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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! |
#2
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
"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. |
#3
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
"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 |
#4
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
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. |
#5
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
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) |
#6
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
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! |
#7
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
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! |
#8
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Electrical requirements for a new studio?
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#9
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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. 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. this reply was echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com |
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