First HMI, ballast has no plug...

jason miller · February 24, 2009

Hi all,

I picked up an Arri 2500 Daylight compact HMI and a 2500 CB ballast off of ebay.

it just arrived and the connection to power the ballast is cut off...now i know that the right way to run this light is to power it off of a generator, but if I'm careful, is it possible to run it off of household power? If so, is there a special type of edison plug I should purchase or just the basic heavyy duty connector??

Thanks so much,

Jason

www.eikonic.com

Rich Steel · February 24, 2009

Hi all,

I picked up an Arri 2500 Daylight compact HMI and a 2500 CB ballast off of ebay.

it just arrived and the connection to power the ballast is cut off...now i know that the right way to run this light is to power it off of a generator, but if I'm careful, is it possible to run it off of household power? If so, is there a special type of edison plug I should purchase or just the basic heavyy duty connector??

Thanks so much,

Jason

www.eikonic.com

Conversion from watts to volts or an amp to volt conversion.

It is not really a conversion as such but a formula where any two values are needed to be known to enable the third to be calculated.

I remember the formula as WAV (wave; hi there!) - Watts = Amps x Volts

By dividing both sides of the formula by amps you get - Watts / Amps = Volts

... the amps / amps on the right hand side canceling each other out to leave volts.

and by dividing both sides by volts you get - Watts / Volts = Amps

... the volts / volts on the right hand side canceling each other out to leave amps.

Example:-

q. What is the biggest electric fire that can be run on a 13 amp fused plug in the UK?

a. Mains voltage in the UK is 230v so Watts = 13 x 230 = 2990 watts or just under 3kW

So if your UK based then YES you can run the HMi off a standard 13amp ring main.

Michael Collier · February 24, 2009

Hi all,

I picked up an Arri 2500 Daylight compact HMI and a 2500 CB ballast off of ebay.

it just arrived and the connection to power the ballast is cut off...now i know that the right way to run this light is to power it off of a generator, but if I'm careful, is it possible to run it off of household power? If so, is there a special type of edison plug I should purchase or just the basic heavyy duty connector??

Thanks so much,

Jason

www.eikonic.com

with a 2500 you will need to run it off a 30 amp breaker at least, 50 would be better. The only place you're likely to see that is on a washing machine hookup or an electric range. If your ballast accepts 220, wire it for that and attach a 3 or 4 prong twist plug. Or better yet put a 60amp bates on the ballast, and make a distro cable to connect the dryer hookup to bates. Thats pretty much your only option. a 2500 on a 20amp 120 edison will pop the breaker before it even strikes.

Jeff Locke · February 24, 2009

Uh, sort of. While the HMI's can be run off of house-hold power, (2500 watts is rated at 140-150 volts) I would recommend solving your ballast problem first. The cable can be bought from www.bhphotovideo.com Also, I would recommend that you use a high-end power strip / or power cleaner like the ones from Monster Cable. That way there is extra protection on both sides of the powerflow.

BTW, how much did you puchase this set-up for?

JD Hartman · February 25, 2009

Enough information should be on the cover of the ballast, look for input requirements. As for some of the suggestions made here, either a 30a twist-lok plug or a 60amp bates would be fine. I'd lean towards the 60amp bates. If you find yourself running this balast of a large generator, its unlikely that you'll find a 30a twist-lok receptical as part of the distro setup. You can also put together a 60a female bates to 30a twist-lok male conversion whip.

jason miller · February 26, 2009

I found out that it's setup for euro power, so not I have to solve the problem ov getting it switched over to 60hz before figuring out how to power it.

:(

it's still a good deal. head and ballast for $2500.

-Jason

JD Hartman · February 28, 2009

Is 220v 50Hz or 220v 60Hz? If it is 220v 60Hz, they may have had a 220v bates plug on it. Another option is checking inside the case to see if the input transformer has multiple input taps. Asking the seller how they powered it up wouldn't hurt either. Worst case scenario would be buying a step-up transformer for it.