timsabre Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 From what I know (feel free to correct me if I am wrong) the current standard is to install dimming circuits on 15 amp round pins and hard power on 16 amp ceeform. I don't think this is a standard, it's just one way of doing it. I know plenty of venues that use the same cabling infrastructure and outlets for both dim and hard power, with a dim/power patch at the other end, and rely on the crew to get it right. This is a much more flexible system if you always have competent crew plugging up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrown96 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Apologies for that, poor choice of wording. Thanks Tim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipkin Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Having had a discussion here this morning, we are thinking about using 16A ceeform for everything, and colour coding or marking the 'hard power' outlets. That way, we'd only have to worry about one type of adapter / extension / set of spares etc etc If that is deemed 'not good practice' then .... I have heard of a connector called Powercon. Could we use these at all ? Edit : I've found what I think I'm on about ... http://www.beammovingheadlight.com/sale-2289170-powercon-splitter-portable-power-distribution-box-4pcs-16a-powercon-sockets-output.html Could we use a powercon as the 'hard power' outlet ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Just spotted this thread (missed it first time round) and I would second the recommendation of the ETC SmartfadeML if you are used to an MX. They are similar in use and it wouldn't take you anything like as long to learn as the 500 series. If you do go down that route, I can recommend downloading the free software and using a laptop as a screen - really useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Could we use a powercon as the 'hard power' outlet ? You'll be making a lot of powercon-16A adapters for every time you need to plug in a "foreign" device. Also I read somewhere (on here I think) that you can't legally use powercon as a fixed installation power connector, it's only for portable things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 the original powercon dosnt have "breaking capacity"in other words your not supposed to plug/unplug em with the power on ,if you want powercon then the newer powercon true1 would be a better option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter18 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Surely the first thing to be established is the cable size / capacity of the exisitng 5A infrastructure, as suggested by sguy42 yesterday.Unless the cable is rated for 15 / 16A then it is either a complete re-wire (£££) or living with the 5A system. The 5A plug and socket is still, as far as I am aware, 'legal' for exisitng systems (as are 15A plugs without shrouded pins) even if not good practice. When faced with a similar problem at two different schools my suggestion was to change the fuses on the dimmer channels from 10A to 5A - not so cheap if it means changing MCBs rather than ceramic fuses but still by far the cheapest option to get a working system that would pass inspection.But then I was not trying to sell them any equipment...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipkin Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'm fairly sure it doesn't say anywhere that the 5A round pin sockets are a problem. They are not all that old, perhaps 15-20yrs, and are metal clad - not the really old ones ! Also, they guy checking has said the easiest and most cost effective solution is to down size the MCBs, but that would then limit us for patching etc (we currently quite often double up on outlets to dimmers) And I have found shrouded 5A plugs, so we can sort the lamps that have been flagged as needing addressing. BUT .... I'd like to know if we should be looking at having a bit of a sort out, hence my questions really. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I'm still not sure what route we will take, but I feel better informed now :-) I will ask the question regarding the cable size. I have a feeling it is 1.5mm singles ? I know certain it is all in metal trunking, with plastic conduit drops to the outlets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 When you say you double up, you mean you put two lamps on the same dimmer, yes? Are you sure you're not overloading the 5A connector, if downsizing to a 5A breaker would cause you a problem? Two 1k par cans is over 5A (5A gets you about 1.2k if you're lucky, but a 1k parcan will be close). Even a pair of 650W lamps would be (just) more than a 5A socket ought to be carrying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipkin Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 When you say you double up, you mean you put two lamps on the same dimmer, yes? Are you sure you're not overloading the 5A connector, if downsizing to a 5A breaker would cause you a problem? Two 1k par cans is over 5A (5A gets you about 1.2k if you're lucky, but a 1k parcan will be close). Even a pair of 650W lamps would be (just) more than a 5A socket ought to be carrying. Hi Alister..... No - it's a bit more complex - due to us having (currently) a patch panel, we can allocate 1 or 2 of the 5A outlets onto the same dimmer channel. Most of the 5A outlets come back to the patch panel, which is made up of C13/C14 IEC type connectors. Some of these are paralleled together, so we can plug two 5A outlets, into 1 x dimmer channel. 650W is the largest lamp we currently have, with the exception of the follow spot, which is hardly ever used now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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