Mixing hard and dimmed power in socapex

[Charlotte_R]

Hi all,

I just wondered what people's opinions were about good practice when patching and running socapex. Do you like to keep hot and dimmed power separate? Or do you prefer to mix power within the run so that you minimise the number of cables running along the bar?

How do you manage slack in cables? Keep it at dimmer world, loose it on the truss?

How do you label your socas?

Do you try to keep power in socas to a single phase, or are you happy to mix different phases in a soca?

 

At the risk of being told that I'm doing everything wrong, I tend to mix hard and dimmed power in socas to try to keep the truss as neat as possible; without paying much heed to the phases (dimmed power is a funny shape, anyway, even on the same phase there is a potential difference between lives of circuits dimmed at different intensities and some distros / dimmers mix phases anyway with no ability to repatch). I try to loose spare length at the truss end on the basis that a few socas on the truss is easier to deal with than lots of socas in dimmer world, much as I'd run XLR cables for stages.

As for labelling, I try to use a different colour per bar roughly going through the colours of the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, grey, white. Then I label them in a sensible order with letters starting at USR corner and working to DSL

I'm interested to know how other people deal with their socas?

 

[paulears]

I used to try to keep phases separate, remembering the ancient separation rules, but since dimmer packs became 3 phases in 19" racks, I've never worried. I've still got a fair few Soca spiders, and tend to just treat them as 6 separate cables.

[empyfree]

Always mix and match. Our newest dimmers have selectable “true power” on every channel so you can use them as either dim or hot at will. Makes a mixed truss (powered speakers, projector, fresnels) an easy proposition without having to have a bigger rack with physical patching.

[adam2]

I would prefer to keep dimmed and hard power in separated multicores in order to reduce the risk of mistakes, but nothing prohibits mixing them, just take great care not to break anything by putting an expensive mover onto a dimmer.

 

All likely types of multicore lighting cable are suitable for three phase, and as has already been said a lot of dimmers have three phase input and adjacent outputs on different phases.

 

Where best to put spare cable varies according to the circumstances at each venue, avoid excessive coiling, looping, or general congestion as cables may over heat.

 

 

 

[Caerdydd]

Numbers for dimmers, letters for hot power

If it's dimmed and hot power, then I try to keep hot power to a universal number like circuit 6.

[sunray]

- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, grey, white.

now if only you'd make a tiny change and move the brown to the beginning you'd be using a universally recognised colour code, (frequently called resister colour code)BROWN, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, grey, white is 1-9 and black is zero.

[Andrew C]

a universally recognised colour code,

And DON'T YOU DARE remind us of the old mnemonic for that code... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif

[Modge]

I would prefer to keep dimmed and hard power in separated multicores in order to reduce the risk of mistakes, but nothing prohibits mixing them, just take great care not to break anything by putting an expensive mover onto a dimmer.

 

I also aim to avoid mixing and matching all things being equal, and I know of one (corperate) hire co who try to use soca spiders for dimmed and the solid truss hangable soca->6*16s for hot power. If however it's going to make significant extra work (perhaps because there's X soca's installed and adding temporary cables is hard or impossible, or the truss is dead hung and access is a ladder) then I'll go mix and match. In that case I make a point of turning hot power on first, since accidentally turning a dimmable fixture on costs nothing aside from admitting a mistake, whereas dimming a moving head will make all concerned very sad.

[matt c]

a universally recognised colour code,

And DON'T YOU DARE remind us of the old mnemonic for that code... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif

 

Betty Brown Ran Over Your Garden But Violet Grey Walked?

 

?

[MarkPAman]

Blessed (Brian) Resembles an Orangutan, Yelling "Greetings Blue-bearded Viking, Great Whiskers!"

[Shez]

Greetings Blue-bearded Viking, Great Whiskers!

Admit it - in your head, you read that in Brian's voice...

[MarkPAman]

Well I certainly wrote it in his voice, though maybe I should have turned Caps Lock on? http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

[bigclive]

My own preference is to have separate dimmed and hard power socas to avoid expensive accidents when a moving light gets misplugged into an adjacent dimmed channel.

But there are instances when it is useful to have a mix where just one soca cable is serving a specific task. The notorious VL5 "up yer bum" application where you had five dimmed circuits and a control power circuit comes to mind.

 

Phases can be mixed freely as a proper soca arrangement should be six separate circuits. That's assuming the IET hasn't changed that back again to sell more copies of their book and launch another profitable set of £300 per person one-day slideshow rackets.

 

Just out of interest, does anyone actually use the (hopefully obsolete) 8 circuit fan in and fan out for standard 19 pin soca?

It had the horrific possibility that if someone plugged an eight way fan in at one end and a six way fan out at the other the cases of anything plugged into ways 1 and 3 would be live at full mains voltage. (with mains neutral connected to the cases of circuits 2 and 4).

[gareth]

a universally recognised colour code,

And DON'T YOU DARE remind us of the old mnemonic for that code... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif

 

Ha! I remember my old boss telling me that one many years ago. I've been sitting here for the last few minutes trying (and failing) to remember what the P stood for (who exactly was it who went without?!) .... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif

 

(Much later edit : I remembered! The colour in the mnemonic was violet, not purple ... so the answer is 'virgins' http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

 

Oh, and just to add my own small but potentially useful contribution to the meat of the thread ... phase separation hasn't been a consideration for a while now.

 

As for populating a single multi with both dimmed and hot power - I don't have a problem with that, as long as it's properly planned, managed and documented so that someone not as familiar with the system as I am can easily see what's going on. If you can implement a consistent strategy - say, sending hot power up way 6 regardless of whether or not you've used all 5 of the other ways - then that just makes it easier to manage.

 

Finally, spare cable always sits at the dimmer/distro end - putting it at the other end just adds lots of unnecessary weight and visual clutter to the rig. If you're neat and methodical about it, it doesn't have to turn into a nest of vipers behind the racks!

[ninjadingle]

I mix and match - but I always use 15a spiders then put the 15a - 16a adapters onto the hot power circuits before putting them on the soca, so I can be sure it's on the right channels for the rig (and usually tape them on as well to ensure they don't come off!). Always putting it on way 6 is a good idea but if you're using spiders with odd leg lengths it might be easier to have it on way 3 if that's where your mover is, rather than put it on 6 and have to extend your cable run.

 

Slack - a spare meter would go on the bar, rest on the floor. As said if you manage it correctly it's not an issue and less weight in the air, which is always good thing!