Recently, a winter storm in my neck of the woods coated the trees with a heavy layer of ice. I awoke early that day to the sound of tree branches breaking off due to the heavy weight of their frigid encasement. Shortly thereafter, I lost all electric to my home. I called the electric company and reported the outage and then went off to work, not realizing that the outage would affect about 600,000 customers or that I would be without power for approximately five days. Trees were down, branches were down, wires were down, and I was woefully unprepared. By the time I got to Home Depot, every generator was sold out; the generator companies I called were sold out as well. I was relegated to charging my cell phone in the car and feeding wood into my fireplace — which is designed more for decorative log burning than for home heating.
My G-Generation
My wife heard about some guy who could get us a generator and tie it into the house for a nominal fee. I gave him a call and he told me that the generator would indeed provide two 20-amp circuits. He would tie it in by running one 110 VAC line down each leg of my 200 amp electric panel, and I would be able to power up almost everything other than the electric dryer and electric stove, since they all run 240 VAC and have 30 to 50 amp breakers. I asked him if he was a licensed electrician. He replied that he was not licensed, but that he builds houses and has provided this service for many people. I also asked him about a transfer switch, which is required by National Electric Code (NEC) article 702.6 for all generators providing backup power to a home. His reply was that he could make it work without the transfer switch if need be. A transfer switch is a box that is ideally located next to the main panel and reduces the need to have multiple extension cords running from the generator to individual appliances. The concept is similar to being on a gig and utilizing a power distro rather than running multiple cables around the room to find suitable wall power.
The electric company warned that this blackout would be a major event that could last multiple days during a time when the temperature was dipping into the low 20’s, and as much as I wanted to move out of the dark ages and back into the 21st century, I just wasn’t desperate enough to have somebody jerry-rig my home for electric. Over the many years that I have been involved with audio, I have developed a great respect for the power that drives us. Now, while I am willing to be accommodating regarding various production matters, electricity is not the area where I showcase my flexibility. Most engineers I know are not electricians, nor is it a prerequisite that an audio engineer has to be an electrician to do their job, but I have seen, or been involved with, instances of electrical mayhem that have naturally given me a healthy respect for the force that we so depend upon. I have seen live tie-ins gone bad causing an electrical arc, equipment ruined due to a bad neutral wire, whole shows go down because of improper power and, of course, minor shocks, hums and buzzes due to a deficient ground wire. One artist I worked with told me a horror story about a bandmate who was killed on account of an improperly grounded system.
A Few Basics
As power is essential to what we do, it’s a good idea to understand some of the fundamentals regarding this very important tool. All audio gear in the United States runs on 120 VAC electric current, and the power rating is usually expressed in watts. The pieces of gear that draw the most wattage are the pieces that produce the most heat, such as power amplifiers and guitar/bass amplifiers with tubes. It used to be industry standard to request 100-amp/three-phase service for major events when using a full rig. While it’s probably prudent to do so in certain circumstances, I know that I have metered gigs with a full monitor rig, a nine over four per side line array and consoles — only to find that, at full tilt, the system was only drawing 15 to 20 amps per leg at most. Audio gear is now made to be more energy-efficient, which in turn makes it easier for us to go into small venues with more speakers that use less power, thereby allowing us to use the standard 15 to 20 wall sockets that are usually provided — without having to tie-in to an electric panel.
That said, my preference is to tie-in and use a power distro just for the peak surge when turning on the amps. Then I can also be assured of getting my power from a single, clean source and thus avoid other types of electronic equipment such as irons, toasters, ice machines, blenders, computers and hair dryers from sharing any of my audio circuits. A tie-in with an electrician can be costly, and feeder cable is a pain to carry around and run, but if the option is available, I think it can be worth the effort. In the case that a tie-in is unavailable, it’s a good idea to use an outlet tester or a meter to test the individual wall sockets that you will be using.
A tester is inexpensive and easy to use, but if you are metering, then be aware that each modern Edison wall socket has three inputs. A rounded input is the ground; the larger of the two vertical inputs is the neutral, while the smaller vertical is the hot line. Don’t take it for granted that the circuit is good and if, for example, the neutral is lifted, it is possible that any gear plugged into the outlet could receive the full 240 volts available from the power source instead of the standard 120 volts. Other than the potential risk of shock, one also stands to fry whatever piece of gear is plugged into the outlet.
Watts Up, Doc?
Invariably, someone, such as the client, will ask, “How many watts do you need?” or “How many watts is this amplifier?” Most likely they don’t even know what they are asking and, for them, bigger is better. Tell them 500 watts or 10,000 watts, since they are equating the large number with the efficacy of the piece of gear — without understanding that wattage helps you determine your electrical load. If the client has only given you a single 20 amp circuit to work with, it is up to you to figure out the gear you can use. Wattage is arrived at by multiplying amperes by voltage, so 20 amps x 120 volts = 2,400 watts, and 15 amps x 120 volts = 1,800 watts. From these calculations, it’s easy enough to determine whether or not the client will need to make do with less gear or if you need to find more power.
Frankly — although it’s a necessary evil — I hate carrying and running power cables. It might be glamorous working a high profile event with famous stars, but there is nothing sexy about running or wrapping feeder cable. After all, this is 2014, and, at this point in time, with the great strides that have been made in wireless and digital equipment, it all seems so last century to be dealing with all this bulky and unwieldy cable.
A New, 109-Year Old Approach
Nikola Tesla had it right. Back in 1905 he began experimenting with wireless electricity. Unfortunately these experiments were cut short due to lack of funding and — though he demonstrated his wireless electric tower with great success — he was unable to raise enough money to follow through with the venture. J.P. Morgan was interested for a while, but most likely Thomas Edison or someone else convinced Mr. Morgan that more money could be made with wired electricity. By now, I’m sure, the military has probably developed some form of wireless electricity, but since they are not sharing this innovation with the rest of us, might I suggest that someone start looking into modeled electricity — maybe as an app or a plug-in.
Just imagine showing up to a show with a full rig and the client points you to the one 20 amp outlet they have available for audio. Instead of the usual hysterics that ensue at moments like these, you whip out your trusty plug-in or app that models a 100-amp/three-phase power service, plug it into the 20 amp circuit and away you go. Come to think of it, I could have used this type of groundbreaking product while I was stuck without power during the four days the thermometer was dipping into the low 20’s. Either that, or a good plug-in/app that models 80-degree weather.
