More of an electrical question...

[Avicdar]

Hi there...

I am shooting with a digital SLR and have a preference for studio hot lights than flash. So what I am planning to use in my apartment setup is a 1000 watt redhead with a softbox, and a 500 watt omni with some diffusion.

Being somewhat of an electricity coward, I want to be sure I am not going to blow any fuses in my really old place (no ciruit breakers here, and it would be highly inconvenient to try and locate some replacement fuses), and have to deal with finding new fuses etc.

In the fusebox there are two of the round glass fuses (cant really see what they are rated at) and a small pull type box which I am guessing contains the stove fuse. My guess is that the two glass fuses are running the electrical outlets, of which one would be powering the refrigerator.

My question is this: could I use the outlet on the stove itself to run one of the lights, (its just a standard electrical plug )which would unquestionably have to be on the stove circuit? Does that plug on a stove typically have the capacity that the stove does, so that perhaps I could run my redhead at 1000 watts off of it with no difficulty? I want to try and be sure that the redhead and the omni are going to be on separate circuits. If I can use the stove circuit, so much the better. I am quite confident that the 500 watt omni would run on the main outlet circuit just fine.

These are the only two lights I want to use really, although I might add a 250 watt pro light occasionally to use as a hairlight - that would go on the same circuit as the omni if I can keep the redhead on another.

So what do you think...could I run a 1000 watt light off the stove outlet?

thanks very much!

Avi

[darkman]

You shouldn't have any problems with a 1000W bulb. This is only about 8-9 amps. You should be good to 15 amps.

A lot of hair dryers, portable electric heaters, toaser ovens, etc, draw more power than this.

[Avicdar]

You shouldn't have any problems with a 1000W bulb. This is only about 8-9 amps. You should be good to 15 amps.

A lot of hair dryers, portable electric heaters, toaser ovens, etc, draw more power than this.

Hey, thank you very much Darkman, I appreciate the response. I suspected that was the answer, and I wanted a solid second opinion which you have given me!

I got ahold of a small socket tester, and it came up "ground open", which I am told means that the ground wire is simply not connected. I know what ground is for (as I understand it, should the live wire inside the lamp somehow end up coming apart and touching the metal casing of the light, a good ground would prevent me from getting a shock).

Should I be concerned about this? I suppose if I hadn't tested the socket, I would have been none the wiser. I really do want to use this socket for the redhead light so I can be unconcerned with the load on the regular power sockets for whatever else I need to use on the shoot.

[another view]

I guess the disclaimer first... I'm not an electrician and you really should check with local codes, call an electrician if you're unsure, etc...

Amps = watts/voltage, so 1000w = 8.4 amps at 120v (like Darkman says). With newer buildings, generally it's not good to go over 80% of the rated amperage (there are other considerations too) so you should be fine on a 15A circuit as long as nothing else is on it. IOW, the fridge compressor starting up might be just enough blow the circuit. Older buildings (I live in one) have fewer circuits unless they were totally re-wired, so chance of running this by itself on a circuit isn't too likely. The stove circuit might work and it's probably a dedicated circuit, but realize that it's 240v (two 120v hot legs and a neutral, possibly a ground too).

The longer it's on, the more likely you are to blow the fuse - there's a time delay function that will (should!) let a good sized load run for a little while but break the circuit before a problem happens. BTW, fuses and circuit breakers protect the wiring in the building, not the load (light, fridge, etc). The more load you put thru a wire, the more it heats up over time. If you had a 60 watt incandescent light bulb, then a ground isn't really that big of a deal, but again with more power it becomes a bigger safety issue. If you have to use extension cords, use the shortest ones you can get away with and use big ones - 12 gauge if you can get them.

[darkman]

Hey, thank you very much Darkman, I appreciate the response. I suspected that was the answer, and I wanted a solid second opinion which you have given me!

I got ahold of a small socket tester, and it came up "ground open", which I am told means that the ground wire is simply not connected. I know what ground is for (as I understand it, should the live wire inside the lamp somehow end up coming apart and touching the metal casing of the light, a good ground would prevent me from getting a shock).

Should I be concerned about this? I suppose if I hadn't tested the socket, I would have been none the wiser. I really do want to use this socket for the redhead light so I can be unconcerned with the load on the regular power sockets for whatever else I need to use on the shoot.

If you can get your landlord to fix it, I would. Still, a lot of older construction didn't use the 3 prong and they still sell the 3 to 2 prong adapters. If the rest of the lights were correct (ieolarities), you should be OK. Just don't use them in the tub.

One of the main issues when using high powered devices and extension cords is inductance. If you leave the extension cord coiled up it effectively makes an inductor. This increases the resistance which in turn creates heat. I have seen fires started this way. If you need an extension cord get one rated for 18amps and not much longer than you really need. These are generally labeled for "appliance." use and will be thicker (12 guage).

In the past I've run 3 500W bulbs in the same room, hence the same breaker, without issue. I sometimes have 5 250W modeling lights going at the same time, with 2 packs. Though I keep the pack on slow recharge. I get a little worried with the power droop on fast recharge. Just like the lights get dim from my wifes hair dryer....

Good luck and let's see some pics,

Mike