Verbolten

Manufacturer

ZIERER

Model

Elevated Seating Coaster w/ Vertical Drop Element

Hamlet

Oktoberfest (Germany)

Official Opening

May 18, 2012

Soft Opening

May 11, 2012

Tallest Drop

88ft

Top Speed

53mph

Inversion Count

0

Launch Segments

2

Riders Per Train

16

Number of Trains

5

Height Requirement

48in

Verbolten is an indoor/outdoor ZIERER Elevated Seating Coaster that features a Vertical Drop Element. It officially opened in mid-May 2012 on the site formally occupied by the Arrow Suspended Coaster, Big Bad Wolf.

Videos​

Development Documentary​

• From Dreams to Screams: Verbolten by Devin Olson

Ride Recordings​

On-Ride Videos​

• Opening Year POV (Storm Sequence)
• Opening Year POV (Spirit Sequence)
• Opening Year POV (Wolves Sequence)
• Spring 2019 Lights-On POV
• 2012/2019 Side-by-Side POV

Backstage Footage​

• Verbolten Control Booth Screens

 

[Party Rocker]

For the record I've spent months handling LED and incandescent lighting. Also note that last Christmas Town, Banburys white incandescents were replaced with warm white LEDs, yet they looked almost exactly the same.

 

[Zimmy]

So you have put them on a meter and the color temp is the same? Along the whole spectrum they are identical? I am certain you checked flicker rate and rend dimmer shift too. What about natural distribution and hotspots? All the same?

 

[MAZ]

For what its worth, I have a 20bulb LED flashlight that is about a year old and it's down to about 14 working bulbs. I use it 1-2 times a week.

 

[Zimmy]

That could be due to a number of things. 1. Flashlight LEDs are generally lower quality than their AC counterparts.
2. These things are still sensitive electronics, voltage drops and corrosion can be and problem.
3. Does the flashlight ever get dropped?

 

[I305Evan]

Light bulb the thread. Make your own topic about light bulbs in everything else. It was fine at first, but now it's getting too far for the Verbolten thread.

 

[Thomas]

You've no power here. Back to the KD boards with you.

 

[b.mac]

Keep yourself in Backlot Evan, this car themed ride is no place for you.

 

[phareous]

Back to the wolf eyes... when we took the tour last year we were told everything in that building (theme) is the purview of the entertainment dept. So I guess they probably don't have any money left to fix wolf eyes...

 

[Zachary]

Story on the wolf eyes:

When the coaster was built the pressure changes caused by the passing train weren't accounted for and the LEDs have been breaking because of it. Replacements are in the pipeline.

 

[MAZ]

My mechanical-ness will not leave me alone on this. What kind of 'pressure' does a passing train create other than vibration(Which isn't really pressure)?

 

[Shane]

This also seems very unusual to me...

 

[Jonquil]

^ plus, isn't the train still, or moving very slowly, during the portion of the ride when the wolf eyes are visible?

 

[Zimmy]

If moving quickly the train will cause a shift in air pressure. This is normally not noticeable, but in a inclosed space with few entry and exit points it would cause the scenery may get caught in a vortex as the train passes. Think of the high/low pressure areas of a wing as it moves through the air. Same kind of thing.

 

[Mad Ludwig]

Could it be caused by the freefall drop?

 

[MAZ]

Makes sense. Kind-of like shoving a pin into a blind hole that is only slightly larger than the pin. Creating pressure in the hole, which in this case is a building. That seems like a pretty awkward reason for a LED bulb to blow, but I know nothing of electrical things.

 

[halfabee]

Where exactly are the red LEDs mounted within the building? On the hanging (swaying) scenery itself, or on static surfaces like walls?

If air pressure plays any substantial role in the LED failures, then I have to imagine that the trouble must be in the form of fatigue failures in the electrical connections or other subsystems that feed power to the LEDs or to their control system, rather than any direct pressure-related failure of the light emitting semiconductors themselves. And I would further expect to learn that the troublesome LEDs were mounted at points that are subject to air-driven motion as the train enters or passes, causing motion that drives the fatigue failures in the first place.

Basically, train passes -> air movement sways suspended LED-containing scenery -> power wires mounted on/in scenery get bent back and forth a bit -> repeat 10,000x -> wire breakage, buh-bye LED(s).

 

[Mad Ludwig]

Thanks for the translation.

 

[Jrbgwfan06]

Well, halfabee, I don't know the exact problem, but most of the wolves earlier this season were pop-eyed meaning one of the two LEDs set up blew. I'm guessing it was the actual bulb blowing. Assuming the wires are connected to both lights, and if the wires failed both of the LEDs should've failed, not just one.

 

[halfabee]

For lights wired in series I would expect it to be all or nothing, no pop-eyed wolves. Wired in parallel, it's possible that a connection failure in the "right" place would only affect one light. That being said, I know nothing about where or how the lighting effects are mounted or powered.

Either way, if those LEDs themselves can "blow" due to the modest air pressure variations one would associate with the modest breeze of a passing vehicle, then I will be forgiven for believing someone picked the wrong bargain-basement Chinese electronics supplier a few years ago!

 

[BGW Family]