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Speakers clipping ???
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Speakers clipping ???

djfrank2000 9:46 AM - 1 June, 2008
Here is the problem, I did a party in a huge back yard, when I get there the home owner had 2 extra long extension cords connected to lights in the tent and to power a few other things, he then gave me an extension cord that was connected multiple times (about 4 different cords all sizes) approximately 300 ft or more. Both cords ran into the same outlet at the deck of the house.
I plugged in my equipment and lighting into this long cord. My equipment was on a furman power conditioner and my lighting was plugged into a power strip.(both piggyback to the long cord)
throughout the party, My speakers kept shutting off for a quick second or two and come back on. The rest of the equipment remained working ok. At first I thought it could of been my smoke machine so I disconnected it but the problem continued throughout the night (about 5 times in 4 hours.
My speakers overload light never came on, I have pushed these speakers way louder in the past with no problems. They are JBL PRX115 powered speakers.
The power in the house went out only once during the course of the evening (house circuit breaker).
Also, When I tried speaking on the cordless mic, the speaker will click off and back on.
Would the extra long, multiple extension cord be the reason the speakers would clip? or would the entire unit turn off if it was the case?
DjRekTek 11:53 AM - 1 June, 2008
Very possible....too much current being drawn off of one circuit. Did the speakers happen to cut off while bass notes were passing through or at anytime like when you had the volume down or were just speaking on the mic? Did you test your equipment when you got home to see if you could simulate the problem?
djfrank2000 1:38 PM - 1 June, 2008
Bass was at 1/2 mark, towards the end of the party I really Cranked it to see what would happen, and after about 2 minutes it cut off and then went back on. It was only the speakers, everything else was fine.
djfrank2000 3:03 PM - 1 June, 2008
my bad the speakers ware the JBL PRX 515 powered speakers with the built in crown amps..I have used them many gigs before and pumped them to max, with no overload or cut off.
sopranosupasta 6:04 PM - 1 June, 2008
sounds like you were "power starving" the amps in the speakers, which actually makes them have less volume and they work harder to achieve that volume. you may have been going into thermal protection because of this....
alexplicit 7:40 PM - 1 June, 2008
make sure you use a 14 gauge extension cord, not a 16. 12 gauge would be even better if more then 100ft.
OG Supernatural 3:16 PM - 2 June, 2008
Quote:
sounds like you were "power starving" the amps in the speakers


Yep...

I had to laugh at your description about all the shit that was already plugged into 300' of extension cord...lol

Yeah those are symptoms of shitty power. You can actually damage your speakers.
djfrank2000 4:45 PM - 2 June, 2008
first time I dj a party in a bakyard the size of a football field. LOL, I will remember for next time to get a 300ft 12 guage cord or a high powered generator.
DJMark 9:15 PM - 2 June, 2008
300 feet of typical extension cord is definitely more than enough (especially with multiple cords connected together) to cause large voltage drops when equipment (like powered speakers) starts trying to pull more current.

Believe it or not, it's possible to have equipment go up in smoke (literally) from running that way. The most dramatic example I ever saw was in a DJ booth where someone accidentally plugged in a whole truss of dancefloor lights (something like 100 par-cans, among other things) into the AC circuit that was normally used just for the DJ booth equipment. Everything was ok, until the lights got switched on....then *bam* just about every piece of gear in the DJ booth either fried its power transformer or blew its line fuse. The only thing I've ever seen fuck up a night in a club worse than that was gunfire.
dj_elite 12:58 AM - 3 June, 2008
too little power to draw from is no good. one thing people often neglect, especially when using lighting that draws massive power.

my old CDJ-800 (since sold for parts) had major issues with weak voltage/current and would often power off when my eons were on the same circuit running wide open. i run lights and sound on entirely different circuits, and if running subs, i try to give the sub/sub amp a dedicated circuit, or at least one with minimal other stuff on it (source, laptop, something with very low draw). distros come in handy for this purpose.
OG Supernatural 2:23 AM - 3 June, 2008
I got the Furman voltage regulator to help deal with shitty power.
djfrank2000 2:26 AM - 3 June, 2008
You learn something new everyday
Julls 3:00 AM - 3 June, 2008
Quote:
I got the Furman voltage regulator to help deal with shitty power.


+1 on the Furman.