Power Problems...

[RadaMagic]

Ok. So I made a post yesterday about switching to LEDs due to power issues, but for my budget, the LEDs I wanted wont be strong enough, so I am probably stuck with conventional fixtures.

Here is what we do. We are a touring illusion show, we play high school auditoriums and low budget theatres (as rentals). We do the occasional bare hall as well. We are meant to be completely self contained. We have run into some problems with some of the places we are performing...we blow the breaker.

Here is what we run:

2 - 250w Moving Head Lights (Microh Arena Profiles)
4 - Par 56 300w
4 - Par 38 150w

2 speaker sound system, sound board, wireless microphone, fogger/hazer.

So essentially we can consume a fair amount of power. What we do is try to plug 4 par cans into an outlet....4 par cans into a different outlet and the moving heads into a different outlet etc; thus trying to evenly distribute the power to prevent the breaker blowing and putting too much power into one circuit (if my terminology is wrong im sorry lol -- I perform magic for a living haha).

We've gone into some buildings, not had any problems and others had to eliminate the MHs because it was too much. We usually run the lights and everything else for a good 40 minutes to ensure nothing will blow before starting the show.

I've looked into Power Distros, but am not too good with that stuff and Im not sure I really want to get into something that is going to overload my brain and be complicated. Plus I hear that you might have to have an electrician come and plug it into certain breakers for you.
Furthermore the places we play, the breaker box is often quite a distance away and we are only in a venue for less than 8 hours...

Any alternatives or ideas you can suggest? If you recommend a certain product or something like that, can you provide a link to it somewhere....

I dont have the biggest budget for this either, so keep that in mind.

Thx.

[SHARYNF]

If your design is such that you are using the Pars for color and then the MHs as intelligent spot lights, then IMO led pars would work. I have used the WDM units about a dozen of them with some 250W discharge MHs and it works well
Probably the issue you are running into is that the outlet you are connecting to is probably also supplying some other devices.

Sharyn

[RadaMagic]

No, I am using the Pars for lighting the front of the stage, the moving heads are for color and they are at the back of the stage...

I still need some power suggestions to my problems...

thx

[mstaylor]

It sounds like you need to specity in your rider what you need for power. You are pulling very little power for your lights and should probably need only two 20 amps receptacles. All eight PARS are only pulling 15 amps. The sound I can't speak to, no info, but you probably only need one or two 20 amp circuits for that.
As SHARYNF said, it sounds like you are getting circuits that aren't seperate or has other things on it that you are unaware of.

[BillESC]

What is your budget?

You could probably get your front lighting from two or four Chauvet Colorstrips.

[icewolf08]

Essentially, what you are doing is a correct approach, however, not all buildings are wired the same. You can't assume that every outlet is connected to its own circuit. It is a safer (though not always true) assumption that all the outlets on one wall are on the same circuit, and thus each wall would be a separate circuit. Again, every building is different so you shouldn't make too many assumptions.

You can buy a circuit tracer so that you can find out if outlets are on the same circuit. Usually they have one device that you plug into an outlet and a wand that you run down the breaker box with and it beeps when you get to the circuit. If you really want to be able to find out how many circuits you have to work with, you might pick up one of these tools and learn how to use it. It also never hurts to just ask the people from the venue if they know which outlets are on different circuits.

[mstaylor]

You may also want to get an electrian to build you a simple distro that would have a range plug or something common to use when they have it available. It would save a ton of cabling. There places on the internet to get the same thing already made. You would still have to do the individual circut thing parttime but maybe not all the time.

[mrb]

Originally Posted by mstaylor

You may also want to get an electrian to build you a simple distro that would have a dryer plug or something common to use when they have it available. It would save a ton of cabling. There places on the internet to get the same thing already made. You would still have to do the individual circut thing parttime but maybe not all the time.

not to be rude, but that is bad advice.

A distro assembled by an electrican or from some guy on the internet is not going to be UL listed. I have seen many, many distros that are just downright scary. If the guy needs a distro (doesnt even seem like he does) then he should be purchasing a properly listed unit such as something from LEX, Motion Labs, etc.

And a dryer plug is the last thing a distro should plug into -there is no neutral. Maybe you are thinking of a range plug? (NEMA 14-50; 50amp 125/250v, 4 wire)

[TimMiller]

Your setup is pretty basic i would not suggest a distro. Its a whole can of worms in itself and a lot of places dont have a place where you can just simply plug one in. Your best bet is doinging what you are doing, and if you end up tripping a breaker, before resetting it, find another plug that is still working, then take one of your plugs (ie you two movers) and plug it into that circuit that is still working. Then reset the breaker and see where you can go from there.

[mstaylor]

Originally Posted by mrb

not to be rude, but that is bad advice.

A distro assembled by an electrican or from some guy on the internet is not going to be UL listed. I have seen many, many distros that are just downright scary. If the guy needs a distro (doesnt even seem like he does) then he should be purchasing a properly listed unit such as something from LEX, Motion Labs, etc.

And a dryer plug is the last thing a distro should plug into -there is no neutral. Maybe you are thinking of a range plug? (NEMA 14-50; 50amp 125/250v, 4 wire)

Yes, you are correct and I have changed my post to reflect that. I did say he could buy already assembled distros on the internet. Also, a lisenced electrician should certainly built a simple drop distro. I agree that it wouldn't be UL approved but neither is any cable we build ourselves.