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I was doing some live sound over the weekend. It was the first time I'd done it for a few years and for people I've not worked with before, so I was a tad nervous and more interested in making the right impression than kicking up a fuss, but anyway:

The PA hire guy turned up and set up his PA. Turned out he didn't have a long enough power extension. Thankfully, I'd brought along a load of spare mics, cables and power extensions just in case, so I went and got mine.

Now the general vibe I was getting from this guy was he was a bit of a prick, so it came as no surprise when he informed me that the cable had to be fully uncoiled, as if I was a total imbecile and did not already know this (along with a lecture on coiling mic cables and not gaffering down his cables because he would rather people trip and break their necks than have to clean off the tape residue).

What struck me as a bit odd, was when he asked if my power extension was fused. I said yes, to which he then goes off on a smug rant about how his power extensions aren't fused so that they don't blow during the gig.

Now I'm certain this is bullshit and unsafe. Fuses are there to protect people and equipment from power surges or if too much current is being drawn by malfunctioning equipment. So as long as you are using the correct fuse, are not drawing too much power and replace your fuses every few years, the only reason the fuse will blow is if it is supposed to blow. Perhaps I am wrong.

I know there are other types circuit breaking equipment available which would perhaps be used on more professional rigs, but this was just a small 800W piece-of-shit vocal PA - hardly likely to trip the fuse of an extension that was rated suitable for much higher.

Could someone please confirm that I am right (assuming I am)? It's a small thing I know, but it's been bugging me since, just on the off-chance I'm wrong.

Also, how do other engineers here deal with stuff like this? The guy was clearly trying to intimidate me and look more the 'professional' in front of the organiser, despite being a clueless dork as far as I could tell. These days, I tend to stay quiet in these situations, but I'm wondering if perhaps I should be a little less afraid to call bullshit in future?

happyandbored wrote:Now I'm certain this is bullshit and unsafe. Fuses are there to protect people and equipment from power surges or if too much current is being drawn by malfunctioning equipment. So as long as you are using the correct fuse, are not drawing too much power and replace your fuses every few years, the only reason the fuse will blow is if it is supposed to blow. Perhaps I am wrong.

Provided you maintain your gear as you describe, you basically are not wrong. I can only presume, and this is not a defense of the guy and his overall attitude, that his dislike of superfluous fusing is due more to Murphy's law than anything else.

In the States, outlets, power extensions, IEC cables and power plugs are almost never fused. Most power distribution strips and all surge suppressors and other power conditioning equipment is fused. We rely on the gear fuses but mostly we rely on the branch circuit fuses and breakers and therefore pay more attention to our loading on the branch circuits.

It seems the UK standard is to fuse the branch circuit, often provide a fuse at the outlet, fuse the power extension, fuse the power distribution strip/power conditioner, fuse the power plug on the IEC cable and then there is a usually a fuse within most gear. With that much fusing and so many unknowns (weak old fuses and unproven new fuses), that is a lot of places for Murphy's ghost to lurk. I tend to agree with the guy on that point only.

Perhaps this is just an American way of thinking because our concerns about reliability are slightly different due to the way we protect our circuits.

Thank you.

i love PA hire guys. they live in cupboards most of the time.