I have two questions that hopefully someone more experienced than me can answer.

Background: I am doing a claymation in a garage and need to set up a lighting system that requires (a.) lots of wattage and (b.) constant voltage so lighting stays extremely consistent [doesn't get dim or flicker despite other people using outlets].

The garage is connected to about 20 other garages in an apartment complex, so it is not a typical house hold garage.


Question 1: (A.) There is one outlet on the garage ceiling. How many amps would you assume is connected to this outlet (20? 50? 100?) It may be impossible to know but perhaps there is a standard amount of amps that apartment garages need to have. I figure it would have to be more than 20 because if 4 garages are opened at the same time, the breaker would trip.

(B.) How many watts could I draw from this one outlet?

(C.) How can I find out how many amps are in the garage? Where would the circuit breaker be to find it?

Question 2: The lights I have set up go dim periodically (perhaps when others open their garage). How do I maintain constant light? (Voltage stabilizer, online ups?) I'm not sure what those are, but what is my best option to make sure those lights are always a consistent brightness?

Thanks!

The first thing you have to do is find out where the breaker panel box is. This info you should be able to get from the super or maintenance crew.

Once you have that info we should be able to help you.

Chuck

Provide the load(lights,sockets,equipment & wattage) connected in each garage and in which country(NEC,BS,VDE etc) is it located. If BS use ring circuit for outlets.

Research a lighting system using LED lighting. We specify them for stages and small theaters... The amount of light is impressive and the power requirement is minimal...
They may also be less effected by power issues.

Most likely the circuit that the garage outlet is on is probbaly rated for about 20 amps total - meaning that's the level of amperage that would cause the circuit breaker to trip. If there are multiple garages on that one circuit, and given that when a garage door opener starts it causes a momentary surge on the line, I would estimate that you're probably good for about 10 amps of continuous current, or 1200 watts. You may be able to pull more current than that, but run the risk of blowing the circuit breaker if others on the same circuit also have a high demand for current (for examnple if multiople garage doors operate at the same time).

The circuit breaker panel may be in the garage itself, or if these are dedicated garages for each apartment perhaps somewhere within the apartment itself. Do you know where the breaker panel is for your apartment?

If flickering is an issue you should be abe to obtain a UPS that smooths out the momentary dips in voltage. These are quite common for use with IT equipment - servers and such - so take a look at TigerDirect.com.