studio wiring and electricity..????

[elwoodblues]

I was looking at all the stuff I have plugged in to 3 outlets [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] and seriously wondering if it can be safe.

Without rattling off all that is hooked up, I am sure that many of you are in the same boat so I have just a few questions.

1) 15 amp protection or 20 ? I have 15 amp protection with my current conditioners, but I don't know what this means. What would be a 15 amp surge, a 20 amp surge? IE: is a furman power conditioner just a glorified power strip that offers similar protection (usually rated in "jules" or something like that)?

2) How many watts can one socket of one outlet handle? (this way I can look to the back of all of my gear and get a rough idea of if I need to move some power around so to speak)

having said/asked all of this, I have never blown a breaker but my volt indicator usually rides at around 126 volts with nothing on but the conditioner and drops to 122-124 with my whole rack on.

are there any resources anyone knows of that would help me determine if my gear/basement is within safe operating range...

thanks in advance for you input.

[jjhuntfox]

The only place I would steer you is to an electrician for some advice. I had to install a sub pannel in my studio. I had one 15 amp breaker running my studio, lights, laundry room and a bedroom. Now I have four 15 amp breakers each running two, four spot, outlets. It was a bitch to install and wire but it was essential. My suggestion would be to have someone run an additional line from your pannel, and put in some more outlets....

Unless you know what you are doing.... don't mess with it yourself.

[iplaymusicsoftly]

Ditto what Jhuntfox said, get a pro's opinion on this, it's not worth a house fire!
That said, there are a few clarifications:
You need to know how many Amps your equipment draws, not Watts, to know for sure if items are overloading your lines. 2 items can have the same wattage, but draw different amperage.
A Surge is a different beast; it occurs when something switches on, like a motor starting up, or when lightning strikes happen (thats a heck of a surge! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] ). You need to be concerened about surges for 2 reasons: 1 they temporarily increase the amperage draw on your lines, or 2. they send a surge of power down the line (like lightning) that will fry electronics.

So, you could have all your gear plugged into a 15 amp circuit, and think it's OK, but the surge on turning all the gear on at once could drive the amperage up to 22 amps, and poof, your circuit breaker trips/fuse blows. DO NOT get into the habit of just RESETing the breaker/fuse [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] . An overload causes heat in housewiring, good for starting those secret unstoppable barn-burners.

A power bar protects from lightning type surges (maybe, they are not reliable!) and does nothing for power up surges.
A Furman or similar device is a power conditioner as well as surge suppressor and power equalizer. Going to Furman's website would probably explain all this technobabble better than I could. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Good luck!

[where02190]

4 words of advise: leave it to professionals.

Hope this is helpful.

[Calvin]

The Furman units are not just fancy powerstrips. They regulate power. The Furman units actually tame the spikes and valleys that are normal in a everyday household to give you the cleanest power possible. There are spikes that accure all the time from anything like someone in another room that turns on a TV or pluggs something in, it will create little spikes. I also believe that some of the better furman units have a high level of protection from things like if lightning striking your line. Yes I know that powerstrips say that they can protect you from that but it isn't really true. The furmans however can. These are the main benifits of the furman units I believe. It just tends to promote longer gear life.

I don't know anything about professional wirering but I do know that one thing you have to think about is the ground. Nice studios pay big big bucks for special grounding systems. Thats one of the good things about plugging everything into a powerstrip, everything is grounded the same way. This keeps the hum out. When you start plugging gear in all over the place then you usually have a grounding problem because they don't all ground to the same spot. Just something to think about.

[basschair]

Originally posted by where02190:
4 words of advise: leave it to professionals.

Hope this is helpful.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'd have to agree with this.

However, there's a little bit that I can offer. First off, I'm pretty sure it's the simultaneous use of too many amps (not guitar/bass amps...the ampers) will trip/blow a fuse. As for surge protection, I'd use 20. The thing is, I actually use a surge protector that gives something called AVR: automatic voltage regulation.

It's not just surges you need to worry about. Dips in the electrical flow will allow your equipment to stay on, but it also causes some damage to the equipment...unfortunately, you usually don't know that it's happening because you don't see a dip in the power like you do a surge. A surge protector with AVR basically conditions the electrical current, keeping it between a safe "bandwidth" (for lack of a better term). They're not cheap, but I'm pretty sure that Furman makes models with this; you can also go into office supply places...anywhere they sell computer equipment, and pick one up...Belkin, USP (or something like that), etc.

Just keep in mind that this is only for a level of protection between the plug and the computer/equipment. At the house my wife and I bought last year, the electrical junction box is still running at a 110 amp capacity (not enough current running through it to allow for a vacuum and the electrical stove to run withuot pooping out). Normally, houses run on 220 amp boxes now (or something like that). When we finally get it updated, I'm going to have the electrician run a dedicated electrical line on it's own channel/fuse to my studio room so that it won't be subject to influence from other power-draining sources nearly as much as it is now. This part is just food for thought.

GO WITH A PROFESSIONAL!

[elwoodblues]

Thanks guys. this has been a great little education. I am having an electrician come out in the near future to make sure I am on one 20 amp circuit as suggested. thanks again for all the great responses..

[jjhuntfox]

I'm not convinced that one 20 amp circut is enough. Also 20 amp circuts require 12 gauge wire. Most houses have 14 gage wire that uses a 15 amp breaker. You can't just add a 20 amp breaker. It is not safe or code. See what the electrician says. I'd suggest you have him run a new line from a new breaker in the pannel.

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] It all depends on how much crap you have up and running!

[elwoodblues]

Originally posted by jjhuntfox:
I'm not convinced that one 20 amp circut is enough. Also 20 amp circuts require 12 gauge wire. Most houses have 14 gage wire that uses a 15 amp breaker. You can't just add a 20 amp breaker. It is not safe or code. See what the electrician says. I'd suggest you have him run a new line from a new breaker in the pannel.

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] It all depends on how much crap you have up and running!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">thanks for the clarification. I will run that by him and see what his opinion is. This kind of info is what I love about the DUC. thanks again [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Lowfreq]

A common household 120 Volt socket is rated for 15 amps. You do not need to know the amperage of a product if you know the wattage usage. Simply calculated: W=VxA Wattage equals Voltage multiplied by Amperage. So 15 amps times 120 Volt circuit equals 1800 watts. This is fine and dandy to rate the socket itself BUT not the circuit it is attached too. If you have 2 outlets in one room and you have one 20 amp breaker that only controls that room's circuit you have a maximum of 2400 watts total circuit capacity, minus voltage drops and wiring resistance, etc. So each socket in this room can pull 1200 watts each but no ONE socket can pull more than it's rated capacity of 15 amps or 1800 watts, if you will. Reality says you'll trip this 20 amp room breaker before 20 amps are pulled from the circuit. This depends on the breaker, the wiring, the socket's resistance and condition, etc. That being said add up all the wattage of all your gear. This the MAXIMUM your gear will consume, mind you. How often will all this gear use all the wattage it states all at the same time? Pretty rare. 1800 watts is a lot of power and I'm betteing you'll be using much less. Also, Furman does make power conditioners that do 'adjust' for dip and peaks in incoming line voltage. but NOT ALL Furman products offer this feature and no 'power strip units' do either. Tripp Lite has some serious line conditioners that are very affordable, compared to Furman. And their units are data grade. Meaning they are accurate and stable enough for computer gear. Lastly, a 'Joules' measurment refers to a energy's level of FORCE. Not be confused with Voltage, which is PRESSURE, and Amperage which is VOLUME. Lightning has tremendous force and will cook right through a breaker on your panel outside which can leave your gear un protected. If lightning is a serious problem in your area this rating has a bigger meaning to you. The higher the Joule rating, the more energy the unit can 'absorb' before it frys. I hope this info. helps. If your still frazzled see an electrician.