Dedicated Electrical Outlets? (2 Viewers)

After much delay, I'm starting back into my HT project, so far I've studded out my basement walls and done the low voltage wiring. I now need to do the electric wiring, both for the HT setup and the entire room.

I'll be running an HT receiver (looks like a Sherwood Newcastle), along with a satelite receiver, & other stuff. My viewing will be provided by a ceiling mounted projector.

So I was planning on running a dedicated 20 Amp line to the receiver and then distributing the rest of the electronics on another. Does this make sense or should I run a dedicated line to the projector?

Thanks!
Bob

In my opinion...

Put in one 20a circuit wired for the amplifier / signal stack. Put in one 20a circuit for the projector. Maybe run the house-lights on the projector circuit.

Your amp is the biggest single draw, especially at power-on. In reality, a wild ballpark estimate (based on my own signal-stack) is...

Amplifier:

Guys - thanks for the feedback, sounds good.

I assume different phase means different sides of the main box, right? I'm not sure what you mean by two separate feeds, Wayne - if I use dimmers (not yet sure what I'll do yet)- but why would I need two feeds? I'll do some studying, I've never dealt with dimmers before.

Thanks again,
Bob

Um,

pardon my ignorance here, but if you really want the electric to be on 'the same phase,' don't you really want to go down the same side of the box, skipping every other one?

After all, a 120v breaker sits on one leg.

A 240v breaker sits on two 120s.

Thus, one could also go down, taking 1 & 5, rather than taking 1 & 3.

Granted, I do not know the relationship across the bus-bars in the middle... on a single-phase panel, are they on the same leg?

Leo Kerr

Oh, and Wayne,

I put in the receiver as less than 15amps. The inrush can be pretty spectacular - my Yamaha makes the UPSs squeak most power-ons...

...but again, it's just for that first 1/10th of a second.

Leo Kerr

Well, I'll also admit that I frequently turn into someone sufficiently distracted by the trees to notice the forest.

But I have also been in situations where there is easily the sufficient overhead for routine operation that had a good chance (1 in 3) of breaking when it was powered.

In my modus operandi, I light up the receiver and then everything else afterword. The projector is on a different circuit. Neither circuit is dedicated for anything... I just don't know if I'd want to have the projector see the amp in-rush voltage sag after it had struck its arc...

Now, I'll also grant, in our neighborhood, if a neighbor's heat-pump/ac kicks on, all of our lights will flicker (slightly.) Likewise, the close street-lights will also show the momentary sag. If you're really paying attention for it, you can sometimes see a reaction when you turn on a 100w lamp! (But that, fortunately, is relatively rare....)

It may be that some of my somewhat paranoid recommendations are based on never really having had 'clean' electric.

Leo Kerr

You cant go wrong to have move curciuts if you have the room.

I put a 60amp subpanel www.stevesreefroom.com/DSCN4167.JPG out of sight near my HT. I really dont think 20a lines are necessary for home theaters(unless codes in your area demands it). I am using a seperate 15a lines to(receiver, projector, lights, sub and one line to the rest of the electronic).

Now I also know that a dedicated sub panel is not necessary either, but in my case, my 200amp main panel is 45ft away

Steve

well... the neighborhood was really built in the early 1960s... the average house had 50amp service. (I'm not kidding.)

Since then, we've gone from about twenty five houses on the same feeder to more like a hundred... and many of the houses have added air conditioning and more... a lot of heat-pumps, too.

And what has the power company done?

Absolutely nothing. Still the original 1960s service. Oh, the transformers get replaced often enough - one summer one pole-transformer popped off five or six times!

Yes, it is sort of scary...

Leo Kerr

Thanks for all the replies, guys. A couple of questions:

1. Is there a way to determine how to determine how a box handles different phases (side by side or same side, skipping)? As it turns out (by coincidence), almost all of my electric devices that have motors are on one side of the panel (refigerator, A/C, fans, etc.). I'd like to keep those on a different phase than my HT equipment.

2. Wayne mentions that dimmers can cause havoc with electronic equipment, I'll try to get that circuit on a different phase. Even so, are there dimmers that are of a higher quality that create less interference than others? If I go to dimmers, I don't mind spending money on better quality ones - might that make a difference?

Thanks again!
Bob

Hi bob,

99% of the time the phases are every other breaker on either side.

Your best bet if you want to use different phases, is use the 2 breaker spots next to each other, then you are almost for sure will have seperate phases.

Steve

Great info guys, however I want to make sure - I'm a bit dense sometimes.

Let's say I have 8 breakers:
1
3
5
7
on the left and
2
4
6
8
on the right.

Same phase would be:
1 & 5, as well as 4 & 8, right?
The other phase would be:
3 & 7, as well as 2 & 6.

Do I have it right? I'd like to move my breakers to have the heavy motors (A/C, furnace, refirg. etc.) & dimmers on opposite phase as my electronics. It may mean moving some breakers but it sounds like its worth it.

Thanks,
Bob

There are a couple of things about this.

But first, yes, in most panels, your description is generally correct.

In many cases, it is difficult, if not impossible, to isolate heavy motors that really matter from stuff that you want to have clean power. Many of the 'things that matter' are 240volt machines, and will pollute each pole equally.

Also, for reasons I don't understand, apart from not wanting to pull one leg down too far, it's generally 'a good thing' to keep the different poles relatively balanced in loads.

I'm not really quite sure how much isolation really makes sense. From my own (limited) experience, I'd dare speculate that in most situations, the isolation of having the machine in question on a different circuit is sufficient. In cases where that is not sufficient, then the solutions are... extreme. Balanced power, anyone? Power reformers?

Leo Kerr

Of course (smacks head) - 240 would affect both poles/phases. I'll have to re-think my strategy - thanks.