Electrical requirements for a new studio?

I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

"thesubtext" wrote


I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space

I do this live/work space thing. Rather than working from my house
I find myself living out of my cubicle.

I know the extreme basics on electrical

Get a good electrician. Costs a bit, but worth it.

but was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc.

I have put together flexible manufacturing floors and engineering
laboratories.

There are never enough outlets and amperage. So double your estimate
and expect to still come up short. There is nothing you can do about
this, so don't worry about it.

The most flexible power distribution scheme I have found is drop
cords from the ceiling. The cords are on spools with large
multiplug outlets hanging from the drop end. The cords go up
and down like window blinds. Keeps the floor a lot cleaner and
safer without a snakes' orgy of extension cords and power strips.
Place them on a grid at 6 foot intervals or less.

The drop cord solution will interfere with ceiling mounted track
systems, such as from Sinar Bron Foba. But then the lights are
already wired to the ceiling anyway.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.

"thesubtext" wrote in message
om...
I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.

Thanks in advance for any advice

I recently moved into a space that only had 2 20 amp circuits in the
shooting area. Before adding any service I thought I'd live with this
arrangement for a while to see how it worked out. So far, it has served my
needs well, and I use a lot of power packs btw...I also run my packs on slow
recycle which draws considerably less amperage than fast. Whereas my work is
still life, YMMV in this regard. I have noticed when using a lot of power
that I get a hum in the lines...at which point I just slow down a little and
everything settles down pretty quick. I rarely if ever trip a fuse.
The best arrangement that I've seen was in a studio that I shared years ago.
It had what was referred to as a *spider*. Essentially it was an electrical
panel mounted on a rolling platform with a dozen or so circuit breakers and
outlets mounted to the panel. The panel itself was tethered to a single
large 220v (at least that's what it looked like) wall outlet. This provided
ample electricity for any project as well as having the service *mobile*.

GaryT

I was just reading "Essential Darkroom Techniques" last night. This guy
says a 30amp dedicated line is ideal for all situations. Of course you
would divide that up among several outlets.

On 3-Mar-2004, "drhowarddrfinedrhoward"
wrote:

I was just reading "Essential Darkroom Techniques" last night. This guy
says a 30amp dedicated line is ideal for all situations. Of course you
would divide that up among several outlets.

I'm not sure what darkroom and studio have to do with each other, but I am
leery of anyone who makes blanket statements like "a 30 amp dedicated line
is ideal for all situations". In my darkroom, 30 amps is expensive overkill.
I have 20amps with 5 to spare. I know people who have large darkrooms with
multiple enlargers and film processors etc where 30amps is probably not
enough. It's also wise to separate the circuits for motorized gear from the
electronic gear.

In the studio the same applies. If you're shooting cars with a 40' light
bank you probably need more than 2 x 20amp circuits. If all you do is
tabletop with 3 or 4 lights, 1 x 20amp may be enough.

It's not that hard to add up the power requirements of the lights,
computers, cameras, HVAC, compressors, hot plate, refrigerator, etc.
Separate the motors from the rest and add a fudge factor and you should have
a pretty good idea what you need for either the studio or darkroom.

--
Tom Thackrey
www.creative-light.com
tom (at) creative (dash) light (dot) com
do NOT send email to (it's reserved for spammers)

You, my friend are in luck,
I am a Master Journyman in the Electrical Trade, and an avide Photographer.
I am as well in the process of building a studio. I will be opting for 15
amp 120 volt outlets every 8 feet on all studio space walls, floor plugs,
and retracting ceiling plugs. Two dedicated 30am 120/240 volt plugs, one 60
amp 120/240 volt plug. All from a 200 amp service. I only want to do this
once. I also want to be able to drive a car into my studio. So yo ucan see
why the following questions might be important.

1. How many square feet?
2. What is the size of the main breaker in your unit.
3. Will you be using stobes or will you be using hot lights?
4. How long will you be keeping this studio space (I have some plans for
Spider boxes).

If you want you can e-mail me for more specific info.
Jason Elliott
(novirus)


"thesubtext" wrote in message
om...
I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

That really IS lucky!

Lisa

JME wrote:

You, my friend are in luck,

[snip]


If you want you can e-mail me for more specific info.
Jason Elliott
(novirus)

"thesubtext" wrote in message
om...
I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

(thesubtext) writes:

I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Do you already have the lighting equipment and other power draws
you're going to use? Or have you at least picked it out? Then you
can add up the power needed. Plan for some safety margin, too.

If you're going to be using strobes, it shouldn't be *too* bad. If
you're going to be using hot lights, you could need well over 100 amps
just for that.

For fashion work, you'll probably need to shoot fairly quickly, so
you'll probably have to select the faster recycle option (if your
equipment has options for that) most of the time.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Photos: dd-b.lighthunters.net Snapshots: www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

I am in the process of converting an industrial loft into live/work
space with a full studio. I know the extreme basics on electrical but
was wondering if anyone could share their experiences in providing
electrical to a studio space in terms of number of circuits, amperage
etc. I could project on the usage but don't want to sell myself short.
Any advice will help!

Sample shoot as an example would at most be Fashion/Editorial group
shots with heavily constructed sets. Space is about 1000sqft.


Unless you are intending to work with 2k and 5k spot lights and such which
has those rounded hi amp plugs, I'd say that most wiring up to commercial
code will do the trick. I don't think a typical power pack will draw more
current than what is usually provided.

If you are going to doing a lot of fast shooting with big powerpacks then
yeah, talk to an electrician right from the start.

The place you will find problems is in your office. You're gonna have.

one computer, two, geez maybe three, with monitors,
how many printers? laser, small photo printer, large photo printer, label
printer
flat scanner, film scanner
external drives, maybe a raid
right, photoshop power user, you have a two monitors running off your matrox
card.
and lets not forget the digital projector.

now we really get started.

how many devices will have a dongle. humm, only everything.

to round out the computer set up, you have
speakers
external usb hub
card reader.
modem
router

and non computer stuff

camera battery chargers
portable flash battery chargers
cell phone charger
laptop charger
pda charger
ipod charger
answer machine power supply
a couple desk lights
calculator

and of course you'll probably have a TV,
a radio, no stereo, and a cool retro one so you got separate tuner, amp,
preamp, CD player and powered woofer.

oops, almost forgot the light table. say you don't have an electric pencil
sharpener do you? a laminator?

anywya, most of that stuff is what I have in my little office space,

you know, you have a lot of stuff, say where does the security camera
monitor plug into?

did anybody ever tell you about electro-magnetic fields and how they
scramble your genetic code? say where do all those dongles go, why right
under your desk typically, just a few feet from your most sensitive parts...

are you converting an empty shell? got heat? got gas? even so it needs
power for the blower.

kitchen, crock pot, microwave, coffee pot (is that kitchen or office?)

someone mentioned hanging cords, its not a bad idea to have outlets up high
since it helps keep power packs and cords up off the floor.

If you are going to use hot lights having that power cart someone suggested
is also good idea since you will be moving those around a lot more.

In some places you can do most of the wiring yourself, but you must have an
electrician set up the main power supply and circuit brakers or your
insurance won't cover you.

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