Thread: Interesting Chauvet Hurricane 1250 observations

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Yea I agree those Kill-A-Watts are awesome little meters and a must have IMO for any decorator. I know with Christmas displays they are widely used but I think a lot of people over look there power consumption during Halloween especially when using Fog machines because they draw a lot of power.

I knew better but overlooked it and I had that problem last year. I didn't do a full on test with all my machines running because I didn't think it would be a problem because of so little I was running. So come Halloween night with all my machines going I was tripping breakers right as it got dark because I over looked it. Fornately for me I have a lot of power to work with so I was able to fix it rather quickly.

I have heard some machines when they factor in there total wattage factor in the overall draw. In your case you are measuring the overall drawing when you use the Kill-A-Watt so that is strange it is pulling just 800 amps overall. Maybe it is what they told you that the heating elements max draw is up to 1200 watts? Sometimes they will have a UL label that will tell you what the draw is for each thing. That would kind of suck if you bought a 1200 watt machine and only getting 800 watts out of, but then the spin is you are saving on power. Do you see any draw back on performance compared to like a 700 watt machine?

The Chauvet 1250's instruction manual with specs is right here:

Chauvet 1250 Instruction Manual - PDF

It doesn't give any different info. 10amp fuse... 1200 watt.

Originally Posted by Diabolik

Otaku and OTR , Are there any manuals or spec sheets with the foggers ? I am curious as to what the MFG. cut sheets rate them at for actual current consumption...

I guess if you really want to get technical to see exactly what just the heating element is drawing you could put it on a Voltmeter that why you are not getting the draw from like the pump and other electronics in it.

This has got me wondering now. I am going to test my high end Martin and Lightwave 1700 watt machines now.

Yea I agree about the output, I guess that is truly what matters. If the performance is up to par with what is advertised I guess the power should be a bonus since you are drawing less.

the 1200 watts is the max as you know, you will never see this, same goes for a 700 watt machine, I've seen as high as 670 but that's it! it's all about performance!

I have a few of the cheap 400 watt foggers from Target. I also tested it last night and it drew just under 400 watts. That's what really got me thinking. It also shut off the heater when it was ready to pump and while pumping.

Mine puts out a pretty amazing amount of fog. I does depend on the fluid though. I put in some old American DJ fluid and it fogged up a storm. I replaced it with some newer (but still old) Fitco fluid and it barely fogged at all. The Chauvet fluid I have seems to work well. The local place I was getting it from (for $17 a gallon) isn't going to carry it anymore. I had to buy a gallon of American DJ so we'll see how that works. I guess I need to drain out one fogger so I don't mix. What a hassle.

I know the heating element on the Chauvet is drawing 800 watts or less so there is no need to test it in isolation. The question is why does a fog machine advertised as having a 1200 watt heating element only drawing 800 watts? I don't buy what they said on the phone about drawing what it needs. That makes no sense. If it's a 1200 watt heater it should draw 1200 watts.

Chauvet didn't call me back but I will be calling them tomorrow. Something is not kosher here.

Originally Posted by OpenTrackRacer

I
I know the heating element on the Chauvet is drawing 800 watts or less so there is no need to test it in isolation. The question is why does a fog machine advertised as having a 1200 watt heating element only drawing 800 watts? I don't buy what they said on the phone about drawing what it needs. That makes no sense. If it's a 1200 watt heater it should draw 1200 watts.

I agree that is kind of bogus...

I hate to play devils advocate but there might be some truth to what Chauvet is saying. It still doesn't dismiss the fact though.

Try this if you haven't yet. Test it on a different outlet that is isolated and see what the draw is.

If your using an ext. cord. due you have the right gauge cord?maybe a lower gauge cord may show higher wattage going though.12GA instead of standard 18GA cord. also just for laugh hook your watt meter to something else and see if it might be the gauge isn't calibrated right.

• I tested my Chauvet 1250 plugged into a $3 power strip at the end of a 50ft extension cord rated at 1625watts.
• I tested it without the powerstrip on the extension cord.
• I also tested it plugged directly into a completely different outlet.

They all read about 796 watts during the initial warm-up phase. Remember, this is only tested during my initial warm-up phase. However, OpenTrackRacer tested his over several cycles with similar results.

I also agree that 1200 watt is the max and it may not always use it. But 400 watts below the max during initial warm-up and possibly every warm-up seems like crap to me! Wouldn't it warm up a lot faster if it was warming with 1200 watts? Yes.

I'd love to see readings from comparative 1200 watt foggers.

I think my obsession with fog machines is going to get the better of me someday...

That's a good idea. Maybe a 100 watt light bulb? I'll do that. I'd assume light bulbs burn at close to their rated wattage.

Originally Posted by daddywoofdawg@hotmail.com

...also just for laugh hook your watt meter to something else and see if it might be the gauge isn't calibrated right.

I have serious doubts about the presence of a thermostat or dual stage control system on the heating element. There is no reason to have that level of complexity. The control system in these is usually just a thermocouple. You want it to heat at it's maximum rate. That reduces startup and recycle times. There is no valid reason to run the heater at less than it's rated capacity.

The Kill-A-Watt has been tested for accuracy against a clamp meter and I've used it extensively over the past few years. This is not an issue involving extension cords or circuit load saturation.

These 1200 watt foggers are using only 800 watts. No ifs, ands or buts.