...and ultimately, fire trucks, darkness, and lawsuits.
I am using that quote for my students.
Derek's got it right here - the only thing I'll add is that you need to make sure your input
power is alright. Those packs take 15A per
circuit. When you're locating them, you'll want to make sure each pack is on a SEPERATE
circuit (not just seperate
outlet). Normally non-theatrical electricians
wire rooms multiple outlets on the same
circuit. Generally the outlets on the same wall or close together will share a
circuit. Take a trip to the
breaker panel in any new
venue and see if you can find labels for where each
circuit is, so you can make sure you're not using the same 15A
circuit for 30A (or more) of draw.
If you can't find anything in the
breaker room, think "if I was lazy/efficent and wanted to run the least amount of
wire possible, which outlets would I string together?" Sometimes this helps (other times, you have to scratch your head and ask the
venue owner, who may not know either).
It's generally good practice to run your control (laptop) on a separate
circuit from your fixtures and dimmers, so that if you DO blow a
breaker, you just lose a few fixtures, not your whole show. However, since you have a battery in your laptop, you're semi-protected against that.
Finally, make sure that nothing else is going on with the circuits you're using to
power your dimmers. Anything ANYONE plugs in on a
circuit you have a
dimmer on is liable to blow a
breaker.
Catering people are the worst. Their stuff is typically very high draw (a standard, consumer kettle draws around 1500 watts,
tripping almost any
circuit that has anything else on it). Watch out for anything that plugs in and heats up. My general practice is to
gaff tape over outlets I know are on the same circuits as my dimmers, if they're easily accessible.
And watch like a hawk... a surprising amount of non-tech event people (again, caterers...) will rip off a piece of tape, or unplug a cable just so they can get their coffee put working.
[edit] inpuput
power... means not enough coffee.