LED video walls have become standard on mid-size tours, with processor counts per rack climbing from four to eight units as pixel pitches drop below 2.6 mm. Most of these racks still draw from portable generators whose frequency drift and momentary voltage drops trigger protective shutdowns in the power supplies inside Novastar and Brompton processors. Over the past two seasons, production companies have tracked an average of three processor reboots per show day directly tied to generator sag, each reboot costing roughly 18 minutes of programming time at load-in.
The Furman CN-2400 supplies eight sequenced outlets rated at 15 A plus a pair of always-on receptacles for network switches. Its SmartSequencing protocol accepts contact-closure or RS-232 commands so that a single trigger from the lighting console or a Crestron module can bring the entire rack online in a programmed order. Delay intervals are adjustable from 0.5 s to 10 s per outlet, which lets technicians keep the processor Ethernet cards powered first, then the main boards, then the LED driver cards. This order prevents the cumulative 42 A inrush spike that occurs when eight processor power supplies start simultaneously.
Installers report that the CN-2400’s current-monitoring output, delivered as a 0–5 V analog signal, now feeds directly into the same rack’s Raspberry Pi data logger. Crews therefore see real-time load per phase without an additional clamp meter. On a recent 42-city arena run, the production electrician calculated that the added visibility reduced unplanned generator refueling stops by two per week, saving an estimated $1,800 in fuel and overtime.
Daily Workflow Adjustments on the Road
Once the rack is pre-wired with the CN-2400, the only field change is a single DB-9 cable from the tour computer to the sequencer’s control port. Power-up scripts that previously required manual outlet-by-outlet switching now run from a one-line command. This change also removes the need for a separate rack of mechanical time-delay relays that weighed 14 kg and occupied 4 RU. The freed space lets crews add a redundant fiber input panel without increasing total rack weight, an important factor when airline cargo limits are tight.
Service calls have dropped because the CN-2400 stores the last 50 on/off events in non-volatile memory. When a processor faults, the touring tech can read the event log on a laptop and determine whether the fault occurred before or after the sequencer completed its cycle. That distinction has cut diagnostic time from an average of 45 minutes to under 12 minutes on documented jobs.
Looking ahead, integrators expect the CN-2400’s sequencing logic to migrate into processor manufacturers’ own firmware so that LED walls can negotiate staged power-up directly with the generator’s ATS controller. Early bench tests already show that combining the sequencer’s load-shed output with a modern inverter generator’s ECO throttle reduces fuel consumption another 11 percent on multi-day holds. Production companies are watching these numbers closely because fuel and generator rental remain the second-largest line item after trucking on most arena tours.
Technicians also note that the CN-2400’s front-panel LCD provides immediate confirmation of sequencing status, eliminating the guesswork that once accompanied manual relay racks. When a generator momentarily drops below 108 V, the unit’s fast-acting relays open within 8 ms, protecting downstream processors while logging the exact sag duration for later review. This granularity has proven valuable during load-in at venues with aging house power, where crews can now isolate whether an outage originated from the generator or the venue feeder.
Another practical gain appears during strike. Because the sequencer reverses the power-down order, LED driver cards shut off before the processor’s main CPU, preventing the brief but visible “sparkle” of random pixels that previously required an extra minute of system reset. Across a 42-city run, that incremental time saving compounded to nearly six hours of reclaimed labor, according to the production manager’s post-tour report.
Smaller regional companies that cannot justify a full-time generator technician have found the CN-2400’s built-in alarm relay especially useful. When load exceeds a preset threshold, the relay can trigger a wireless pager or text alert, allowing the lighting director to intervene before the generator’s breaker trips. Early adopters claim this single feature has prevented at least one mid-show wall outage per month on average.
Looking further ahead, Furman’s upcoming firmware update will add SNMP traps, letting the sequencer report real-time load data directly into existing console monitoring dashboards. Once deployed, touring electricians expect to correlate generator fuel burn with actual LED wall draw on a minute-by-minute basis, tightening budgets even more on next season’s routing.
