Disaster !! I need some SERIOUS advice !!

We rented a bunch of equipment in order to do an event at my school. It was outside. We had,

LIST
Pioneer DJM 800 – 32W or Numark M6 – 12W
(2) Technics SL-1200 – 13.5W
Belkin USB Hub – NEGLIGIBLE
Macbook Pro – 30W
Numark NS6 – 12V , 2A → 24 W
Samsung Laptop – 19V , 3.6 A → 64 W

I know the capacity of power outlets are 120V, 15/20A. This gives outlets a capacity of 1800W/2400W.

Then we also had an AP4040 amplifier (1130W, 1800W at max peak), 2 Yorkville E215s and 2 Yorkville LS801Ps (792W, 900W at max peak).

On top of that, we were using 3 plugs (2 From ONE outside portable, and 1 from ANOTHER outside portable [2 portables in total]).

The Setup + LS801P was on ONE plug of a portable (with the help of Power Bars).
The AMP was on ANOTHER plug of the SAME Portable.

The other LS801P was plugged in the other portable.

However, the sound kept cutting off like crazy! I'm trying to make sense of this and why it would cut off... I'm assuming that all the plugs in one portable are in a SEPARATE circuit from the other portable.

One known mistake was the fact that we put the LS801P AND the AP4040 on one circuit. That will certainly surpass the capacity if the circuit has a 15A capacity, and that is exactly what happened. Therefore, we unplugged the LS801P, which would cause the circuit to draw about 1330W at the very most, and I doubt that the AP4040 was drawing a max peak of power (1800W). So in retrospect, the sound SHOULDN'T be cutting off anymore.

But it still did... and it was really embarrassing.

I was also open to the possibility that BOTH portables were on one circuit. So we tried our best by removing all our items from the "LIST" except the Numark NS6, and the Samsung Laptop.

Thank you guys!

 

There are a couple things you left out, such as the ratings for the "portables" you are using to supply power to this equipment.... length and size of your extension cords, etc. these things could affect your power....

And another thing, when the audio cuts off, does the equipment experience a "brown out"?? or is there no visible sign, just the music cutting off?

 

Well, I don't think it was a brown-out. The equipment would just shut off all together. My extension cords seemed pretty durable, and they were pretty long as well... I only needed to use about 15-20FT though.

 

When the equipment shut off, was it because a breaker tripped?
What did you have to do to get it back on?
You should always avoid using a real long extension cord where/when possible.

 

When operating equipment outside, make sure you use a GFCI outlet.

 

i can see a few isues i can't say exactley the problem without some specs on the generators. if your drawing that many watts they should be on seperate generators, short preferably 12-14 awg extension cords most are 16AWG though. the longer the wire the more resistance this reduces the amperage avalable and this afects your wattage you can pull. it could have also been the computer or one of the smaller devices having a power isue causeing this failure. from what i have seen volume and bass can afect power draw a bit. i have seen some subwoofers with there own power when there is alot of base the power led will dim slightley from the power used by the speaker. solution turn down th volume and lessen the bass if possible.

 

This would be very useful to know.
Some audio amps are set up to automatically mute, if the output level is too high for too long.

If waiting was enough to bring the equipment back to life, this might be the problem. Or there might be a soft 'reset' switch which could be pressed.

 

This is the kind of thing that makes you want to have a real technician on the job. It was my ticket to hanging out with bands in L.A. in the 1970's

There is nothing like actually being there when things go wrong. An experienced techie can look like a magician or a dolt, depending on what the real problem is and how fast it needs to be fixed, which is usually "instantly".