Fireworks Show
For 2022 we decided to go all out for our fireworks show! I enlisted the help of friends and family to get everything ready below are some of the photos highlighting the technology and techneques we used!
We used liquid nails to glue the fireworks to boards that we used both to protect the docks and to organize the show ahead of time. I created two additional floating platforms that attached to the swim dock I made the year before. Additionally the fireworks were layed out in a linear pattern to prevent boxes that have caught fire from burning fireworks that have not been set off yet and to allow us to see how much of the show has gone off and if there are any boxes that failed to go off.
We set up a test launch using the remote ignition system I will explain below and were able to fly FPV drones to practice before the actual show!
The remote ignition system is from Cobra and allows for 18 different fire groups. The remote and main unit are both battery operated and allow for ignition from hundreds of feet away. The system works by clipping an ignitor to the fuse and then inserting the wire leads into the speaker connectors in the main unit.
We can see the boards screwed to the 3 floating platforms. The staging was done in 14 different firegroups between all 3 platforms. We were able to time different fireworks by connecting them together with fuse wire that burns at a specific rate per foot and using the provided duration of the firework to measure out fuse.
Each of the firegroups were then linked to the cobra box in order. Making sure each connector was in the correct order was essencial to the success of the show. Over all we only had 3 or 4 boxes fail to go off and had 2 small fires on the platforms which were easily put out with a bucket and did not result in any spontanous ignitions. The whole assembly was then dragged out onto the lake by our boat and an ancher set, about 200 feet from the shore. My friends and I then stayed on the boat and started the show!
My thanks to everyone who helped record the event!
My friend Marcus captured the video on the boat as I drove and the Drone footage was captured by my other friend Cody! Over all the event was a huge success and I had an amazing time setting everything up and the show lasted around 40 minutes in total! looking forward to out doing myself this year!