Electricity, what to know? electrical work and responsibilities? Information Please?

T

TheJackyl

Active member
I think it's very important to be safe on the set, combined with that, having knowledge of electricity will prompt new ideas and better work from people. Could those with experience and knowledge PLEASE share with us things they know about electricity, fundementals and advanced knowledge alike.


What should one look out for and KNOW concerning electricity on set?

Are there certain cube plugs to use, certain extension cords, any type of special ratings or specifications one NEEDS to be aware of when working with electrical stuff. For instance how much power can one plug into a socket on a home's my wall (United States)? or for that matter how does one tell for the specific power cube or power strip they own? These are just a few of the questions I think are important for every video/filmmaker to know when working with electricity. I hope other will add to this, THANK YOU.
 
Most household sockets will be 15amps MAX. Amperage is calculated by: Watts / Volts = Amps. Use 100 volts (in North America it's actually 110-120) as it'll be easier to divide and give you a pad.
 
One thing to do before you show up on location is to do a scout of the location and make a circuit map. Know where your circuit breakers are, and which outlets they go to. Draw a map, then on shoot day label all of the outlets with a number or letter, and then on the circuit breaker label the breakers that correspond to the outlets. It's alot easier to fix when someone says "breaker 1 is out" and you just have to go to the fuse panel and reset, rather than "northeast living room wall breaker is out" and you're left thinking "what the ****!". Make sure you actually CAN access the circuit breaker too. At some buisness buildings the circuit breaker is actually locked up. Try and get the keys, or seriously consider NOT shooting there. This saves alot of time in the event that you blow a breaker and need to get the production back up and running. Only use heavy duty extension cords and cube taps. Most houses have a max 15amp limit, and this rougly translates to 1500 watts of power that theoretically could run off of that circuit. You have to leave yourself "headroom" thought. Always under draw the circuit by4-500 watts. This allows a little breathing room if there is an energy spike. Never run lights off of those power strips with the little switch on them, always use heavy duty cube taps. Power strips are OK for smaller things like battery chargers, laptops, cameras, but keep them off of lights. It's also not a bad idea to have a fire extinguisher around because you never know when that 1k might set something close to it on fire, or get knocked over or whatever else....it's a good just in case measure, make sure it's rated for electrical fires. Also, bring a multi-meter along with you and know how to use it. This can be used for such things as checking audio/video/power cales for breaks in the line, and can also be used to check wall outlets to see if they are supplying juice and how much juice they are supplying. If you can, find extension cords with the little lights built into the end, so that you know when they're "hot". It's easy to get mixed up in what usually becomes a rats nest of cables on set. Try to not use ground lift adapters (the kind that remove the 3rd prong on a power cord so it can run in sockets with only 2) sometimes you have no other choice, but try to avoid it at all costs. Inspect your power cords and cube taps for cuts or abbrasions so that no wires are hanging out for people to get shocked etc etc....Alot of this is "well no ****" type stuff, but its always good to try and idiot proof your production as much as possible. Hope this helps!
 
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