Help me learn and educate myself on Power for Event Production; aka what can I and can’t I do? I had a “situation” arise this weekend at the venue. The Party/Tent rental company provided a 45kW generator (WhisperWatt) for the event and they provided a Power Distro as well. The generator was set-up to run the provided Power Distro on 3-Phase 208/120 Volt because the Catering Company needed to use an L21-30 plug for one of their warmers/cookers. Originally it was planned for me to pull power off the 50-Amp Cali Plug; HOWEVER it only functions when the Single Phase switch is selected. Anyways, I ended up tagging off the main PD with 4 Extension Cords and the event happened without any problems.
By the end of this year I want to be versatile with power and be able to connect almost anything out there. I have a good understanding of Single Phase in 120 and 240.
I am confused 3 Phase power and this is where I need help, but I do know that if the 3-Phase is 208 there are 3 hot legs of 120v with a Neutral and Ground.
So to start the questions…
If I go into a Venue or on a Generator with 5 tails pushing out 3-phase 208 (because it meters 120v across a Hot and the Neutral). Can I connect to the Red, Black, White & Green and power my single phase distro?
If it is 277/480 – 3 Phase; how is it possible to drop it down to a usable 120v? Or should I just avoid this at all cost.
