Powering Lights on a Farmhouse Shoot

C

Craig_Tarry

Active member
Hello, I asked this a while back on this forum and then had some hard drive problems so I’ll ask it again. It’s about lighting for a farmhouse shoot and whether it could be done with the local power and without a generator. Say we’re using an average size lighting kit for interiors and an HMI or two to simulate daylight through windows (sorry, I can’t be more specific than that on the size of the light package)
Someone told me on this forum said that most farmhouses usually run on electric power and that a licensed electrician could tap into a circuit and power everything that way. I think they said a 220 circuit?
I’d appreciate your ideas and Thanks Craig
 
Part of your location scouting should be an electrical assessment. Depending on the age of the farmhouse the power can range drastically. Out where I live are old houses that have ancient systems, and houses just as old with high capacity systems (specifically because this house was used several times in movies and saw value in installing an upgraded system)

Easiest way is to find the fuse box or breaker box and do an inventory on each circuit branch, it's capacity, and it's location in the building. Look for 240 service to an oven - that will be handy. And also note if it's a fuse box or breaker box - you'll need to buy spare fuses incase you blow any.

If your circuits are of average capacity (1800w), and you map out your distribution you can be okay. You'll just be restricted to 1200w hmis. If you plan on more powerful hmis, look into adapters that use the 240v oven power, or hire an electrician to install your own distro.
 
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Thanks guys, and that’s the exact thread I was trying to remember! I’m in no hurry to shoot. It’s a long ways off and I’ll probably take my neighbor along to check it out. He’s an out of work electrician and I’m paranoid about anything electrical. Safety first as the saying goes.
Thanks for the detailed information and very interesting website link –
Craig
 
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