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Originally posted by Matt C.
How do Chance Wipeouts do? Are they pretty dependable? Do kids still ride them?
Wipeouts are an interesting piece --
I've run one off and on for years, and in a nutshell they can be good earners or bad -- it's all in how you do it. The number one key to a Wipeout is the music you play. A Wipeout HAS to have music if you want to see significant ride grosses from it, and if you don't play the right stuff, you can literally kill the ride gross. Depending on your area, a lot of upbeat dance music and some R&B will make tons of money (but this does best at night, too). During the daytime runs, Pop and Top 40's will keep the crowds happy and being that most of the riders are younger during the day, they don't really care what your playing so much as it's something, but the families will appreciate it and they'll ride as well (which will keep the grosses up). They'll ride it till their blue in the face if the atmosphere you create is good. A Wipeout is NOT a rock-and-roll/hard rock ride though -- it just doesn't earn to it's full potential because the music is 'wrong' for the style of the ride (vs a Flying Bobs or a Gravitron that you can rock out on all day long).
As for the ride's dependability, many factors go into this. #1 is PROPER MAINTENANCE. But this also depends on who had the piece first and did they take care of it. I moved one that only had one other foreman on it and it had been EXTREMELY well maintained before I was put on it. When I took it over, I kept up with the maintenance of the ride -- grease maintenance, electrical and so on. But if you are buying one and someone hasn't taken care of it before you got it, you will have many nightmares. The most problems I had with my first one were regarding the Lap Bar sensors -- they age and wear out and are nothing to change, but they're not exactly cheap. But we also took care of that ride, and kept an eye on other things (plus it was within it's first 10 years of life).
As time progresses, vibration that the ride generates has major effect on it's computers and electronics. The computer racks can go bad and need replaced (mainly because the connectors between the logic boards and the racks get corroded and vibration kills ANY electronic device. If you are buying one, you need to investigate whether or not the center logic racks have ever been replaced. You can usually tell by opening the boxes if someone's been in there and messed with things vs. one that is still factory. Another factor is the light shows -- corrosion and vibration take their toll on the wiring especially -- if you have one that is blowing fuses in the lighting system, there's probably a worn-out wire somewhere and those can take forever to trace. Many times I've seen ones where the lighting had shorts and the fuses weren't replaced with proper matching sizes as OEM and that causes the TRIACS to burn out and get 'stuck' -- this can cause cascading failure of the lighting system including backfeed into the flasher's logic boards and eventually burn one out completely. Again, this relates to proper maintenance -- if you're blowing fuses, find the short, don't circumvent by exceeding OEM spec.
http://www.amusementindustryservices.com ) to diagnose the issue before it was tracked down. By disconnecting the strobe lights and replacing the fuse that was blown (after several tests), HE was able to diagnose and repair, and get the ride back open in a matter of minutes versus the ride being down for several hours trying to figure out what was wrong. Point in case: Computers and Carnival Rides don't mix, but if you have the knowledge and resources, you will be able to get it back open without much hassle and it will continue to be a dependable piece of equipment.
The ride is a easy piece to move, and with a good crew (2-4 men) it can move in GREAT times UP or DOWN -- but my major complaint comes from the modifications required by Chance regarding the Foot Kicker Plates (the nasty black things added to the tubs to keep stupid people from hanging their feet out of the ride). With those in place (factory requirement now), you have to re-rack all the tubs on the floor so they will fit properly and still be able to fold the walls up. IF you don't modify the floor racks, you crush tubs. Plus, the plates (no matter how you do it) make it so you have to rack two of the tubs in a different load (either a stock truck or another ride) -- Alpine Amusements racks their two last tubs on their Bumper Cars (or had in the past) to avoid damage and so on...
No matter what ride you purchase, maintenance and knowledge are the keys. IF you don't know a lot about electronics and how they're used on a carnival ride, and you have limited financial resources, stick with a ride that doesn't have all those bells and whistles that make it go because no matter what you choose you may have problems that cost major dollars to diagnose (mainly in labor, not so much parts).
Some other notes: IN MY OPINION -- the Wipeout was one of the last quality designed rides Chance came out with. Soon after, they came out with the Chaos (electrical nightmare among other things), and of course many people remember the problems with the Inverters and so on down the line. They (Wipeouts) were solid, well built pieces, with a ton of flash and it was all racked on one trailer (but they are HEAVY rides - alot of iron for that one trailer). Miller Amusements had the right idea and used a small stock truck to transport extra stuff for the ride such as a couple pieces of scenery lighting, the sound system (good because it was under lock and key obviously, but bonus because it was out of the weather), lead-lines were stored in it, as well as blocking and so on -- this lightened the main load and made many things easier to deal with. Not to mention the short-truck usually pulled a kiddie ride behind it during the jumps.
I can go on with more detail, but most people have probably stopped reading already, so I'll give it a break for the time being.