What power calculations do you actually need for your shows?
Hey folks - I'm building a custom power calculation report for Flex. I originally thought this would be for specifying generator size and venue power requirements, but after talking to a couple of friends in the industry, it seems like load balancing across three-phase legs might be more important (or maybe both are needed - that's what I'm trying to figure out).
Here's the thing: I'm an audio guy, not an electrician or lighting tech, so I need your help understanding what calculations would actually be useful.
Some questions I'm thinking about:
- How do you currently handle three-phase load balancing - is this something you'd want calculated automatically?
- Do you need total power draw, or something more granular (by department, by rack, etc.)?
- Are there calculations you're doing in spreadsheets that could be automated?
I know Vectorworks handles some of this for designers, but I'm curious what project managers need when putting together quotes or coordinating with venues.
What power information do you wish you had at your fingertips when planning shows?
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Thanks Justin. I haven't given much thought to the implementation details, yet. First I just make sure it actually has some useful outputs. So how much detail would be good? Just total power per department or should I go farther and make sure that each cable and connector is properly rated?
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I agree with Justin King here. Sounds awesome, but you can't make a report show data that doesn't exist in the database. I'm aware of some lighting-related columns in the database, but they are not currently available in the UI and I'd hesitate to try to adapt them for this use-case.
I have two curiosities here. First, what's everyone been using to do this? It's been more than a few years since I was in the field and my brain has been completely rewired toward programming at this point... Second, what datapoints are the most useful? Do you just need amp-draw on amplifiers? Does this go to the distro level? Does any of this functionality make sense to see within the app as opposed to a report?
And last, given that there aren't fields to pull from, I'd submit a request here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbh5B5ZEoPIVuoM35egaoyhLtyHYqOr0Ji7C6JUhOEfRrM0Q/viewform. No guarantees on if or when we'd address the request; mostly based on interest.
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