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Author
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Topic: rectifier power requirements
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Scott Norwood
Film God
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Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-04-2004 08:19 PM
I'm trying to figure out the power requirements for a possible apartment theatre. Motors, etc. are easy; rectifiers are not. I have a pair of IREM "P1-X30B" rectifiers and Cinemeccanica "CX-20H" lamphouses with 500w xenons (all originally purchased circa 1995). I'm trying to figure out how much current these rectifiers will draw (at 120vac). In their previous installation, each had its own 20amp circuit, however I've tried them (for short periods) on various 15amp circuits (with other stuff connected as well) and they didn't trip circuit breakers or cause outlets or wiring to heat up. Would it be safe to allow one 15amp circuit per rectifier, considering that they worked fine on circuits where my vacuum cleaner (1000w) would trip the breaker?
Unfortunately, the manual that I have isn't very useful (I have only the lamphouse manual, not the rectifier one) and the electrical plate on the bottom says only "Input: 115vac."
Is the current draw relatively constant? Should I just go and blow $50 on a clamp-type ammeter?
On the same topic, I'm assuming that I should have separate circuits for a) projector motors and framing lights, b) zippers, and c) sound equipment. Am I missing anything? Keep in mind that my apartment wiring is pretty crappy.
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John Hawkinson
Film God
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Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 05-04-2004 10:13 PM
Scott, you should go out and buy a clamp ammeter (or clamp attachment for an existing DMM), definitely. It's very useful tool. Consider springing for a Hall Effect version that does DC as well.
You should also pay attention to the wire runs lenths and what guage the wire is before deciding.
If you're actually going to have an electrician add circuits, then you might as well just get enough for everything plus some extras. You can never have too many empty slots in a panelboard! Otherwise, well, you can kludge it all together and probably survive, but it may not be pretty. Remember that you'll want to up the draw on the rectifier as the lamps get older (maybe not such a real issue with 500W lamps in a situation that is probably overlit anyhow...).
In a perfect world, of course you want seperate circuits so that if your #1 projector/rectifier blows a breaker, the show can keep running uninterrupted on the #2 projector. I guess you're not proposing sharing a 20A circuit between them both, though, so I shouldn't worry about that...
--jhawk
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