PowerSense · Good practice
Eight rules that keep the phase from tripping mid-set.
The good-practice list built into PowerSense, published in full: headroom, phase balance, feed separation, cable derating, dimmers and motors, catering, generators and RCDs. Plus the workflow that turns them into a plan the house electrician will accept.
This is a planning aid, not a certification. Temporary power is designed, installed and signed off by a qualified electrician — the tool and this page help you arrive with a sensible plan, and nothing more than that.
Good practice
- Keep ≥ 20 % headroom per phase — nameplate watts hide inrush and peaks (amp racks, motors, laser PSUs). The safety-margin setting models this.
- Balance the phases to within roughly 10 % — an overloaded L1 trips even when the distro "has room".
- Separate audio and lighting feeds where the venue allows — dimmers and cheap LED PSUs pollute the audio mains.
- Unroll cable drums fully under load and derate bundled or hot runs — the ratings assume free air.
- Model dimmed conventionals as their lamp load, and enter 400 V racks and motor controllers as 3-ph devices.
- Catering kills phases: one kettle is 2 000 W. Give catering its own circuit, never the FOH phase.
- Generators: plan ≤ 70 % continuous load and avoid running diesels below ~25 % for long — the generator feeds warn earlier for this reason.
- Stage power belongs on a 30 mA RCD, and the final distro is signed off by a qualified electrician — this tool plans, it does not certify.
The workflow
How the rules above turn into a document the venue electrician can act on.
- Make one list per distro or circuit (e.g. "FOH", "Stage left", "Lighting", "Catering"), each with its own feed and cable runs.
- Save gear you use often with the ☆ button — it lands in My gear for one-tap adding, and syncs with your account across devices.
- The site overview adds all lists together; Export CSV or Print phase plan gives the venue electrician the whole picture, including which device plugs into which phase.
PowerSense · Good practice
Know the rig fits before load-in.
PowerSense is free: loads balanced across L1–L3, cable gauge and voltage-drop checks, and a printable phase plan for the venue electrician.
