Do You Use (GFI) Protection (when playing outdoors or on cemet)?

[TomCarlos]

Hi Friends....

I went to see a friend's band tonight. They were playing at a pool party. You know, the kind where the kids splash up lots of water on the cement deck and puddles start to form. I noticed a long extension cord (just one) that was supplying power to the entire band and it was connected to an outside receptacle and yes, it was running over the water puddles. Hopefully, there were no tears in the cables exterior or internal wires. And one assumes the ground connection on the outside receptacle was connected and working properly.

At some point in the gig, the lead singer takes her shoes off (it's hot in Sacramento this time of the year) and doesn't pay attention to the small water puddle near her feet. I was thinking .... "whut whoa".... She made it through the gig without incident.

So... question for you all....

For those who play outdoors or on damp cement slabs, do you take any safety precautions to protect yourselves in potentially hazardous situations like what I just described?

1. You test the outlets to make sure they are grounded?
2. You've grounded your old Fender amps?
3. You made a portable GFI outlet box and use that inline with the facility power outlet?
4. Anything else?

Thanks... Tom

[R.G.]

This is a form of the Darwin test. If you DON'T take reasonable precautions, you could find that your end of the gene pool is very, very shallow.

I wrote some articles for Premier Guitar laying out some of the considerations for playing outdoors, and including playing powered by generators, not the AC power grid.

If you DON'T take precautions, you may find that you do not live to reproduce.

[Gingertube]

YES - Routinely.
Even my service bench is fitted with GFI (we call them Residual Current Detection Breakers "RCD" or Earth Leakage Breakers "ELCB" down under).
I also use them routinely in the day job when running test equipment, soldering irons, portable air conditioners etc. in aircraft where the power lead is run across hanger floors or even across the tarmac in front of the hanger, that is regardless of if I'm plugged into a power outlet in the hanger or using a poratable generator.

They all work the same way, they compare active and neutral currents and if they differe by more than a small amount (usually 10mA) then they trip in around 20 milliseconds.
You only get a single cycle of the mains applied to you rather than getting "stuck" to the supply permanently (well until your dead anyway).

I also have a 3 phase power driven 28V DC 200 Amp " power box" I use to power the aircraft and our survey equipment in the aircraft. On that I also have a nuetral fail detection relay with automatic shutdown (also won't switch on if the neutral is not intact)

It only needs to save your life once to justify the minor expense.

Cheers,
Ian

[loudthud]

My house was built in '91. The outlet in the back is hooked into the GFI in the Master Bath. I've tripped it a couple of times using power tools. Not sure about the one by the front door.


Edit: How did this thread get 169,000 views ???

[g1]

Edit: How did this thread get 169,000 views ???

Interesting. Is it because it has the word GFI or protection is the title? (or "do you use protection" probably the more likely draw).

It won't matter to older stuff but I'm told code for my area is now that GFI's have to be on ALL outdoor and bathroom receptacles.

[olddawg]

I almost always use a transmitter. I really can't tell a difference in live situations except a bit more hiss, it frees me from a cord, and I am totally isolated from th equipment. I play a lot of clubs, big and small with questionable AC mains. I can't remember one ever having a GFI, lol.