Windseeker Testing

I am watching all of the ongoing projects and see a great deal of activity at KI.
Now on second day of KI windseeker testing up and down but have yet to see it spin at full speed via the Time lapse cam CH19 Fox.
Hope that anyone that catches a glimps of it or video or stills from inside the park please share.

I posted a picture of KI winseeker at top of tower in the evening sun from last nights web cam on the KI Facebook page.

The one at Canada's Wonderland has been testing for the past three days.

With as many cycles as they are running today, I have to guess that they have in fact got the cars swinging out at full speed but it has yet to be caught by the 5 minute refresh of the web cam.
Its kinda hard to see from here in Colorado... any of you locals got a distant real world view?

It looks like the ride area is just about finished. Seems like all the heavy equipment is gone. I'm not going to jump the gun and say all the connections to the LED's on the arms have been made, but if everything else is done, testing shouldn't be too far away. It would be SWEET to see some activity by sunday. Even if it's just testing the LEDs.

I checked the KI timelaspe all day today and yesterday... Many many cycles and not a single instance of the arms being spun outward.

I suspect in a test such as this, you probably want to do one "system" at a time rather than just firing the whole thing up right off the bat. I'm sure there's a very calculated and deliberate order in which the manufacturer wants things to be tested.

Exactly! Let's look at Dragster for example. After they put the final piece on, go all of the trains on the track, and were ready for testing, do you think they started testing by launched the trains at 120mph? No, they start off slow and work their way up to speed.

what a shame that cp took down the close up cam during this phase of construction.... The light testing would be amazing from that close vantage point.

I agree, I know there is not much left to do but it was nice to see the construction up close. Of course, CP probably doesn't watch the webcams like we do. At least they left the other camera there and maybe they will flip on the lights for opening day/night.

It looks like the Windseeker 2 cam is back to being the Pagoda cam.

^boring ;( I really wanted to watch WS test. Is there a reason they moved it?

I guess we'll all have to watch it from cam #2

Apparently the Dragster Cam has been moved to the right and it is now not showing WindSeeker.

As long as the last one stays....::knock on wood::

That's alright that Windseeker isn't ready yet. As long as it's ready to open by time Coaster mania starts which will be my first ever coaster mania event ever!! YAY!! Plus right now with all this rain that's been falling on Ohio lately, how would they be able to test?

Has KI even started testing yet?

As this video indicates, Canada's Wonderland began testing at least 12 days ago and still no word on status or pending scheduled opening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1VBKzw2Mpo&NR=1

I believe KI started testing a couple days after this.
I have yet to even see the carriage lights on at CP.
I noticed a post somewhere that said some kid heard first hand from a worker at CW that the ride required 100 hrs. of service before it could be passed. No idea if this is true. I am sure that commissioning procedures are different from state to state and US vs Canada.

Barely see any activity at CP although the distant view makes this difficult.
Any word from those that are closer to the KI or CP project?

WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

I just took a look at the webcam and Windseeker is finally up off of the ground! It's good to see that some progress is taking place!

My friend who practially lives at CP told me that when she was there monday, the ride was rotating very slowly, but it was still close to the ground. I wasnt there, so I assume what she saw.....

...was a lie.

I was at the park today and spoke with a gentleman from Mondial, here are some things I remember from the conversation: The gondola was raised today to test the clearance for the power chain that travels up the tower with the gondola. The power chain, of course, supplies power to the wheels that turn the ride among other things. The part that some people thought were LIM like is actually the bracket that guides the power chain.

Some intersting facts is that the gondola weighs 35 tons, with a 35 ton counterweight traveling inside the tower. The mechnism to lift the gondola is basically an elevator. There are 12 cables that lift the gondola but it can be supported by only 4, so there is a lot of redundancy. Emergency brakes will be fitted before the ride is opened to the public. These work just like emergency brakes on an elevator, they grip the guide rails to stop the gondola. All twelve cables can snap and gondola will be safely stopped and supported by the emergency brakes.

During a normal ride cycle the gondola will raise and descend very quickly, most of the ride will take place at the top. They expect to have the ride operational very soon.