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Dedicated Power Lines

Been thinking about running dedicated Romex circuits from my circuit breaker box for my rig. No . . . I decline paying for specialty wire, Romex will do. The question is how many discreet lines and the amp capability of each line. I'm still trying to figure out how to do the installation in accordance with Code, without tearing my finished basement apart. For that, I'll consult a licensed electrician.

My rig consists of the following gear: (1) self powered sub that is rated at 1500 "Class D" watts; 4500 watts on a surge; (2) ARC tube CDP; (3) ARC tube line stage; (4) ARC tube power amp rated at 120 wpc - supposedly draws 700-800 watts when driven hard; (5) ARC tube phono pre; and VPI TT. I have a large screen plasma TV and a DVD player. I think that stuff can run off the house circuits.

Right now, everything I just listed is sucking juice off the same line. I gotta believe no good is coming from that set-up. Funny story -- one day my kid was playing Rosetta. I think it's a band that plays music, or at least that what my kid says. Tons of bass. When the band kicked into "low gear," first the basement lights dimmed, then the circuit breaker tripped.

Oh, my house is tied into the utility lines with a 100 amp service. If I change that out, that's the next project. But not right now. Other than Rosetta, no other power delivery problems noted.

Thanks
bifwynne
jea48
2,944 posts
 
I've been at this for quite some time and have experienced absolutely no problems splitting the load at the panel. First, I am a qualified electrician also and this is a basic element. Second, a dedicated line is just that. It can be run from either side of the panel, with the neutral and ground coming from the the neutral and ground points in the panel.
05-14-13: Minorl

Yes a dedicated branch circuit can be fed from either Line, leg, in the panel.

I noticed you chose to use the word dedicated and not separate in your last post.

Like I said in my last post if a customer said he wanted two separate circuits he could end up with a multi wire 3 wire + ground branch circuit. Two hot conductors with a common shared neutral and equipment ground conductor.

Installation could be 14/3 with grd, 12/3 with grd, or 10/3 with grd. Two separate 120V circuits.
And of course according to NEC code each circuit shall be connected to opposite Lines, legs of the panel. NEC 2008 connected to a 2 pole common trip handle breaker.

Why do I press the difference between dedicated branch circuits and separate circuits? To educate the layman here that post questions about adding multiple circuits for their audio equipment. You tell an electrician you want a price for installing two 20 amp separate circuits what are the chances of him installing 12/3 with grd NM-B cable instead of two 12/2 with grd NM-B cables. Especially in a 2 gang cut in box.

As for feeding multiple dedicated branch circuits from the same Line, leg, in the panel, where equipment is connected together by ICs, I have stated the accepted norm.

Take the time to read the link I provided in my last post.
There are many others out there that pretty much say the same thing.

The leakage the article talks of, could be, capacitive leakage of the audio equipment power transformers.

However, any
leakage currents on the safety ground wires of split single phase load circuits fed by different phase legs will
add together due to the 240V potential difference.
If the average total connected audio equipment load is less than 10 amps why take the chance of added noise by feeding branch circuits off each of the 2 hot legs?

I suggest you read NEC Article 90.1 (A), (B), and (C).
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foster_9
1,610 posts
 
So Jea48, I'm also planning to get 2 dedicated lines, 1 for digital and one for analog. I'm not sure what to tell the electrician and I don't understand branch circuits. I plan to request 10 or 12 awg romex.
bifwynne OP
2,069 posts
 
Jea..., I tried cutting through the NEC material. Have to admit, I got lost. As I said, I will hire a licensed electrician to install separate lines from the circuit box, or a "satellite" box off the mains to run discrete and separate lines. If I got anything off the web site, I should run single phase Romex (1 hot, 1 neutral and 1 ground). What I'm still confused about is whether I should run hot wires from both sides of the box. My concern is whether powering my gear with different phase hots could in some way change the output phase of my gear.
mental
1,029 posts
 
There is a difference between a dedicated line and clean power. A dedicated line will suffice in most home owners audio setup, but 'clean power' is something to consider if you have a large amount of dinero into your audio equipment.

Clean power vs dirty power...clean power will always be a line from the main panel to a transformer then to the sub panel with isolated grounds then to the equipment.
btselect
24 posts
 
I totally agree with MinorL every electrician I've worked with and talked to all say the same thing. This topic has been going on for years where other electricians have said more or less the same thing. I recall one electrician was so frustrated that in his last post he explained again the proper way to install a dedicated panel in a breaker panel, but no sooner his post was posted, these people with probably no qualifications post the same misguided information. You can check my post under "Dedicated power line for audio equipment". With this setup you will have a solid foundation to start with. The most important part of the installation is the wiring techniques I've developed.
I will share this for now, use 10 gauge stranded THHN wire, red insulation for the hot, white insulation for the neutral (return) and green insulation for the ground, no romex please.

MinorL if you are interested I'll be more than happy to discuss this topic with you.

Btselect
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