Hi - I haven't been on the forum in a while, but figured this was a good place to bring this issue that happened last night.

I was DJing at a private residence. Power was run to a huge tent located about 250 feet from power source, the house. I was on my own circuit, but also plugged into the power that night were the propane heaters for the tent, the lighting for the tent, the caterers equipment, and the videographers lights. At one point they had me sharing a circuit - voltage went down to 100v as per my monster surge protector strip. That was in the orange. I was playing at a low level, my draw was only 1 amp.

When I went to turn the music up for dancing I had power drop outs. At this point, they had put me on my own circuit and I was supposedly getting 110 volts of power as per my strip. With the volume turned up on the speakers - as there were 130 people in the tent - my draw went up to 2 amps. I kept having drop outs at this point with the 2amp draw and the 110v. I had to turn down the volume in order to stop the drop outs.

Now here's my question - from what I read 110v would normally be okay? I had 2 Model II's running with 3 bass bins connected, then my DJ mixer, computer, and small mackie mixer. Note that the power was ONLY going off for the speakers, nothing else. Is this because the distance from the power source - the 250 feet of extension cord running from the house and drops that might have occurred?

From my experience I am used to running the system of 120v of power, as I think that is what I usually get at most venues coming out of the wall circuit?

Thanks for any insight anyone has. I want to make sure that I put this in my contract for future experiences - but I think in the future, with this type of situation, I will require a generator.

It really sucks when the music starts cutting in and out and the crowd is looking at you like what is your problem! I felt better later in the night when ALL of the lights went out in the tent and it took 5 minutes to reset the breaker while everyone was in the dark. Of course since I was on a separate circuit, the music keep going!

Hi KKorpos,

I'm sorry to hear that you encountered some power challenges the other night.

Power consumption of a sound system will vary with loudness and program (bass and low mids requiring the most power). Voltage is one component of electrical power, the other is Amperage (Power in Watts = Volts X Amps). With long cable runs the electrical conductors will cause some of the voltage to be "dropped" or consumed along its length. The smaller the gauge (size) of the conductor, the more voltage will be lost. Smaller conductors also reduces the amount of current (amps) that can effectively flow. The resistance of the wires also changes as more heat is generated from higher current flow again reducing how much power is available at the end of the cable run (smaller sized cables heat up faster).


Here is my preferred wire size for a 120V 15 Amp circuit:

• 12 gauge for runs of 25 to 50ft.
  
• 10 gauge for 75 to 100ft.
  
• 8 gauge for 150 to 200ft.
  
• 6 gauge above 200ft.

The above list is my preferred sizing choices but if as in your case the load is on the lower end (under 5 amps) and the circuit is not shared with other devices then a 10 gauge power cable would likely have been sufficient to allow ample power to be delivered to your system. A 12 gauge power cable could have worked in a pinch. Anything smaller is likely to offer poor results and an electrical safety hazard. (Note that 10 gauge is bigger than 12 gauge and so on.)

Do you know what size extension cord you were provided with?

Also note that something connected at the house to the circuit you were using would also have impacted the power performance of the circuit.

I hope this helps,

They longest run cord they provided me with was a typical orange extension cord that you find in many homes, home depot, etc.. I am not sure what that average gauge usually is?

Some of the other runs I saw were a much thicker, white extension cord. Had I had those, I just know based on the size of the thing - that likely would have been ideal.

I actually just looked up one of the Furman extension cords I personally own on the web, and that says it is only 14 gauge...which leads me to believe your typical "orange" cord is even smaller....

14 gauge is typical "household" size ... and that's only useful for <20'.

It would behoove you to get your own ... or require the venue to provide ... a heavy-duty, 12 or 10 gauge extension cord.

The labeling on the cord at time of purchase will say what the gauge is ... but it may just be on the paper label and thus you can't tell after-the-fact. The thickness of the cable does not guarantee a heavier gauge wire -- it might just be a heavier exterior coating to make it more resistant to abrasion or wetness.

This was a first...if anything I will keep it in mind, and add it to my contract....I was a little hesitant about doing a huge wedding at private residence to begin with...so we'll see if it ever happens again, definitely will be weary...but now at least I know what I am up against, Thanks!