Grainger is not the place to look for portable transformers. For a situation like this I would recommend a 10kVA transformer like the one we built for our rental inventory pictured below.
A custom distro is not necessary since there are “off the shelf” 100A Bates break-out boxes to 5-20 receptacles that you can rent from your local film lighting rental house.
Guy,
My "local" film rental house is a 3 hour drive away.
I would not go to Grainger to buy a transformer-however Grainger and McMaster sell a lot of product to a lot of people not because of great pricing but because price and tech specs are readily available. I found the prices and weights in a few seconds.
I am not trying bust your chops. I would second TJ's comment that information could be presented that would be more helpful. I know you have a lot of time and energy invested in your white paper on harmonics and I understand that they can create issues in some cases. But from a
practical standpoint what is most important to most on here is the investment in cost and the weight/convenience of setup. Does it make sense for me to haul the transformer to 20 gigs when I really only need it on 2 and there is a reasonable work around like TJ suggested for 2? Depends on the person-and it depends on the specs. You suggested a "12 kVA" a non standard size. Typically, you go a size bigger to handle the load, though you are correct in that a 10 kVA would work in this situation and would meet code with a 50 amp breaker on primary and you could even use a 100 amp breaker on the secondary if you wanted to (and still meet the NEC)-which would be far easier for most people to get their hands on. That solution would work well in most audio situations-though if you were maxing out the load with steady lighting there would be a possibility of overheating the transformer. Is it for everyone? Doubt it-but at least now there is enough info for the average guy on here to put pencil to paper and see what works for him.
