Power and power conditioning?

I will be building a small post production/music studio in a very old building (20's?). I believe I have 45 amps (15A x 3) in terms of available power. I will need to run a 12,000 BTU mini split AC off this power, lighting, as well as all my gear (imac, 5.1 monitors/sub, 2 video screens, preamps, etc.) I estimate I'll need 45 amps, but the AC may be able to run off a different circuit in the building so that would give me the extra amps I need to plug in other stuff as needed like guitar amps, etc. Should I get a power conditioner or two like a Furman P-1800 AR?

First, you need to collect all the power info from all your pieces of equipment, AC, etc and add them all up to see what your total power draw will be. This will give you an idea if you have enough left over for amps and other things. Use ohms law to calculate your total power. Personally, I would always suggest a power conditioner/surge protector. I'm not talking about the 6 outlet strips, but something simple like a Monster Pro 2500 or other similar types of conditioning/protection. Most gear will have the power draw listed on the gear. Either in amps or milliamps. 1000 milliamps equals 1 amp. I found this formula for BTU: formula BTU per hour x 0.293 = watts watts / volts = amps Hope this helps.

Aaronw wrote:

First, you need to collect all the power info from all your pieces of equipment, AC, etc and add them all up to see what your total power draw will be. This will give you an idea if you have enough left over for amps and other things. Use ohms law to calculate your total power. Personally, I would always suggest a power conditioner/surge protector. I'm not talking about the 6 outlet strips, but something simple like a Monster Pro 2500 or other similar types of conditioning/protection. Most gear will have the power draw listed on the gear. Either in amps or milliamps. 1000 milliamps equals 1 amp. I found this formula for BTU: formula BTU per hour x 0.293 = watts watts / volts = amps Hope this helps.

Thanks. I estimated 45 amps total is what I will need, which is what I currently have (15A x 3,) but may be able to add more if needed. Also the AC may be able to run off a separate circuit since the compressor will be on the roof. I will need around 10-15A for my analog gear and maybe around 10A for computers. I understand these should be on separate circuits. Then the remaining power can be for lighting (and maybe AC.) So maybe two Monster Pro 2500's (for digital and analog?) Or Furman?

There's a few things you will need to take into consideration about the electrical. First and foremost, load balancing. My first guess, is you're running a sub panel with a 40 or 50 amp breaker. I'm assuming you have single phase and not 3 phase. Correct if I'm wrong. If it's single phase, you should have 2 hot legs coming in for 220/240. This is standard in the US. You do need to balance the loads between the two legs. Is your AC unit 220 or 110? Typically they're 220. You also need to take into account the start up surge of the compressor motor. It should be listed w/ the equipment what that is. You need to have headroom for this. In fact, I would rate your electrical plans to be at least 100% of your total known load. Or in other words, if you know you'll be using 30 amps, install a panel for at least 60 amps. You could use 50% as bare minimum, which would be 45 amps, but the higher the better. Especially as you add gear to your collection, you don't want to have to worry about your power. The cost of this on the front end is a lot cheaper than having to go back and upgrade it and do it all over again a year or two down the road. Give yourself ample power. You won't regret it. I'm running a sub panel for all my studio electrical, but what I did was, I ran cable capable of handling 95 amps. I only installed a 60 amp circuit breaker at the main panel, but if I need to upgrade, the cable is already rated higher and all I'd have to do is change the breaker to a 90 amp. You can probably do something similar. The cable should at least be rated higher so you can upgrade it later if you need to.