[tridner513]

I was wondering how everyone powers their props. Last year I kept having problems tripping my breakers and I was interested to see how everyone else gets past this problem! thanks!!

 

[Frankie's Girl]

If you can, try figuring out what parts of your house run on different circuits from the plugs that you usually use for your display. Then run heavy duty extension cords from one of the other circuits to the decoration area so you're spreading the load out better (I've cracked a window and run a cord out that way).

Or get the help of a good electrician... I had one out and installed a new GFCI outdoor plug that isn't on the same breaker/circuit when I got REALLY into decorating.

 

[EviLEye]

Agree with Frankie's Girl. I did a garage haunt and ran heavy duty extension cords from the garage and into the house to different locations that were on different circuits.

It's amazing how much power you need when you consider driving the compressor, 12v solenoids, controller boards, lights, and audio. I had raided the local electrical surplus shop for practically all of their 6 and 12v power supplies.

 

[Wolfman]

After a circuit breaker has tripped a few times, it will quit sooner and sooner. Try replacing your faulty breaker and maybe upgrading from 15 Amps to 20 Amps.

 

[Deadview]

Fortunately for me, I have four outlets outside my house, so I run cords from each one and figure out how to split up the power to each part of the yard. Now each outlet runs on 15 amp lines and work well, no issues.
My question is, how many props run off electricity ? What is the output of each and how many outlets do you have outside your house ?

 

[Codec101]

Well at our old house I added an outlet and put it on its own breaker to run everything. Here at our current house since I had to rewire the unattached garage anyway I put a sub-panel in my garage and have 4 different circuits where I can run my compressor, saws and lights without any problems . Of course that was a little bit more involved but that's why I planned for it when I did the wiring.

 

[taonola]

Do you use 12v lighting at all? I don't use a single 110v light. Might consider that.

 

[mrincredibletou]

Replace any lights with LED, this is what tripped my breakers, not all the props.

 

[cosplaycostumefun]

Check your outdoor breaker box (it's usually somewhere near the power meter) and see if you have room in it for a new circuit. Most houses (at least ones built in the last 10 years or so) leave a few open slots to add things like hot tubs and pools. If you have an open one or two, get an electrician to add a dedicated grounded outlet to it. It should keep your home circuits from tripping and give you more reliable power and they can add the box where you need it for your decorations which means less extension cords needed.

Using LED bulbs where you can also helps. And make sure any extension cords you use are properly grounded. An improper ground circuit is usually what makes breakers pop.

 

[scarybella]

I try to use low voltage stuff where I can. I have 4 ATX power units dotted around the display. This year I have made an outside box/enclosure which will house all the terminals for the low voltage stuff. I hate wires everywhere. lol.

 

[The Skeleton Crew]

If your breaker is tripping that is a good thing, it's doing what it's suppose too. Your breaker is tripping because you either are pulling to much power from the outlet (typically 110V in older houses or 120V in newer houses) or the items that are plugged into it are causing it to trip (i.e. they get wet). To prevent your breaker from tripping wrap all your plugged connections that are exposed to the exterior elements with a good exterior grade duct tape. Then plug those into a grounded surge protector that is then plugged into your wall outlet. That way it will trip your surge protector before tripping the main breaker. Make sure all the items you have plugged into the single outlet (both plugs combined) are less than your rated outlet (110V or 120V); a safe rule of thumb is to keep it around 100V or less. Try using low wattage LED lighting in lieu of PAR or other wattage hunger lamps and split your electrical cords to several different outlets. This should prevent your breaker from tripping.

 

[DaveintheGrave]

Most of my props run on 12 volt DC, at usually about 500 milliamps.
I don't recall ever tripping a breaker on Halloween.
Christmas, now.........that's a different story.

 

[Bosco P. Soultrane]

If your breaker is tripping that is a good thing, it's doing what it's suppose too. Your breaker is tripping because you either are pulling to much power from the outlet (typically 110V in older houses or 120V in newer houses) or the items that are plugged into it are causing it to trip (i.e. they get wet). To prevent your breaker from tripping wrap all your plugged connections that are exposed to the exterior elements with a good exterior grade duct tape. Then plug those into a grounded surge protector that is then plugged into your wall outlet. That way it will trip your surge protector before tripping the main breaker. Make sure all the items you have plugged into the single outlet (both plugs combined) are less than your rated outlet (110V or 120V); a safe rule of thumb is to keep it around 100V or less. Try using low wattage LED lighting in lieu of PAR or other wattage hunger lamps and split your electrical cords to several different outlets. This should prevent your breaker from tripping.

Wetness is not tripping the breaker, wetness would trip a GFCI outlet (provided there is a ground fault). When you are drawing amperage over what the circuit is rated for (typically 15 or 20 amps in residential) this trips the breaker. A 15 amp breaker at 120 volts will trip at 1800 VA but is designed for 80% of that or 1440 VA. This by code would amount to a maximum of 8 duplex receptacles per circuit. We design for 6 duplex per circuit for office space and 4 in hospital space and this is with commercial 20 amp breakers. Yeah, very conservative, but you have to be when dealing with people's lives.

The best advice was previously given, you should have extra breaker space available to provide a dedicated circuit that you could have 2-3 outside GFCI receptacles installed with weather protected covers. This could be expensive though, so a better solution would be to map out which receptacles are on each circuit in your house. You want to find the one that is least used to run your extensions from. What else shuts off when your breaker trips?

LED lights is also an option, they do draw less current than incandescent. This advice is sound.

As far as "keeping it around 100V or less" this doesn't make sense. You can't keep it under 100 Volts.
Power is equal to Volts X Amps and expressed in Watts. (For this discussion, this is VA. When you plug in a prop from Gemmy or Spirit, they would typically run on a 6 volt wall mounted transformer (a wall wart) which has an amperage rating on it. It will say something similar to:
INPUT: 100-240VAC 50/60Hz
OUTPUT: 6VDC (or will have a DC symbol, two lines, a solid one with a dashed one underneath) 2A

Sometimes it will be 1 amp, or 1200mA which is 1200 milliamps, or 1.2 amps. These are the ratings of the adapter.
To get the watts, multiply the 6VDC X 2A = 12 Watts.
Like previously stated, it's not the props that trip breakers, but most likely lighting (if incandescent), floodlights, or compressors. It also could have something to do with what is already being used on those circuits.