YOU ARE THE 1st GAFFER ON RU-vid That actually showed what the job consist of. I owe you my life. I was so tired of telling people what gaffers do, and what the gear is. Now I can reference your work to point people in the right direction. You are the MAN OF THE YEAR for this!
To me, this particular video is most helpful because it is giving insight and know how to help me jump beyond 2k lights. I have worked on a handful of feature films and one of them I was the gaffer but the budget never required anything more than a 2k. It is difficult to make the jump into larger lights without knowing how work they distro electricity. Thank you for taking the time to produce these videos.
Luke I have to say, that is very smart presentation. A VERY SMART ONE ! Nice the chalk approach. You should run this tutorials for money like Shane. Actually Meet the Gaffer is probably the best tutorial set ever. My sincere compliments.
Yes. If you are able, it would be great to get footage and an explanation. I’m happy to make an episode around anything you come up with... if you have the opportunity to share.
@@meetthegaffer ist pretty simple here. We have standard red labeled cables and plugs (called CEE) for three phase 400V (16A, 32A, 63A, 125A) and the same with blue labeled plugs for three pin (single phase) 220V. You can’t do anything wrong in Europe.
Really enjoy the videos! I'm very much a visual and hands on learner so these really help me with some tools that I don't get to work with often in my small area.
Hey Luke, I really appreciate the videos you are producing. They are definitely some of the most helpful videos I've ever watched that are on the website about the topic of set electricity. I am a sophomore in film school, but have advanced to senior classes and in no way have they taught me what you have. Keep up the amazing work and thank you.
Thanks for this! Needed this as a bit of a review for live event power and it was perfect. I've seen people in forums and around refuse to share information about 3 phase power bc of "safety" but knowledge is power! If someone who doesn't know what they're doing ends up setting up power distro, this is only going to help it turn out safely.
Hello from New Zealand! Love the videos mate keep them coming. As a guy who has worked in TV for more than 15 years and is looking at getting in to more Film work your channel has been very helpful cheers.
Nicely done Alan! Miss you guys. I was actually online looking for a tow plant and ran into this. Mine was stolen (second time) from the Holiday Inn in Oakland last night. Best to all and thanks for stepping up and helping the youngsters coming in!
Big THANKS ! and many blessings to you and your team Luke! I am a young Construction/Industrial Master Electrician that is brand new to the film industry in Vancouver BC Canada. Let me tell you, feeling much like an apprentice again while on set has been a big change! Your series is helping me get out of the green stage in double time! Plus its a great way to get through those long "condor calls" and night time genny op calls! LOL! Keep the videos coming my brutha!!
Absolutely Love your videos. Can you please make a video about metering a box, why you do it, and what you do when there is a problem? I feel so many people just understand how to plug into a distro box and go, but dont check the actual box for problems before that problem gets out of hand. Either way Thanks for the great videos, and any on larger distribution are greatly appreciated as they clarify everything and make the set a safer place
Essentially you are looking to make sure you have approx. 115-119v on a three phase distro or 122-125v on a single phase box. It is also good to test the ground. It should read the same as a neutral if it is good. Unfortunately metering the voltage does not mean you are absolutely guaranteed that you have a perfect system. If one camlok connector has 4 copper strands connected and the rest pulled out you may test positive and then run into problems when you go to plug lights in as the 4 copper strands are not going to carry 100 amps. At least by metering the legs you know that no camlok connectors are mismatched or unconnected.
Awesome video. Could you do a part 2 a discuss how the to properly distribute the power and balance the generator? Also, are the soft threefers in place of a spiderbox or is that something different?
You know, we shot a quick mention about balancing the legs, but it didn't make it into the final edit:-( I'll do another episode with another genny owner where we can get into that...
Spiderbox is a somewhat antiquated device, pretty much replaced by distro boxes. Spiderboxes generally had lug connectors in and out and where time-consuming with no breakers. Modern distro boxes are a lot better and safer. I mainly use soft threaders to get out of distro boxes. If you are adding a therefor to a piece of banded or 2/0 then hard threefers are fine. The you put hard threaders on a distro box (and sometimes older boxes are too tight to accommodate even) you have to raise the box on either a 1/2 apple or full apple box to allow cabling to happen.
Luke I love the content, quick note on what my union has been teaching and i am not sure if its industry standard. They say to never drop a knee when plugging in the bandit due to grounding yourself and uping a chance of shock. Let me know what you think appreciate!
+mac ruiz, absolutely! It’s an important rule whether your line is hot or not. Have your connection to the ground only be your rubber soled shoes and the cable you’re working with. Thanks for the input.
This is super helpful! Would there ever be a scenario in which you tape over your open connections like the open ends of the soft three-fer when you weren't using it or is that unnecessary?
It doesn’t hurt to tape off openings. It’s a preference. I’ve seen crush tips jammed in there:) Look to ur BB Electric to what they prefer. For rain it’s good to cover with plastic and aim down and preferably boosted by a box or mat, but it’s been a while since I’ve Bested, so there are probably smarter habits out there people could share.
A Flur type thermal camera would be a useful diagnostic tool for an on set electric. Once things are up and running walk your cable runs and distro points to look for excessive heat. Simple, easy to use, modest cost, ~$300.
Hello! Absolutely fantastic video! Just found your channel and I cant stop watching! I had a quick question as I often gaff and seldom have to touch distro boxes as of late. When you say that with the 220v distro box cannot be used with 10ks because it doesnt have a 100 amp out does that mean it has no way to re-circulate the large amp draw back to the generator? thanks again and just subscribed!
Hi Joseph, That particular box just doesn’t have a 110v receptacle from which you could run power to a 10K unless you had a 10k globe that could run on 220v power, which may be very prevalent in other parts of the world... just not in the US. It’s not really about amp draw, it’s more about what kind of power the lamp is expecting and 220v would blow a lamp manufactured to receive 110v. Theoretically the amp draw could be a factor, but that’s not the point Alan was making in this instance. Hope that helps?
Question: do large film shoots have fire extinguishers on set? If so, which department is responsible for providing them? I have started carrying one in my modest grip box just so I know where one is. My fireperson friends remind me that most major fires could have been put out with a fire extinguisher in the first few minutes of the fire. Time is critical.
When you use the pass through for the 100 Amp lunch box run the two boxes have to split 100Amps total correct? You can put a 100 Amp load on both boxes right?
Hi Ryan, Yes, that's the idea. Just like in a house, you may be able to exceed the limit of breaker for a while, but eventually it will trip. So as a BB or set electrician you have to keep a tab on usage!
Hi, Great demo. I searched the comments and didn't find a similar question (apologies if repeat). The example has a 500amp genie connected to a 600amp distro. Does the generator and distro need to be at the same Amp?
It would be a good rule of thumb, but I’m familiar with 400 amp and 600 amp boxes, so what is more important is that the electrics all know what they are doing and how many amps they actually have to work with.
@@meetthegaffer I work for eComm photo studio outfitted with 200a CAM box (still rarely needs 180a). We need to sub rent at a place with 300a CAM box, but my Distros are all 200a rated. This should mean the distros will limit the draw to 200a? Otherwise are there devices to adapt and step down the amps?
I have a question on the 100Amp lunchbox passthrough. Can the cable take 200Amps total if I chain 2x 100amp boxes together? Or am I still limited to 100amps total for that run? (I assume I'd need to run the boxes independently) Thanks!
In this case, you are limited to the 100A extension, so if you use up the 100 amps in one box, you will pop a breaker soon after you add more, but if you use three on one and two on the other, you’ll be good. So your assumption is correct.
I'm a little bit confused what the 220 is with the yellow backing there. is that referring to amps or volts? the cable with the stage pin connectors. and you brought it up when wanting to use more powerful light, can you possibly go more in depth? thank you! :) Early in the video you mentioned not being able to use a 10k out of the 220 box but later you mentioned potentially an M90 which is 9k yes? That's why i'm a little confused thanks!
Volts. The yellow paddle indicates 220v. As for the second part he replied to a comment further down. Here is his reply: "Hi Joseph, That particular box just doesn’t have a 110v receptacle from which you could run power to a 10K unless you had a 10k globe that could run on 220v power, which may be very prevalent in other parts of the world... just not in the US. It’s not really about amp draw, it’s more about what kind of power the lamp is expecting and 220v would blow a lamp manufactured to receive 110v. Theoretically the amp draw could be a factor, but that’s not the point Alan was making in this instance. Hope that helps?"
Had a best boy tell me not to put my knee on the ground when plugging in banded, is that really a thing? (Possibly creating an arc if it's a hot line) You didn't rest on your knee when plugging into the genni and then you rested on your knee when you plugged in the 600 box. (Of course in theory it should never be hot.) Great video! Thank you.
The color coding seems a bit odd here, but maybe it's not a hard and fast rule? All the TV trucks and tie-in service boxes I've worked on follow the common scheme for 120/208V as A-black, B-red, C-blue, N-white, G-green for 3-phase, and A-black, B-red, N-white, G-green for 120/240V single-phase. Black/White/Green for 120V and Black/Red/Green for 240V.
I don’t know the definitive answer, but my experience in the Bay Area has been that we only add the black leg for 3-phase... so regular single phase with two hots is generally Red and Blue, with White for neutral and Green for ground. I think this may come from earlier days when we did our own tie-ins and built our own cable. 4-wire banded was always red&blue. 5-wire added the black.
Certainly in the Bay Area the first two hot legs in the film business are red and blue. However, I have noticed that theatrical work often seems to do black and blue... don't know how much variation there is over the US or world. It is mainly confusing when using single phase on a genny... are the two hot legs black and blue or red and blue?
@G009 I'm camera based in the UK and don't take too much notice of the generator side of things, But I am really interested in this as well, don't we use 16-32/63Amp Cform plugs and even 3 phase RED Cform plugs on the generator more than all these individual inputs?
That's correct. The most common is 16,32,63 and 125a cee mono/three phase plugs. However, there is also a system called powerlock, which uses the individual phases. They use this more on festivals/events. I'll try to do a video this summer about it
That's an awesome reply! Out of curiosity over in the US when they wanna run 5K HMI's or even a 18K, do they plug them into the Lunch boxes? as they look like there just filled with normal house domestic plugs? Is that the same technique over here or would a 5K HMI just be a 32Amp Cform plug?
Hi, I've watched this a few years back and it was a very good video then and it still is now. But do you see the big tow genes and the heavy distro runs fading away because the LED fixtures are taking over the industry. It nearly feels like the switch from film cameras to digital cameras...
Yes! The easy way to think about it is in what some call "paper amps", which means how you rough out the load requirements for a certain job. Roughly speaking, with out putting a meter on it, you can think of an 18K as needing 2 legs of 90 amps a leg. If you put the 500A genie in 3 phase, you have roughly 150A+ a leg, in single phase it's more like 250A- a leg, but you should leave some overhead. Does that make sense or am I assuming too much?
+cam arilo, Ah, I happen to be in Toronto this weekend, so I was going to see if you could show me what your set up looks like:-) Missed it by that much!
