SPS Blog #1

I wrote my first blog on portable power generators because when I saw the title of the article, I realized I never gave much thought to supplying power to performances on the road.  When the article described the inner workings of a portable generator I pictured it in my head as a small-scale version of a windmill with the rotation of the rotor inside the windings of the generator creating the electricity needed.  Now it sounds like a generator is easy to get ahold of, but what’s more is that the generator not only needs to be quiet enough not to disturb the performance, but also need to provide a stable flow of electricity.  Both of these points were not immediately evident to me, but are very crucial when it comes to planning these events.  If the generator caused dips or spikes in the power supply I’m sure it would cause massive damage to all equipment connected to it.

In order to power large concerts I’m sure there is a huge power requirement.  The article says that generators measure their voltage in kVA, which stands for kilovolt-Amperes.  Luckily, the article also provides a link to www.onlineconversion.com for easy calculations on power requirements as well as converting units to whatever you may need.

There is a governor on the generator to monitor power output and in addition, circuit breakers are also built in so that they can immediately shut off in case of a spike.  To put it in perspective, construction type generators can fluctuate by as much as 25%, which already seems like quite a bit.  However, performance type generators need to narrow that down to about 1.5% to be usable.

            Craig Leerman, who wrote the article, gives a few tips at the end to provide ease of use of portable production generators.  The most important one I noticed was probably to install a ground rod or tie in to the generator.  In terms of both personal safety and for the good of the gear, ground lines would be at the top of my checklist for operating one of these.  Also, just like a car engine, generators require fuel, water, and oil to continue running smoothly.   Therefore it is important to monitor and check these levels regularly as a shortage of any one of those would stop the concert and could possibly damage the generator.  Even worse would be if it happened mid-show.

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/portable_power_the_secret_life_of_generators/live

Not much to say, just a quick video close up from the lights at Best Buy.  As you can see there are a lot of color changing LEDs and strip lights.  There were actually no movers so maybe they don't sell them at Best Buy.  They reminded me of the light show when I went to see Slash at Universal.  They weren't as hectic then but they did go through a lot of color schemes to keep the mood changing.

Here are some comments on other blogs:
http://josuil.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-lava-lamp.html

Unfortunately I didn't get a video of lights, but down on Orange Avenue are these lights hanging from the trees.  They look like glow sticks but the blue light pulses down the length of the glow stick and it makes for a cool sight.  I couldn't stop watching them and almost walked straight into traffic. 


Here are a few posts I made on blogs by Josuil and Chris:

http://josuil.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-lava-lamp.html
http://cmortonshowpro.blogspot.com/2012/07/day-19.html

I went to go see The Dark Knight Rises last night at the Regal Winter Park Cinema and for the first time noticed this interesting picture on the wall on either side of the theater.  It's hard to see but basically it's a nighttime landscape with the stars and moon lit up with bulbs.  The moon fixture also gave the light an orangish-red hue.  It was obviously for decoration since the lights were nowhere near bright enough to light the theater, but they looked good within the picture itself.  For some reason it reminded me of a nativity scene.

I was in  line at Best Buy the other day and saw these lights on display.  They were obviously made for live shows.  A lot of them were moving lights and they were all multi colored.  I didn't get a chance to see what exactly the lights were but they reminded me of the light show when I went to see Slash at Universal last month. 

One of my favorite pictures from Disney World.  Obviously, at night they light the hell out of every building and attraction in the park, and this is one example.  You can almost see all the individual bulbs strung across the entire building like Christmas lights.  I've never liked putting up Christmas lights so I can only imagine what a task it was to put all of these lights up.

 I know it's a bad picture, but I had to take this from a moving vehicle.  It turns out to be a picture of the moon one night.  The reason it was so great was that this night the moon was a bright orange.  I remember hearing that the reason this happens is that there is a lot of dust or pollution in the air.  Ironically, it makes for a really cool view of the moon.

I commented on a few blogs here:

http://benbromundshowpro.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-break-post-1.html

http://angmarie03.blogspot.com/2012/06/remember-when-you-were-little-and-glow.html?showComment=1342375038627#c2609800924809335373