I think there's a case to be made that under many entertainment electrical setups, a certified
ETCP electrician or
portable power technician will have greater knowledge then a licensed electrician, who in my experiences, often has little to no understanding or knowledge of dimming systems,
power distribution in an entertainment
venue and typically has never seen a CamLok
connector. And forget the rest of the rig that doesn't fall under any licensing. I get along really well with the
IBEW licensed guy on my campus as he knows that I know my way around my systems far better then he ever will.
As well we do not need to hire any
IBEW folks for a basic
power tie-in and never will. A lot of venues do and it's a waste of money typically. Thus in my opinion and hopefully, the
ETCP cert's will become useful to venues if and when some powers-that-be see that the folks with the
ETCP certification is a smarter choice.
TLDR (I proclaim in
advance): Hello! I concur and would like to speak to this from multiple sides, including several decades of
IBEW and IA background as well as personally experiencing my
IBEW brethren mating cams WITHOUT locking them. I'll also
point out I'm writing from Canada.
In the sixties, in my area, entertainment
power, be it genny based or real
power, was dealt with pretty much by whomever came along. If a
producer needed a genny, he contracted with a film provider and a generator was provided along with whatever was deemed necessary by the
producer and the provider. The provider could also provide an operator / installer for whatever time period(s) were agreed upon. If it was real
power our hydro inspectors took a
bit more interest, but only a little. If it was generator
power things were somewhat less strictly controlled, a little more 'wild west' if you will. So long as there were no fires and nobody was maimed or killed, if the invoices and local permit fees were paid, every one was happy.
In 1973 our city finally built a long awaited, 2183 seat, twin balcony, twin hydraulic lifts, 'soft seater'
road house. The IA assistant electrician from a 3,000 seat
venue in nearby Toronto was hired as our
venue's head LX and three of us
IBEW members who'd been catching IA calls on the side for 6 - 10 years were often brought in to serve as assistant LX for whatever time period was deemed necessary / agreed upon. If a production was going to require
power for busses and / or touring 'piano boards', usually one of us IA brothers was brought on board and put in charge of whatever tie-ins (and outs) were required. This was long before the era of commercially manufactured "company switches" as envisioned in this century. Along the way, our little cadre of
IBEW brethren were becoming indoctrinated into the world of CamLoks, splitting T's, paralleling T's, reverse sexed grounds + neutrals and the ways of the IA. On the plus side, we didn't often have
teamsters to deal with but there were the railway workers whenever shows arrived by
rail car(s). Things just slowly evolved. To my knowledge, the larger
venue still has its original pair of 3-pole 400 amp breakers and a couple of 3-pole 100 amp breakers were added over the years. In 1991 a brand new 750 seat producing
venue was built from the
ground up. The architect had the electrical consulting engineer include a fused (Not a breaker-fuses) 3 pole
5 wire switch USR and, eventually, a 100 amp 3 pole
5 wire switch USL. Over the years small splitter troughs were added. Again, tie-ins and outs were pretty much a hodge podge of who ever came along with whatever needs. The 750 seat
venue is supplied via a 2,000 amp `120/208 volt,
GFCI protected, main service. The larger
venue's service is three
phase 13,800 volts, a common supply
voltage in our area, into a 13K8 delta to 347/600
wye step down
transformer. A V12 diesel provides emergency
standby / backup
power at 347/600 volts. I believe the U.S. has something like 277/480 which is rarely seen outside of heavy industry in most of Canada with 347/600, unheard of in the U.S., being VERY common up here. At some
point the city built an
arena where the
power is brought in as 3
phase 27,600 volts. Another common
voltage in our part of the planet.
I did provide a TLDR warning.
Skip a couple of decades to 1999 and I'm supervising an AV/Show control crew on the strip in LasVegas in a little three story building for Tussaud's in front of the italian place with the indoor and outdoor canals, gondolas and gondoliers. The primary electrical contractor was back ordered on the switchgear for the three story building's electrical service. Everything was coming together for the grand opening with all finishes completed and most of Tussaud's manequins costumed and positioned yet the entire three floors were still limping along on a 200 amp 120/208 temporary service. Tussaud's management decreed they had to proceed with all A/V, display lighting and show control programing and independently contracted a 4 wheel, trailer based, whisper quiet generator. The generator provider inspected the site, took measurements, and included all necessary CamLok
tails, T's and cables. My fine buddies from the 'Vegas
IBEW insisted THEY had to install ALL of the wiring after which we mere mortals would be permitted to fire up the genny and program to our hearts content at any hour of the night or day.
You CANNOT imagine the MESS! (At least I sincerely hope you can't.) The genny supplier included everything necessary to
power our two 200 amp panels in the fairly normal reversed sexed
neutral and
ground fashion.
Yeah, I know, I'm long past TLDR but the end is in sight and we're at the best / dumbest part.
The
IBEW foreman put a 5th year apprentice in charge of the hook up.
He came off the genny with 5 MALE
tails, males, ALL five! They lugged five 100' Cam cables to the roof and tossed five female ends down to mate with the genny. Ran across the roof, in through a roof hatch where they installed five T's plus five short cables and a bizarre combination of assorted
tails to
power our main Lyntec sequencing panel. From the five T's, they went back out the roof hatch. Across the roof and used a gas powered carbide saw to make two cuts through the white, watertight, membrane and the galvanized Q-deck. Peeled back the 'torn corner' they'd created in the
flat roof. Dropped in the last of the Cam cables and used the last of the assorted
tails to feed our secondary 200 amp panel. This would give us
power for our central equipment room plus enough
power to program our two floor of displays so long as we kept an eye on our maximum loading while setting LXQ's.
Where the messy pile of cables and miss-fed T's met below the partially open roof hatch, the apprentice thoughtfully included a couple of small rubber mats just in case any rain should enter. During the day, workers, often pushing wheel barrows, trudged over the rubber mats with nary a care about the cam cables as everyone had been assured they'd be completely de-energized all day long and only powered after normal working hours.
Imagine Tussaud's surprise when they powered up the generator and
smoke spewed from the Lyntec and five really good 2RU
UPS's! NONE of the CamLoks had been locked; NOT ONE! None of them. We were several nights into programming with a couple more to go when the
neutral cam sourcing the T's separated causing our 3 phases to
swing wildly and havoc to reign supreme. Lyntec and
UPS Red came through along with a nearby
UPS stocking distributor. A sleepless day was spent replacing the five
UPS's and the Lyntec control
PCB but we were back to programming by nightfall with having missed only the one overnight session.
Ya, retired IA and
IBEW I'm (mostly) proud to proclaim but I remain a staunch supporter of your entertainment certifications. I have one more rant regarding mindless electricians of multiple qualifications but I'll step down and save it for another time I feel a strong urge to rant.
Edited to correct PC to
PCB.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
