Jet Engines & Laser Beams...
sportfan1969
Posts: 11
This past Friday we put on a gig at a local venue here in Jackson MS. We recently upgraded our rig with the DRPA, 2 new amp's, 2 new subs, and 2 new mains. Well half way through the show, the band decides to break into one of our favorites (Comfortably Numb) and that's when it happened, a HISS & crackle as if a C5-A Galaxy was taking off in the place and bright orange and white lights shot (Like LASER BEAMS) from the Mains & Stage Monitors (nearly blinding the bass player who happened to be staring directly into one of the stage monitors ports), the LEDS on the Mackie Mixer were Pinned in the RED as were the CLIP lights on ALL of the Amps, DRPA, Effects Processors; all the while the Keyboard player is yelling \"It's not me, it's Gary's new gear!!!\". With in 1 second I was able to bring down the mixer's main faders and asess the damage (nothing broken but our pride).
Turns out, all of the additional gear was more than the one 20 Amp breaker the rig was plugged into could handle and instead of blowing, the Keyboard players Triton Pro didn't have enough power to process the 5-layer Comfy Numb patch correctly and the resulting output was of the destructive type mentioned above (Mike. the reality of the situation is; it was you/your keyboard, my rig only contributed to the chaos). Needless to say, the $85 dollar Furman Surge Protectors are going to be trashed TODAY and in lieu of them we will replace them with the $200 variety which promise to stabilize the voltage & current output.
BTW- It probably safe to say that I owe the DRPA's Limiter section it's props., it possibly saved us a grand or two in repairs/replacements.
Turns out, all of the additional gear was more than the one 20 Amp breaker the rig was plugged into could handle and instead of blowing, the Keyboard players Triton Pro didn't have enough power to process the 5-layer Comfy Numb patch correctly and the resulting output was of the destructive type mentioned above (Mike. the reality of the situation is; it was you/your keyboard, my rig only contributed to the chaos). Needless to say, the $85 dollar Furman Surge Protectors are going to be trashed TODAY and in lieu of them we will replace them with the $200 variety which promise to stabilize the voltage & current output.
BTW- It probably safe to say that I owe the DRPA's Limiter section it's props., it possibly saved us a grand or two in repairs/replacements.
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Comments
Run another curcuit to be safe, but the more I think about it, I don't think you over loaded the circuit or created the voltage drop. Your run of the mill 16 ga extention cord from wal-mart can easily withstand the load you had on it (since the breaker didn't trip), unless it is partially cut or damaged from truly over using it in the past. I think your band mates are looking for a scapegoat. I'd look elsewhere for the culprit. You can test your theory by connecting the keyboard to the board only (no amps etc. and then hook-up 2 or 3 space heaters one at a time. If you can get the breaker to pop with out the meters pegging from a repeat of the keyboard problem, then it is a problem with the key processor, unrelated to voltage drop.
As far as the limiter in the DRPA, you should count your blessings because the limiter is not designed to protect in that way (not a peak stop).
Then again, I'm just guessing.
DRA
What the hell? Blinding lights? Laser beams? form the speakers? That's CRAZY... I mean older speakers used to have light bulbs that acted as current limiter, but they would BLOW when they got real bright...hopefully before the voice coil on the horn...
Laser beams? Man what would do that? I suspect that the DRPA would have been right behind the keyboard, and we recommend a UPS for the DRPA for just such an occurrence, and it would protect the keyboard too... for just enough time for that transient spike happens when the power goes out, or in brief brown out conditions. That new conditioner better have a line voltage meter. Then you can at least monitor the voltage.
G
I liked that bit, a bit of poetry??
Had a star wars \"feel\" to it
Maybe a War of the world \"feel\" as well
a touch of poetic licence.
Love your work sportfan1969
Fanman20