Flyboy
Member
Hello, all. I haven't posted in a long time, and thought this would be a good question to ask any of the electrical gurus on here.
I heard once a couple of years back, that bad things happen when you power too many strobe lights on a generator; that even if they are drawing current within the limits of the generator, running them simultaneously can stall the engine. Obviously, too much of anything on a generator will have detrimental results, but what is it specifically about strobe lights that one needs to be particularly mindful?
Since this question popped into my head, I researched the power specs for a Martin Atomic 3k (pretty common), and it states that the peak power draw is 33A, but the typical draw (for the MAX-15 lamp, high power mode) is only 8 amps. LD Calculator Lite figures that the Atomic 3k draws 22.2 amps across 2 legs (3000W, 208V with a .65 power factor). This led me to more questions: why are there so many different calculations for power draw? And what should be used when calculating loads? And why is the power factor so low?
I've been dealing with power distribution for a long time, but capacitance, inductance and reactance are my weak points. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I heard once a couple of years back, that bad things happen when you power too many strobe lights on a generator; that even if they are drawing current within the limits of the generator, running them simultaneously can stall the engine. Obviously, too much of anything on a generator will have detrimental results, but what is it specifically about strobe lights that one needs to be particularly mindful?
Since this question popped into my head, I researched the power specs for a Martin Atomic 3k (pretty common), and it states that the peak power draw is 33A, but the typical draw (for the MAX-15 lamp, high power mode) is only 8 amps. LD Calculator Lite figures that the Atomic 3k draws 22.2 amps across 2 legs (3000W, 208V with a .65 power factor). This led me to more questions: why are there so many different calculations for power draw? And what should be used when calculating loads? And why is the power factor so low?
I've been dealing with power distribution for a long time, but capacitance, inductance and reactance are my weak points. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!