Getting started

PowerSense is organised around lists: one per distro or circuit. Each list has its own feed, its own loads and its own cable runs. The site overview at the bottom adds them all up.

Quick start

1. Open PowerSense from the dashboard.
2. In Feed & phases, choose the Region — Europe (230/400 V, mm²), UK (230/400 V, mm²), North America (120/208 V, AWG) or Japan (100/200 V, mm²) — and the Feed the venue is giving you (for example CEE 32 A · 400 V · 3-ph). Choose Custom… to type the breaker per phase and the phase count yourself; mark it as a generator if it is one.
3. Leave Power factor at 0.95 (typical rig) and pick a Safety margin. The app starts at None (nameplate); +25 % is a sensible choice for a rig with amp racks or motors.
4. In Loads per phase, pick a device from Add device and press Add. Presets are grouped as Lighting, Audio, Video, Backline and Stage & other; edit the name, power and quantity in the row.
5. Watch the phase bars, Total load, Worst phase and Headroom update as you add gear.
6. Press + New list for the next distro and repeat.

Numbers take a decimal comma or a point: 2,5 and 2.5 mean the same, and 1.500 W typed the German way stays 1500 W.

The screen

• Feed & phases — region, feed, power factor, safety margin, then the live per-phase bars and totals. Generator feeds remind you to keep continuous load at or below 70 %.
• Loads per phase — the device table: Device, Power, Qty, Phase, and per-row actions (☆ save to My gear, duplicate, remove). Auto-balance phases, Pin auto phases and Clear list sit underneath.
• Cable runs — one card per cable with its protection, system, derating and verdict. See Check cable runs.
• All lists — site overview — every list with feed, load, worst phase, headroom and a status, plus Export CSV and the printout. See Hand the plan to the venue.
• ? (top right) — the help dialog: the formulas, the eight good practices and the workflow.

Core concepts

• Units. Enter a device in W, VA or A. Plated amps count toward the phase directly; W and VA are converted at the mains voltage using the power factor. Enter the draw from the nameplate, not the size of the plug.
• Phase assignment. A device set to auto is placed largest-first on the lightest phase, and the row shows where it landed (auto → L2). A row with several units — sixteen LED washes, say — is split across the phases, and the row shows how many units went on each. Set a phase by hand for anything that is physically fixed.
• 3-phase devices. Choose 3-ph for 400 V racks, motor controllers and hoists. A device entered in W or VA is split evenly across L1–L3; a device plated in amps per phase counts that current on every phase.
• Pin auto phases freezes the plan so adding a device does not reshuffle a sheet you already printed.
• Headroom is what is left on the worst phase after the safety margin. The readout turns amber below 20 %. A generator list turns amber from 70 % continuous load and red from 90 %, and PowerSense also compares the list with the kW the engine can deliver, not only the kVA. In North America mode, more than 80 % of the breaker is flagged, because the NEC does not allow that for continuous loads.
• Mostly LED / switch-mode. Mark a list this way when most of it is LED fixtures or switch-mode supplies; PowerSense then warns about neutral current. See Check cable runs.
• My gear. Press ☆ on a row to save that device — with its unit and phase mode — as a one-tap chip above the table; Forget removes it. Lists and gear sync with your account — see Account sync.

Next

• Check cable runs — compare every run with its breaker, a derated rating and the voltage drop.
• Hand the plan to the venue — export the CSV or print the draft for the house electrician.