Sound And Light Together?

[Splosh 0]

Afternoon peeps....

 

Just had an interesting / irratating conversation with someone with regards to a Power Supply.

 

When i was a young Roadie..... :joe: The guys i Went out with always told me NEVER to run lights and sound off the same power socket. I was always instructed to use two different sockets.

I was often told that running both lights and sound together can cause a humm on the gear (which I have experienced) and that because the lights go on and off they are causing the current to go up and down which can harm an amplifier.......

 

Anyway.....

 

I have now been around in this biz for a few years and in my contract I have it clearly stated that I would like access to at least three different sockets where I shall be working. (Don't really need more than two, but to be safe and look good etc..........)

I have just had a chat with veune staff saying that in this marquee I will get one 4 gang socket on a 16amp mains. I explained that I would like at least two different and she started giving it "well all the other dj's we have had here have coped alright" blah blah blah "The electrician put it in for the DJ's and he should know what he is doing" blah blah blah........ When I asked how far away the main building was from the Marquee (to see if I could run another cable) I was told that the resident electricians have run the cable underground and that I wouldn't be able to reach the main building.

 

Now am I being over cautious? Is running sound and light off same socket an old wives tale or does it and I have some clout over the issue?

She has asked for my PLI etc which I have happy to give her, but I am jubious about the power supply...

 

Thoughts?

 

Splosh

 

[YourBigEvent 0]

In an ideal world yu are correct, whereas we don't live in an ideal world.

[spinner 0]

So long as your equipment doesn't draw more than 16 amps there shouldn't be a problem.

[McCardle 1]

depends on how much current you draw. if the total is above 13A then you will have no option but to split up the two. one thing that i did once find out to my cost, that lamps are more likely to fail mid gig than sound equipment and with a blown lamp comes the risk of a blown fuse. Run the two off one lead or socket and if a lamp takes out a fuse, it all goes quiet, split the two up on different sockets and it may go dark but you wont have the embarrassment factor of dead silence either. work out which you would perfer personally and go with it. But as the post says above it is not always possble to do this.

[brianmole 0]

Splosh! I only run off one socket for most of my gigs.

 

The reasons you would separate the lights from the sound is to ensure that if a light took out a fuse, your sound would carry on, and of course if you were consuming more than 13A per circuit.

[andyw 0]

we like to run off 2,but have had to run off 1 on occasions we use less lighting on those occasions to play safe

[jeffwall 0]

 

The reasons you would separate the lights from the sound is to ensure that if a light took out a fuse, your sound would carry on, and of course if you were consuming more than 13A per circuit.

 

 

I agree, this is the main issue really and not the HUM from the lights / mains

 

Actually even using 3/4/5 socket outlets in the same area.....its very likely that they all are on the same circuit in a ring-main anyway, so the hum wudn't go. Earth ground lift switch or isolater would be the best way of ridding mains hum.

 

13amps = 3KW per socket outlet......... however........

 

Ring mains are nearly always protected by a 32amp breaker at the board....or 30amp Fuse at the board.

 

so on bigger gigs, be mindfull how much you take from the "ring-main" as it will be loaded up to a degree already...fruit machines, bar, lighting, whatever

 

 

 

[norty303 0]

because the lights go on and off

 

Less so nowadays as lights tend to stay on and be controlled by shutters/wheels and mechanical dimmers.

 

Hums tended to come from big old transformers and dimmers.

[Andy Westcott 0]

That's it really.

Back a while, most lighting was of the flashing bulb variety which could possibly cause voltage fluctuations on the power line, but that's not so much the problem these days.

 

As for the hum problem, I expect this is a throw-back to the days of controllers not incorporating zero voltage switching, where clicks and pops during switching were the order of the day.

 

I'd say there's no problem running both lighting and audio off the same outlet, as long as the maximum capacity of the outlet isn't exceeded. I use two sets of trailing sockets, and don't bother what goes where other than the heavier loads, which are plugged into seperate ones.