How easy is it to blow the DNO's cutout?

[Mark42]

I've been volunteering at my local village hall, installing audio and light systems. Converting what was originally an underused sports hall into a venue for bands and theatrical events.

As with most of my projects, it has got out of hand and I've now reached a load schedule of 56A for my lighting rig alone, nearly all of which is LED.

Of course there's diversity: never will all fixtures be at 100% intensity together, but adding the legacy overhead of about 50A (hand driers, kitchen kit, kettles, portable heaters) I worry that I may potentially be stressing the supply. It's only a mickey-mouse domestic single phase cutout, probably containing an 80A fuse.

In others' experience, how likely is LED inrush to blow the cutout? It would be unfortunate if a widespread strobe or flash lighting cue closed everything down by killing the building's power!

Of course careful programming can keep the load down, but it may not always be me on the Avolites desk. If we have some old-skool techno operator who goes bananas, there may be a problem.

I have wired everything on a new three-phase submain DB (with L1+L2+L3 temporarily commoned), and asked the committee to upgrade to 3 x 100A, but it will take years to get agreement, if ever.

 

[littlespark]

That really is some set up for a basketball court.

Getting a proper 3 phase supply won’t do any harm apart from the halls budget.

 

[oscar21]

You ever actually done it though? Colleague of mine inadvertantly did and it blew a hole in his CKs.

I used to be like you and hate on the hi-viz brigade. Now im one of them. Funnily enough we've never slowed a job down, sent workers home or distrupted anyones salary. They've all been completed to schedule - there's just been a lot less big bangs.

Not sure why you talk about guys having to pay mortgages. Is the job is slowed down due to H&S concerns (which literally almost never happens) the guys still get paid. Obviously.

Its all irrelevant anyway as this has wind up written all over it.

Of course I've snipped a live cable, a few times over the years, don't you keep a pair of old snips in your bag for this purpose when you aren't 100% sure its dead, we call the snips chancers.

As for people losing out on money, I was on about if the spark that turned up with the lads said he wouldn't get power on then no-one can do any work. Nearly all tradesmen are self employed, only the crap ones are cards in nowadays so if you don't work you don't get paid. Not only that if the job isn't competed on time then the contractor probably won't get any more work of the main contractor/insurance company or whatever and that can be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

So to say "not my problem" about energising a supply will do you no favours whatsoever. I have my limits about what I will do - like crawling in rat ---- - but being scared of the electric police isn't one of them.

As for my opinion on the H&S brigade, when I've worked on bigger sites in the past I've found they run best when the site manager has cleared off for the day, everyone is just able to get on with things away from the constant interference, they don't add anything of worth to a job. Hasn't a contractor just been killed on the Everton stadium? The H&S must be off the scale on that job but it still happens, a hi-viz didn't do much to help him.

 

[DPG]

Of course I've snipped a live cable, a few times over the years, don't you keep a pair of old snips in your bag for this purpose when you aren't 100% sure its dead, we call the snips chancers.

As for people losing out on money, I was on about if the spark that turned up with the lads said he wouldn't get power on then no-one can do any work. Nearly all tradesmen are self employed, only the crap ones are cards in nowadays so if you don't work you don't get paid. Not only that if the job isn't competed on time then the contractor probably won't get any more work of the main contractor/insurance company or whatever and that can be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

So to say "not my problem" about energising a supply will do you no favours whatsoever. I have my limits about what I will do - like crawling in rat ---- - but being scared of the electric police isn't one of them.

As for my opinion on the H&S brigade, when I've worked on bigger sites in the past I've found they run best when the site manager has cleared off for the day, everyone is just able to get on with things away from the constant interference, they don't add anything of worth to a job. Hasn't a contractor just been killed on the Everton stadium? The H&S must be off the scale on that job but it still happens, a hi-viz didn't do much to help him.

Nothing to do with being scared of the 'electric police' as you well know. The issue being discussed is safety.

And the Everton stadium event - nobody knows any facts about it yet so there's no point even speculating. I find your comment about 'hi viz not doing much to help him' quite disgusting to be honest.

 

[oscar21]

Nothing to do with being scared of the 'electric police' as you well know. The issue being discussed is safety.

And the Everton stadium event - nobody knows any facts about it yet so there's no point even speculating. I find your comment about 'hi viz not doing much to help him' quite disgusting to be honest.

But its true though, no matter how much you sympathise, the only time a hi-viz has any worth is if its pitch black and something like a forklift truck is operating which you step out in front of, yet everyone on site has to wear one, even working alone in a room, they are useless and just a hindrance, the amount of times mine has got caught round door handles is crazy.

As for the safety aspect, no-one yet has said why its dangerous to other people when I put the fuse back in, I don't count as it would be self inflicted and that's down to me.

 

[timhoward]

As for the safety aspect, no-one yet has said why its dangerous to other people when I put the fuse back in, I don't count as it would be self inflicted and that's down to me.

There was a fault to earth. It happened to be low enough resistance to blow the main fuse. You said yourself it seemed to take a while to go. During this time every bonded piece of metalwork was at mains potential.
A slightly higher resistance value fault could have left the main fuse intact for many minutes.

 

[westward10]

Yes there was a red flag moment but think about it, it worked fine, its probably worked fine since the 50's, yes the house had had a fire but it didn't get to the mains cupboard, the old plastic CU was still intact. So what could cause a 80A fuse to blow in the middle of the night with no-one around and absolutely no load on it, its not like the cut out has moving parts that had failed.

My conclusion to the red flag moment was it has to be a faulty fuse, so I replaced it. As for the very thin fuse wire trial, I thought that was quite a good idea, couldn't have been more than an amps worth of wire, I disconnected everything, even the tail out of the top of the fuse holder and it still went with a bang but with a lot less sparks and arcing this time.

s for the problem, I have no idea, I still cant fathom what went wrong, I got the office to call the DNO out and I wrote on the cut out "do not energise" By the time I came back to second fix it had a brand new head on it.


I still don't get all the hoo-ha about it though, it seems some people are ---- scarred of a big bang, you see it when someone is going to cut a cable which might be live with insulated snips, try as they might, they just can't bring themselves to do it even though they know they are perfectly safe from injury, its the bang you see.

You don't get the hoo-ha because you don't have knowledge base.

But its true though, no matter how much you sympathise, the only time a hi-viz has any worth is if its pitch black and something like a forklift truck is operating which you step out in front of, yet everyone on site has to wear one, even working alone in a room, they are useless and just a hindrance, the amount of times mine has got caught round door handles is crazy.

As for the safety aspect, no-one yet has said why its dangerous to other people when I put the fuse back in, I don't count as it would be self inflicted and that's down to me.

You are either a troll or not the sharpest tack in the box.

 

[oscar21]

You don't get the hoo-ha because you don't have knowledge base.

You are either a troll or not the sharpest tack in the box.

you cant just call someone names, come up with a reason for what I did was dangerous to others, TimHoward came up with a good reason regarding the bonding but it was an empty house, the only thing connected was a 2 way mains unit and a twin socket, no ,metalwork anywhere that was bonded, no gas meter, no taps, no nothing so that was never a danger.

There must be some danger if everyone is so angry with me.

 

[lozarus]

you cant just call someone names, come up with a reason for what I did was dangerous to others, TimHoward came up with a good reason regarding the bonding but it was an empty house, the only thing connected was a 2 way mains unit and a twin socket, no ,metalwork anywhere that was bonded, no gas meter, no taps, no nothing so that was never a danger.

There must be some danger if everyone is so angry with me.

Call someone names? You literally just said that all the good electricians are self employed and only the cr*p ones are on the books.

Myself and many others here are employees. And well respected and qualified in our trade but prefer PAYE employment.

Your employment type is irrelevant.

I suppose you think this 'testing' is a load of hogwash too and its much bettter to just power everything on and see if anything goes bang?

 

[HappyHippyDad]

you cant just call someone names, come up with a reason for what I did was dangerous to others, TimHoward came up with a good reason regarding the bonding but it was an empty house, the only thing connected was a 2 way mains unit and a twin socket, no ,metalwork anywhere that was bonded, no gas meter, no taps, no nothing so that was never a danger.

There must be some danger if everyone is so angry with me.

Correct , and well done for calming down and having a proper think. Stay cool man

 

[Rockingit]

... Who's that rig been designed for? A resident Abba tribute??!

Ha Ha! Yes, probably. I LIKE mirror balls: they remind me of my youth . In heavy haze they look pretty cool actually.

I've ordered ten LED 2.5 degree sharpys which will be fun for the rock and EDM gigs we'll be doing ourselves. Where would a pro rig them?

There are a couple of other trusses at the other end of the the hall. Not sure what more to put on them yet. Any ideas?

Glasgow ABC - largest mirrorball in Europe at 4m! It is true that you get a lot of bang for buck with a simple mirrorball, I think it's all the white that's so surprising, especially if you're talking about EDM gigs.

I realise you've only a small space to work in and limited funds but I think I'd be tempted to look at adding a mid truss to get extra depth and separation above stage. Move everything that's currently on the US truss to the new MS truss except for some PARS and then stick your Sharpies in a 3-4-3 pattern on the US - that way you can do some ACL looks if your style is old skool

 

[Mark42]

I think it's all the white that's so surprising

Ha ha! You mean the stage dressing? It took ages for the committee to let me paint the front of the stage and the side panels grey for a start. They were gloss white Dulux, threw every bit of stray light back into your face, and looked ridiculous. Next is to paint the rear exposed walls dark grey as well.

I realise you've only a small space to work in and limited funds but I think I'd be tempted to look at adding a mid truss to get extra depth and separation above stage.

You're right - this is a rural village hall (!) and it's only happened at all because I paid for everything out of my own pocket, with the hall then paying me back as they see the benefit of having this kit, and them making money from gigs that could not have been done before. Without my JFDI attitude nothing would ever have happened. This is all a bit of a hobby for me, and something I've wanted to do since helping with lighting at school in the 70's, and it's fun. Compared with PAR cans and cinemoid, modern RGBW moving lights are amazing!

I'm not keen on putting a lot more structure in, as I can't face any more arguments with the committee about it! But your idea of the mid truss is great. I wish I'd known about that before.

I could put two or three single ali tubes running US-DS, just clamped on top of the existing trusses.

Or maybe one length of single ladder truss L-R hung off the existing US-DS rails, but it wouldn't take much weight.

Those five 350W MLs (which are beam-spot-wide zoom fittings, not sharpies) on the US truss are heavy, so they probably have to stay where they are as that's the only truss that can take the load.

Move everything that's currently on the US truss to the new MS truss except for some PARS and then stick your Sharpies in a 3-4-3 pattern on the US - that way you can do some ACL looks if your style is old skool

What does 3-4-3 mean? Three on the stage R vertical, four on the horizontal truss, then three on the stage L vertical? Or all on the horizontal? Any of that could be done as-is, I could rig the sharpies on top of the existing US truss.

Although there are two lasers to go on top of the verticals first, to do the liquid sky thing. Yup: old skool is the way

What I really need is a Avolites guru to advise on the rig and set up some looks and chases in venue mode, while I learn Titan myself (I'm doing the online course now). This is all new to me . Any Avolites dudes in South Norfolk who fancy a day's consultancy work?

 

[littlespark]

You got an expert involved now with @Rockingit contributing.

When we had the caravan park, our club/bar was built from portacabins with low ceilings.
I managed to source a half-glitterball, did the job.

 

[Rockingit]

You got an expert involved now with @Rockingit contributing.

When we had the caravan park, our club/bar was built from portacabins with low ceilings.
I managed to source a half-glitterball, did the job.

Was that flattery mate? Because you know I'm a sucker for a flirt....

 

[Rockingit]

Ha ha! You mean the stage dressing? It took ages for the committee to let me paint the front of the stage and the side panels grey for a start. They were gloss white Dulux, threw every bit of stray light back into your face, and looked ridiculous. Next is to paint the rear exposed walls dark grey as well.

You're right - this is a rural village hall (!) and it's only happened at all because I paid for everything out of my own pocket, with the hall then paying me back as they see the benefit of having this kit, and them making money from gigs that could not have been done before. Without my JFDI attitude nothing would ever have happened. This is all a bit of a hobby for me, and something I've wanted to do since helping with lighting at school in the 70's, and it's fun. Compared with PAR cans and cinemoid, modern RGBW moving lights are amazing!

I'm not keen on putting a lot more structure in, as I can't face any more arguments with the committee about it! But your idea of the mid truss is great. I wish I'd known about that before.

I could put two or three single ali tubes running US-DS, just clamped on top of the existing trusses.

Or maybe one length of single ladder truss L-R hung off the existing US-DS rails, but it wouldn't take much weight.

Those five 350W MLs (which are beam-spot-wide zoom fittings, not sharpies) on the US truss are heavy, so they probably have to stay where they are as that's the only truss that can take the load.

What does 3-4-3 mean? Three on the stage R vertical, four on the horizontal truss, then three on the stage L vertical? Or all on the horizontal? Any of that could be done as-is, I could rig the sharpies on top of the existing US truss.

Although there are two lasers to go on top of the verticals first, to do the liquid sky thing. Yup: old skool is the way

What I really need is a Avolites guru to advise on the rig and set up some looks and chases in venue mode, while I learn Titan myself (I'm doing the online course now). This is all new to me . Any Avolites dudes in South Norfolk who fancy a day's consultancy work?

View attachment 109998

Some cheap 2-300mm tri truss overslung between the two US / DS trusses will give you enough structure to rig an under-slung additional L<>R truss, also gives flexibility to move the whole lot around. What I meant by 3-4-3 was in the horizontal line in three groups, so 3 - space - 4 - space - 3. As for control, I abandoned Avo many years ago and have owned Chamsys ever since but there's many groups to be found on FB - lot's of kids out there with all the button pushing knowledge (and not much else.....) you can glean off. Sherbert dip and a bottle of fizz and they'll be all over that......

 

[Avo Mk8]

I abandoned Avo many years ago and have owned Chamsys ever since

You heartless man! Did I not measure up?