Does anyone ever have to "tie in" to power in a school gymnasium setting, to power lighting and audio?

If so.... what do you find these types of venues (school gyms) have for tying in? (240 plug, panel, etc...)

There are several options. Most options you will need a distro, which is basically a master breaker, with additional breakers feeding circuits that have the outlets you need.(edison, twist lock, stage pin, etc). If you don't currently have a distro, I am assuming you don't need three phase and only need single phase.

Various ways to tie in would be a 50 amp plug(not my preferred way)...Tying in to electrical panel, which can vary in 'how'. The preferred way is to use cams or camlocks. The other way to tie to the electrical panel is with 'tails' or bare wire ends.

Theaters, arenas, convention centers, etc are typically set up for cams. High schools are not typically set up for that. IF they are letting you tie in, then it will usually be with 'tails'. You should be requiring them to provide an electrician to tie in and disconnect.

Single phase will use four wires. Two hot legs, a neutral and a ground. Each hot leg is carrying 120V. With this distro you can power 240V & 120V electrical devices.


That's a short crash course. You should definitely contact an electrician, even better if he works for a theater, arena, etc. Motion Labs is a huge name in power distribution. http://www.motionlabs.com/

Jim Seifert also makes some good equipment.
http://ampshop.com/

Hope that helps. I'm sure Ray Pierce will chime in and give a ton of great advice and personal experience.

If you really need these big power distributions then you will surely have a technician. But these companies can surely deliver smaller units too.

The first step is to write a detailed Technical Rider for your show. How much power do you need? Sound and lighting should have different electric circuits whenever possible. For sound a magician will rarely need more than 230 volts / 16 amp (in the EU). For lighting all depends on your dimmers - most of them need a 3 phase input. If you use more than a few moving lights, you will need a power distribution similar to the one you use for dimmers. A technical rider gives you the advantage to ask for the power outlets to be there where you need them. 400 amps camlocks can be fine, but not if they are 50 meters away. You surely do not want to transport 50 meter extension cables and you also do not want to instal them.

Here in the EU we use CEE plugs whenever possible. The biggest one in use is a 3 x 230 volts/ 125 amps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60309 We have dimmer racks ready with CEE 125A plugs (24 to 48 channels depending on wattage). Camlocks are used for higher currents only. Then the 3 x 400 amps are feeding a power distribution with several CEE sockets. CEE plugs are connecting themselves correctly, with Camlocks you must know how to handle them properly: Which one first? Is the color coding correct (there was a change in colors in the past!)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camlock_%28electrical%29

And please always use an RCD even with smallest power distribution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device It saves lives.

For some shows if we bring the whole lighting rig:
we use 10 Martin 918s @ 8.0 amps each for a total of 80 amps
as well as 4 High end studio spots @ 3.75 amps for a total of 15 amps
then we figure in the amps for the dimmers 6 @ 20 amps is 120 amps
Another 20 amps for the sound system

that is 235 amps
(you don't want to know how many power cords we currently carry to run to different areas to get separate power....lol)

(we also use the lighting rig to rent out to bands and such...)

The old time circus guys used to "gypsy" into a box all the time. Jerry Conklin did it many times at Abbott's.

But you better know what you are doing. Basically, you are totally bypassing the breaker panel and installing your own breaker box ahead of the schools. It was a very common practice for the phone shows to do this when they went into high schools with only a 50 amp breake box.

Again, just not something I would recommend being done.

I did a show once that the client did not have enough power in the hotel to run the moving lights. A generator was brought in and setup with cords running into to give us enough power for the movers. A technical rider is an absolute necessity. I would also design my lighting so I could do it with different power consumption levels.

Richard