ARRI 1200/1800W Electronic Ballast question
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Michael Carter
Veteran
I'm no electrician, but three wires shouldn't require a dryer (220) socket. The config in the photo should be black=hot, white=neutral, green=ground. 1800w should be fine on regular 120 household current.
But I'd see if you can download the specs for the ballast, or try someone like Galaxy.
But I'd see if you can download the specs for the ballast, or try someone like Galaxy.
Thank you Michael... can anyone with this type of multivoltage ballast point me to an adapter. I'm amazed that it came like this brand new from B&H with no where in the manual or on their site to find an adapter to get it connected to a wall.
I went to Home Depot and got a 20 Amp 250v Edison plug. Don't know what others are using or if this is a professional line plug.
I went to Home Depot and got a 20 Amp 250v Edison plug. Don't know what others are using or if this is a professional line plug.
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Moseph
Veteran
I would return that plug and get a standard 15 amp edison plug for one thing. This will give you way more flexibility.
If you have the plug contacts facing away from you, the black wire should go into the right one (or with that 20a plug, the horizontal one), the white wire should go into the left one, and the green one into the ground on the bottom. You'll probably have to cut the wires back a little further so that the plug housing is clamping down on the outside insulation jacket too. Otherwise all the strain is actually on the individual wires at their contact points, not good.
If you have the plug contacts facing away from you, the black wire should go into the right one (or with that 20a plug, the horizontal one), the white wire should go into the left one, and the green one into the ground on the bottom. You'll probably have to cut the wires back a little further so that the plug housing is clamping down on the outside insulation jacket too. Otherwise all the strain is actually on the individual wires at their contact points, not good.
Michael Carter
Veteran
Most of those plugs have color-coded screws as well - brass/gold = black wire, silver = white wire, green = green wire. It's also easy to tell which one is the ground just by looking.
As Moseph states, make sure the strain relief collar has a tight grip on the overall insulation wrapper - not just the three wires.
As Moseph states, make sure the strain relief collar has a tight grip on the overall insulation wrapper - not just the three wires.
Movie Mike
Member
It is all over the inter-net that the Arri M18 does not run well on 120V circuits, especially those provided by portable generators. Search “problems powering Arri M18 on portable generators” for details.
Movie Mike
David W. Jones
Veteran
From memory that ballast will draw 21 amps from a 120v circuit.
I've noticed that it runs fine in the studio on a 15 amp circuit... that is until I use an extension chord. Then the extension chord gets warm and it eventually trips the circuit. Works fine without the extension chord. So now I'm looking into a 50 amp distro box to use that one existing circuit in the studio.
Moseph
Veteran
That doesn't sound right. What's the gauge of the extension cord (not chord) that you're using? I guess if you're using something severely underrated for that kind of power you could be creating enough resistance to cause the circuit to trip since you're maxing it out with 1800w to begin with, but a typical 12/3 extension shouldn't do that.
Movie Mike
Member
The problem is not the 12/3 cord, but the Edison Plug ends on the extension cord. The cord will carry that load 200' without excessive voltage drop. The problem is that the Edison Plug ends are only rated for 15 Amps and act as a bottleneck, creating heat which causes voltage drop. With these constant power ballasts as the voltage drops, the ballast draws more current to maintain the lamp power. A viscous cycle starts, where one leads to the other and before you know it a cable end has melted or the breaker has tripped. The trick is to operate the ballast on a larger 120V circuit. On location you can use a transformer/distro to step down common 240V receptacles to create a 120V circuit large enough to power the M18 without a problem.
Movie Mike
You wouldn't want to use anything less than 12/3 for an extension cord, and with harmonics there is a chance you could trip a 15 amp breaker with an 1800w load, even with the ballast plugged in directly.
Movie Mike
Member
The M18 ballast will draw 18.5 amps at 120V and will always trip the common 15amp house circuit and will trip a 20 Amp circuit if there is something else on the same circuit. Since you can't know what else is on the same circuit, or even if it is a 20 or 15 Amp circuit, it is risky to plug the Baby Max into the wall.
Movie Mike
Actually professional Gaffers likes Guy holt as posted about the same:
"The problem is that the draw of the 1800W Baby Max – 19.5A at 115V – is just too close to the threshold to operate reliably. If there is any line loss from a long cable run, or increased resistance from an overheated plug end, the draw of the ballast climbs over 20 Amps and trips the breaker. It has been my and other Gaffer’s experience that the stinger plug-ends overheat because most are only rated for 15 Amps. The increased resistance that results from the heat causes the voltage to the ballast to drop and so it has to draw more power to maintain the 1800W load. At 110V it will draw 20.5 Amps. In my experience the power drawn by the 1800W Baby Max is just too near the operating threshold of a 20A circuit for it to operate reliably plugged into a U-Ground Edison Outlet." --- Guy Holt
http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=47803
Moseph
Veteran
Well, considering that the OP stated that it ran fine on a 15 amp circuit with no extensions, I would have to infer that he's operating it at 1200w. Now, if I have my math right, based on the extra current that the ballast is drawing when running at 1800w, at 1200w it should be consuming around 1662 watts, or 14.4 amps at 115v. Close to 15 amps, which would trip the breaker, but not quite there. I guess a hot enough extension could push it over in either case, but I get the sense that multiple factors are in play here since that's under the 15 amp rating for the plugs as well. Could it be even the power company not supplying a clean 115-120 volts, but something closer to 110?
No it was running at 1800 watts... the 1800 watt light indicator on the ballast was lit all the time.