How many Sequencers?

[churchmandan]

I'm looking to install a power sequencer(s) in my church to start going green because normally we have all the audio equipment running 24x7. We’ll be using a maintained key switch to turn the equipment on and off. I'm not very good with electricity so I'm hoping someone could help me. The equipment is as follows:
Left
Mackie SRM450 Active
Mackie SRM450 Active
Mackie SWA1501 Active
JBL EON15 Active

Right
Mackie SRM450 Active
Mackie SRM450 Active
Mackie SWA1501 Active
JBL EON15 Active

Yamaha LS9-32 Mixer

Now I have a Kill-A-Watt and it registered on one side
Idle
PF 0.68
Volts 126.8
Amps 0.8
Watts 69
VA 101

Rock&Roll CD turned up loud
PF 0.69
Volts 126.8
Amps 1.15
Watts 105
VA 150

It just doesn’t look like it makes sense to me. I would think with them running they would be pulling more than 1.15amp or 105watts. However, I don’t know how much current flows when powered up all at once. Each side is plugged into a Belkin surge protector and I was thinking of running a thick extension cable to the sequencer and doing both sets of speakers and the mixer in a separate sequence. People I talked to said maybe you should get two or three sequencers but if the speakers are mostly used for speech in our church except for the contemporary band, why not save the money since there not getting run hard? I’m looking at the Furman PS-PRO Conditioner/Sequencer.

Thanks!

[daver2]

We have 8 SRM450's, 2 SWA1501 an LS9-32 and a few SRM450s and SRM350's used as powered wedges - and use a "carbon based lifeform" as the power sequencer! We cabled all the power back to the A/V area and have a big kill switch to take all the amps out in one go (we also have our own separate distribution panel if we wish to use some - but not all - of the amps). We had the luxury of installing a couple of hefty mains cables back to the distribution board and then separate power feeds to each amp - taking care to oversize the cable runs to minimise volt drops. We power up the LS9 desk, ensure everything is muted (we used some of the user configurable buttons as a "kill all audio" (a.k.a. panic button)) and then hit the power for the amps. Nice heafty thumps from the SWA1501s tell you that power has been applied! At the end of the service - turn off the power to the amps and put the LS9 to bed - as simple as that.

You may not - of course - have that luxury and I assume you have to work within the constraints of the power supply you have available.

The numbers you are posting for a R&R CD turned up loud don't make any sense - I agree! Unfortunately I have given the clamp ammeter back to my friend - but I may be able to do some other measurements if that would help you?

Dave

[churchmandan]

Absolutely! My theory is that its because the the more speakers you use, the less you have to turn them up, so the less power they need. Our speakers' volume knobs are turned up to about 10:00. Plus we only have around 300 attending.
When I say CD turned up loud, I mean louder than we would ever need it, but not outdoors concert level!

Daniel

[bpalermini]

I wouldn't run long extension cables from the amps back to the booth.

For sequencing what I would want is something like Lowell has (there are others). You need a control unit and then as many remote units as you need. You plug the remote units into the wall, and the equipment into them. A low voltage cable from the control unit to the remote units turns them on and off.

Usually two or three time delays are enough but you may want four. On sequences might look like this:

Mixer (with outboard)>Amps
or, Outboard>Mixer>Amps
or, Outboard>Mixer>DSP>Amps

The remote units cost around $115 each, the control unit is about $150 HERE.

[Gracetech]

Off of heavily compressed tracks you are not going to get a true power usage rating cause it will sound alot louder at lower volumes. Also your power gauge won't read the peaks because they are so quick. Expect about a 20amps of usage a side. Inrush might be a bit higher than 20 amps but a 20 will hold fine.

Look into Middle Atlantic's sequencing products. I've used them alot and they are very cheap compared to other systems.

They have 15amp, 20amp, and 30 amp sequencing components. I would suggest a 20 per side and 2 20s at FOH. You probably will just barely make use of one but it never hurts having an extra around.

crt

[daver2]

Just to clear one thing up. I agree with Bob - don't use extension cables to link amplifiers to the booth. We didn't - we used mains twin and earth installed to code and deliberately over-sized to reduce voltage drops etc.

The large number of SRM450's we use comes from the 'shape' of our Church. We use four of them in our main worship hall to get an adequate spread of sound without deafening members of the congregation who are directly in the "line of fire". Because of the numbers of people attending our church (God be Blessed) we have had to extend our worship hall into an overflow area by sliding back partition doors. This area is actually a corridor so we have had to install an extra two SRM450's here. We then filled the overflow and had to extend into the recreation hall by sliding back another set or partition doors. A further set of SRM450's in here (suitably reinforced with armour to prevent damage from footballs etc.) completes our installation.

This "multiple room" configuration caused immense fun when we set up our LS9 - because the sound requirements in all of the areas are different!

We wind the volume up significantly during youth rock events - but keep the volume knobs on the amplifiers under control otherwise!

Dave