How many lights?

[ac12]

I don't know why it was made small when the house was built.
But then back in the 70s, they did not use as much power consuming stuff as we do today.
Although the decision of circuits still puzzles me.

I'm glad I'm not in the flat that I rented in San Francisco, 30 years ago. The entire flat was on only THREE fuses.

Yes, as you said, the labor is going to be the same, so when I finally do upgrade the main panel, I will probably go with something like a 200amp unit (so that I have plenty of extra capacity), and a LARGE breaker panel so I don't have to use those troublesome half-size breakers, and have spare capacity for additional circuits.

 

[smoke665]

@ac12 I can remember when a 60 amp panel was standard, but as you said the load requirement was different. We needed the bigger service because we're all electric, with two heat pumps, and a 30x40 shop. Putting a bigger panel in is going to depend on the existing wiring. It gets expensive rewiring existing structures.

 

[adamhiram]

@adamhiram do you get much color variation as the batteries draw down?

Not that I've noticed, and the Flashpoint XPLOR 400Pro (Godox AD400Pro) has a color stable mode that is supposed to help with that. I've never measured it, but I also haven't noticed any color shifts while editing, and I've taken hundreds of shots during a shoot without issue. I probably get more color cast from the brown-tone walls than anything else, although that tends to warm things up slightly, and I take white balance readings before shooting anyway.

 

[ac12]

@ac12 I can remember when a 60 amp panel was standard, but as you said the load requirement was different. We needed the bigger service because we're all electric, with two heat pumps, and a 30x40 shop. Putting a bigger panel in is going to depend on the existing wiring. It gets expensive rewiring existing structures.

Agree about the rewiring. So the initial plan is minimal
- replace the service panel, 100A to 200A
- then run a conduit (so they don't have to tear open the wall) and new line, to the main breaker panel. The line from the service panel to the main breaker panel is probably only rated for 100 or 125A.
- replace the main breaker panel with one with more breakers.
- - Then I can eliminate the half size breakers, and have a few spare circuits to expand into.

 

[smoke665]

@ac12 good plan, but you do realize that your looking at a 3" dia. conduit?

 

[ac12]

@ac12 good plan, but you do realize that your looking at a 3" dia. conduit?

No. I better go talk to the electrician again.
It would be in the garage, so a large conduit won't be an issue.

I could split the breaker panels.
100A to the current panel, so nothing changes, and 100A to a new panel for new circuits.
But that still leaves all the half-size breakers in the current panel.

I could move the main breaker panel to the wall near the service panel, but that would require significant rewiring $$$$.

sigh

 

[smoke665]

@ac12 I was thinking about it last night and think I overstated conduit for entry, you'll need at least 2 dia." for the service entry. I'm not a licenced electrician but I've done enough wiring over the years to get by. As to splitting a box to another panel, you still have to consider the capacity of the entry cable.

Not to drift off Adam's thread but electrical service is a consideration on the number of lights you can use, unless you're on batterry power. When I reached out to Paul Buff on my AB's, I got a lot of stuttering and stammering but no hard answers. It boils down to the WS of the light and the capacitor discharge level. In practice, after the initial power on, I don't need to shoot at 100 percent power on every light, which significantly reduces the power required for recharging the capacitors. In practice I have run as many as 6 mono lights ranging 400WS to 800WS on a 20 amp circuit without issue. Speedotron doesn't really specify with their pack system what amps a circuit needs, but I'd be willing to bet it will run on a 20amp circuit as well.

A 20 amp breaker will handle some surge without tripping. A 20 amp breaker will trip after a sustained draw of 27 amps for 1 hour, and will handle a 40 amp draw for 120 seconds.

 

[adamhiram]

I think I might just go ahead and pickup a 4th light

Follow-up: I picked up a 4th light. For some reason the sale wouldn't go through online and I had to call Adorama on the phone, but they were very helpful and put it through. For anyone interested, XPLOR 400Pro normally sells for $649, currently listed fort $519, but actually on sale for $419 if you have a promo link or just call, which is the lowest I've seen them.