power configuration

[Jay]

I have my first gig on Friday (nervous lol) I think i'm pretty much sorted but I just thought i'd check this to be sure. How do you set up the power for your rigs? the way I have it is I have my lights going to one extension which goes to the mains and then the amp and mixer going to another extension which goes to another mains. Does this sound alright or can you suggest a better way of doing it?

I would just like to have all bases covered.

Thanks
Jay

[Penfold42]

Sounds good to me......how many lights on your first extension?

Good luck.....for Friday. :)

[Jay]

theres 4 scanners all together, and on the other there is the amp, mixer and smoke machine I forgot to mention, They are all surge protection and I will take spares, just wanted to be sure.

[rob1963]

I have my first gig on Friday (nervous lol) I think i'm pretty much sorted but I just thought i'd check this to be sure. How do you set up the power for your rigs? the way I have it is I have my lights going to one extension which goes to the mains and then the amp and mixer going to another extension which goes to another mains. Does this sound alright or can you suggest a better way of doing it?

I would just like to have all bases covered.

Thanks
Jay

That seems to be the way most people do it...one socket for lighting & one for everything else.

Have a good gig!

:)

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

You should have no problem with that setup as long as you have a clean power source.

I've often thought the same thing about mine and am a tad worried i maybe overloading my sockets. This is a quick overview of how mine is setup.

Mains Plug
20Metre extension cable, with 4 sockets (heavy duty)
-6way extension cable (with serge protection)
(CD Player, Mixer, Amp, Laptop, External HD, Bubble Machine)
-6way extension cable (with serge protection)
(*4 Channel lighting controller, **8way Lighting Switch, Wireless Microphones, Lamp, Bubble Machine)

*2x Light screens
**2x Mushrooms, 2xPuma's, 1xImpossiabLED, 1xPurelight Laser

Occasional Addons include: 2nd Amp, Smoke Machine, 2xScanners, TFT Monitor and probably some other stuff I've forgotten to add:confused:

So with that in mind Jay i would be very surprised if you had any power problems:) :) :)

Tip: Don't have to smoke machine on the same extension as the sound!!!

[rob1963]

A mains socket can supply 3,000 watts, so as long as the gear plugged into it uses less than that, no problem.

:)

[Jay]

Tip: Don't have to smoke machine on the same extension as the sound!!!

Sorry if i'm just being numb but I didnt understand that, do you mean don't have the smoke machine connected to the same extension as the amp and mixer is?

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Sorry if I'm just being numb but I didn't understand that, do you mean don't have the smoke machine connected to the same extension as the amp and mixer is?

As been mentioned before have one extension for sound (e.g mixer, Amp, CD Player) and another for everything else (e.g lighting, effects, lamps).

The reason for this is that i have found that the heating element in the smoke machine draws alot of power so when it kicks in the power for the rest of the extension can dip momentarilly and if sensitive equipment is on the same extension it can cause a bang or other noises being played through the speakers which a. sounds bad b. isn't very good for the equipment or speakers.


Hope this helps:)

[Jay]

Thats been absolutely wonderful and has put my mind at rest anyway.

Thanks very much guys, I'll let you all know how it went on Saturday and hopefully try and get some pictures too,

:beer1: :beer1:

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Good Luck and remember to have fun.

Look forwards to seeing some photo's soon:)

[flatliners]

putting them on seperate sockets means that if you have a fault and it trips the power then its easier to tell if its the sound or the lighting thats tripped the system