House can't supply enough power

[ballaholic91]

So I was djing at my friends house last night and his house was unable to supply enough power. We we're using his cdj 850s with a djm 900. I'm not sure the watts on the sub or the speaker. On the upper floor the Christmas lights he had hanging were going out as well. Do you guys think it's just a troublesome outlet and we should distribute the load between different outlets or there is something wrong with the houses electrical as a whole? I'm going over there later to test the outlets with a multimeter but has anyone ever had this problem? Any and all solutions are appreciated.

[sss18734]

You're just overdrawing the amperage. Keep in mind that single circuit can run a dozen outlets... possibly more.

Have someone stand by the circuit breakers and turn them on and off while you identify which outlets correspond to which breakers. Then run an extension cord from the second circuit, distribute the loads as evenly as possible, and you're all set.

[ballaholic91]

Never though of that. Thank you so much, i'll tell you how it works out!

[Jeff Scott]

Please don't stick multimeters in to sockets unless you know what you are doing and are competent in doing it!

[mdcdesign]

I dunno how things are in America, but usually a mains circuit in the UK is a maximum of 30 amps distributed between (sometimes) the entire house, or at the very least one floor of the house. Theoretically it's possible to pull 26 amps of that 30 out of a single double socket; however, flickering lights isn't usually an issue with overloading either a socket or the ring circuit because that'd cause a fuse or circuit breaker to blow.

Sounds more like narrow gauge wire has been used to wire up the sockets, either back to the fusebox - which can be solved by spreading the load between different sockets - or even worse, on a ring main setup which means you'll have to run something off a completely different circuit.

[SirReal]

Your friend should probably move if he wants to be a DJ.

[mdcdesign]

Your friend should probably move if he wants to be a DJ.

Either that or invest in a shitload of car batteries.

[Paka Ono]

I dunno how things are in America, but usually a mains circuit in the UK is a maximum of 30 amps distributed between (sometimes) the entire house, or at the very least one floor of the house. Theoretically it's possible to pull 26 amps of that 30 out of a single double socket; however, flickering lights isn't usually an issue with overloading either a socket or the ring circuit because that'd cause a fuse or circuit breaker to blow.

Sounds more like narrow gauge wire has been used to wire up the sockets, either back to the fusebox - which can be solved by spreading the load between different sockets - or even worse, on a ring main setup which means you'll have to run something off a completely different circuit.

Standard sockets here in the US only provide 15 amps.

[mdcdesign]

Standard sockets here in the US only provide 15 amps.

Yeah but that's 15 PER socket, so 30 amps from a double surely?

[Paka Ono]

Yeah but that's 15 PER socket, so 30 amps from a double surely?

Nope. It's 15 amps per circuit not per socket.

The US uses 110/115V where the UK uses 220/230V.