...electrical ?s...
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c7sus
Disenfranchised Member
You want at least 2- 20a circuits, and both on the SAME PHASE. If you go with more than two circuits the additional ones should still be of the SAME PHASE as the first two.
If you go with star-grounding you'll want to use hospital-grade 20a outlets with isolated grounds.
The NEC allows 180volt-amps (watts) per outlet when figuring demand factors, so you can put up to 10 outlets on a single 20amp circuit.
20a X80% load capacity= 16amps
16a X 120volts= 1920 volt-amps
1920va / 180va = 10.66666667
You can round up, but I tend to round down in these cases.
Generally, one 20amp circuit in your control room is plenty.
And unless you're gonna have more than a couple 100w guitar amps and a 400w bass amp running at the same time a single 20amp circuit should handle that.
Don't use GFCI outlets, either. The last thing you need is a finickey ground-fault device tripping in the middle of a take.
Be sure and get an electrical permit and have your work inspected. If your house burns down from your electrical work, and you bootlegged it in, your insurance company is gonna leave you holding the bag. If somebody gets killed your gonna be on the hook for that, too.
If you go with star-grounding you'll want to use hospital-grade 20a outlets with isolated grounds.
The NEC allows 180volt-amps (watts) per outlet when figuring demand factors, so you can put up to 10 outlets on a single 20amp circuit.
20a X80% load capacity= 16amps
16a X 120volts= 1920 volt-amps
1920va / 180va = 10.66666667
You can round up, but I tend to round down in these cases.
Generally, one 20amp circuit in your control room is plenty.
And unless you're gonna have more than a couple 100w guitar amps and a 400w bass amp running at the same time a single 20amp circuit should handle that.
Don't use GFCI outlets, either. The last thing you need is a finickey ground-fault device tripping in the middle of a take.
Be sure and get an electrical permit and have your work inspected. If your house burns down from your electrical work, and you bootlegged it in, your insurance company is gonna leave you holding the bag. If somebody gets killed your gonna be on the hook for that, too.
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
You want all your GEAR on the same phase, because any grounding problems will limit fault voltages to 120 volts instead of 240 volts. This makes a mistake much less deadly.
You should put lights, HVAC, etc, on the OTHER phase to balance out the load - keep in mind, though, that it's likely your studio stuff won't be as much of a load as everything else, so if you need to put any NON-electronics stuff on a phase with the electronics, I recommend doing so with LIGHTING, not HVAC or plugs where a refrigerator will be connected.
That way, any spikes caused by turn-on and turn-off of heat or frig's will be on the opposite phase from the electronics.
This last part just makes it less likely you'll have interference in your electronic gear, it's not safety related... Steve
You should put lights, HVAC, etc, on the OTHER phase to balance out the load - keep in mind, though, that it's likely your studio stuff won't be as much of a load as everything else, so if you need to put any NON-electronics stuff on a phase with the electronics, I recommend doing so with LIGHTING, not HVAC or plugs where a refrigerator will be connected.
That way, any spikes caused by turn-on and turn-off of heat or frig's will be on the opposite phase from the electronics.
This last part just makes it less likely you'll have interference in your electronic gear, it's not safety related... Steve
frederic
New member
Another option is to run a single 60A circuit from the main breaker box to a sub panel, install three 20A breakers, and they are all on the same phase. Run a seperate 15A or 20A circuit for the lighting, general outlet use (phones, caller ID boxes, answering machines, coffee machines, etc).
This way all your electronic gear/computers are on the subpanel, and share a common, starred ground.
This way all your electronic gear/computers are on the subpanel, and share a common, starred ground.
c7sus
Disenfranchised Member
Homes are fed with single-phase 240v in most places in the country.
Single-phase 240 is two legs of power, 120-degrees out-of-phase with each other. They measure 120v to ground. Measure across those hot legs and you get your 240v.
These are normally identified as black and red.
Put your outlets on only all black or all red circuits.
Single-phase 240 is two legs of power, 120-degrees out-of-phase with each other. They measure 120v to ground. Measure across those hot legs and you get your 240v.
These are normally identified as black and red.
Put your outlets on only all black or all red circuits.