Avoiding Electric Service Form Shocks
Filling out electrical service forms can be mind-boggling. Order too much power and you’re wasting money; order too little power and you risk a whopping bill for last minute power additions. Finding your Goldilocks power order isn’t easy, but here are some suggestions that will help you to make your order without being caught with porridge on your face.
Create a scale floor plan/electrical diagram of your display. The diagram should clearly show the locations of all the electronics that are included in your display including lighting, audio, visual, computer equipment, etc.
Use your electrical diagram to figure out how many power feeds
you need. You will need to use separate power lines for each
type of hardware because each piece will have different internal wiring,
which will almost always create cross-interference and degrade your sound
and video. It’s usually best to simply run individual power lines
– one for lighting, one for audio, and one for video equipment.
-Not all power strips are created equal! Somewhere along the line a lot of us confused power strips with surge protectors. Power strips provided by general contractors are typically just that – additional outlets that provide zero surge protection. Since power surges are all too common at tradeshow venues and can lead to many thousands of dollars worth of damage, spending an extra twenty bucks on your own genuine surge protector is money extremely well spent.
- Calculate your wattage requirements. Begin by adding the wattage requirements (usually either printed on the backside of the equipment or the product manual) of all the electronic devices you intend to power off a single circuit. Then multiply that number by two. Note: Just to make life interesting, the electric service order forms utilized may offer power in terms of amps instead of watts. Assuming that all you have is watts to work with, you can calculate your amp requirements by using the following formula: watts ¸volts = amps. Remember to double your watts before you make your calculation!
- Make sure your equipment is legal. Check with the venue that your equipment is approved for use and that it passes local fire code rules. For obvious reasons, this is especially important with lighting equipment.
- Bring in experts for the hard stuff. If you are employing
theatrical lighting, a concert style sound system, a video wall, or other
elaborate electrical effects, it is always best to consult with a qualified
electrical engineer or electrician. We could explain the reasons for this,
but that would take several paragraphs to even get started – and
that’s a pretty good explanation of why you need their services.
This stuff is complicated and there is a lot of technical information
that needs to be collected. You want it to be understood and used by someone
who can use it to create a workable and safe electric plan.