So I have recently realized that I know nothing about
power distro and it's place in the world. I understand some racks need three
phase and what three
phase is. But I don't know why some racks have built in distros, some don't, what a
pass through really does (I hope it's as simple as I think):
neutral: amongs other things that I think we can collectively share.
...Oh yeah let us also touch on various recepticals and plugs.
(Note this is simplified and general)
Power distribution, at the most basic
level is how we get
power from the street into a
venue and out to any device that needs
power. In general in the US most performance venues are
fed with at least 1 (if not many) high amperage three
phase lines.
Why three
phase? as has been said, it is a much more efficient means to get a lot of
power into a building. If you have a 400A three
phase disconnect you can connect a 400A load to each
phase for a total of 1200A @ 120V (on a USA 3
phase Y
system, most common in
theatre/performance venues). This
system also allows you to utilize "
split-phase" or 208V gear like many moving lights as you get 208V from hot to hot.
Now for distros. Essentially a
dimmer rack is a type of
power distro. Each rack is
fed with a high amperage
line which is then distributed via the dimmers to lower amperage lines and on out to gear. As with any distribution
system every output (or
dimmer) in the rack is individually overcurrent protected by either a
circuit breaker or a
fuse.
What most people think of as a
power distro has previously been described in this thread. Generally a
distro consists of a box or a panel that takes a high amperage input and distributes that to lower amperage outputs. Every output has to have overcurrent protection so usually on a
distro you will see a
breaker panel. As has been said, distros can be set up to ouput to many types of connectors. If you were working with a lot of 208V moving lights you would want a
distro that has a lot of 208V outputs. If you needed to
plug in a bunch of sound amplifiers you may need a
distro with more 120V outputs.
As I said in the beginning though, all
power distribution and
power distros do is give us a way to take the high amperage inputs and split them up for use by low amperage devices.