19-01-2018, 12:00 PM
When the BVWS held a major exhibition of TVs at Harpenden in 1996(?) I was helping get it all set up and working. A lot of sets were misbehaving and we were scratching our heads. Then I got out a DVM and measured the mains. I don't think it ever went above 205V all day and was usually around 200V. No idea of the cause, but the hall was rewired not long after that.
With the consent of the owners we changed mains tappings on the sets where possible and thus got most working OK. One thing I hadn't packed in my box of bits that day was a variac
Another Harpenden power story. When Paul Marshall brought down one of his big OB trucks (2006?) we had to give it power. There was a BS4343 63A outlet on the lighting rig which looked ideal. Paul used all his heavy cable to get power from there (on the stage) to his truck parked at the front. A good few hundred feet. I think the voltmeter on th truck input read under 210V. Fortunately "Claude" the AVR in the truck, took that in its stride. I think he was close to overloading the 63A supply, especially with the boost needing extra current to make up for the low voltage.
With the consent of the owners we changed mains tappings on the sets where possible and thus got most working OK. One thing I hadn't packed in my box of bits that day was a variac
Another Harpenden power story. When Paul Marshall brought down one of his big OB trucks (2006?) we had to give it power. There was a BS4343 63A outlet on the lighting rig which looked ideal. Paul used all his heavy cable to get power from there (on the stage) to his truck parked at the front. A good few hundred feet. I think the voltmeter on th truck input read under 210V. Fortunately "Claude" the AVR in the truck, took that in its stride. I think he was close to overloading the 63A supply, especially with the boost needing extra current to make up for the low voltage.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv