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[Erik Jerde]

In the last 40 or so years, more than once I've gotten that "Who the hell are you?" look when I meter the distro before plugging in.
More than once I've had to say "Hey, Sparky, why is there 110 between neutral and ground?"
In 2 cases, the "answer" was "I've never hooked up 5 wires before"
An "electrician" that doesn't recognize / understand 3-phase is NOT the guy i want on my "team".
Chris.

This is a great example of why I would argue that this conversation is appropriate for an online forum.  Or at least for THIS forum with the level of professionalism and experience present here.  I appreciate knowing enough to have a pretty good idea what’s going on.  That way I’m not stuck trusting a random electrician who may not really know what they’re doing for my application.

I first learned about multi-phase systems when working a nightclub install back in the early 2000’s.  We were hanging some Italian lighting fixtures on a pipe grid over the dance floor.  They were 240v fixtures.  Sparky provided 20A 208/240 twist locks as specced.  Problem was the fixtures didn’t work.  Turns out sparky wired the same phase to L1 and L2 on every receptacle and for every circuit.  As a jr installer I didn’t know what to look for but the guy with experience did.  I find it immensely valuable to be able to back check other trades.

[Tim McCulloch]

"Any qualified electrician can make this work." Not so fast!

"A qualified electrician familiar with temporary power can make this work" would be the more accurate statement. 

I have worked along side many fine electricians who can bend conduit intuitively, employ the best techniques for fishing tricky wires, can rough in a residential unit to code without using a tape measure, etc etc. What many of them almost never encounter is temporary power, let alone for entertainment applications. For many electricians the items we use on a daily basis (twist locks, cam locks, portable distribution panels) are almost never encountered.

Just because they are qualified doesn't make them knowledgable about every situation. Hiring the person with the correct skillset is important- just like in sound reinforcement.

Suffering through years of blank stares,
Matt.

I was show electrician for the first 3 events at a brand new 15,000 cap arena.  "White shirt and tie" guys from the electrical contractor were present for the 2nd and 3rd, after we had "issues" with circuit breaker trip curves on show #1.

What was interesting to me was the comment from one of them:  "we figured we'd stay and see how these services get used, we have no idea why shows need this much power and this many disconnects."  Nice folks, they were, and went back to the office with a better understanding of the "whys" and "hows" of show power.

[Steve-White]

This is a great example of why I would argue that this conversation is appropriate for an online forum.  Or at least for THIS forum with the level of professionalism and experience present here.  I appreciate knowing enough to have a pretty good idea what’s going on.  That way I’m not stuck trusting a random electrician who may not really know what they’re doing for my application.

I first learned about multi-phase systems when working a nightclub install back in the early 2000’s.  We were hanging some Italian lighting fixtures on a pipe grid over the dance floor.  They were 240v fixtures.  Sparky provided 20A 208/240 twist locks as specced.  Problem was the fixtures didn’t work.  Turns out sparky wired the same phase to L1 and L2 on every receptacle and for every circuit.  As a jr installer I didn’t know what to look for but the guy with experience did.  I find it immensely valuable to be able to back check other trades.

I see your point Erik and do agree.  My concern was that Jamin would ask "How to" and attempt to DIY.  In the end, it's clear he needs to find the "Right" qualified electrician to assist with this endeavor.

So yeah, it's all good.

[Jamin Lynch]

I see your point Erik and do agree.  My concern was that Jamin would ask "How to" and attempt to DIY.  In the end, it's clear he needs to find the "Right" qualified electrician to assist with this endeavor.

So yeah, it's all good.

Ummm...NO!

"Done wrong and people die!!!"  is not a very persuasive argument for me to take to the venue folks. Probably would get more blank stares. But expressing my concerns with a general, non-specific "opinion", they did have a certified electrician install permanent power today. All is good

I feel having some knowledge that what they were proposing was in fact a bad idea and saying nothing could also expose someone to liability.

Problem is solved

[Steve-White]

Ummm...NO!

"Done wrong and people die!!!"  is not a very persuasive argument for me to take to the venue folks. Probably would get more blank stares. But expressing my concerns with a general, non-specific "opinion", they did have a certified electrician install permanent power today. All is good

I feel having some knowledge that what they were proposing was in fact a bad idea and saying nothing could also expose someone to liability.

Problem is solved

Ummm yes!  That was my concern.    Which on a technical note, beyond recommending you find a real electrician qualified to perform that work is why I ain't said nuthin'.

Well done sir.

[Jamin Lynch]

Ummm yes!  That was my concern.    Which on a technical note, beyond recommending you find a real electrician qualified to perform that work is why I ain't said nuthin'.

Well done sir.

I would never attempt a DIY for something like this.

I just needed a persuasive argument to present before I did my Chicken Little impression 

[ProSoundWeb Community]