Power
This page holds the power rules and sizing rationale. The where-does-each-wire-go view — every PSU’s letter, location, loads, and the fuse cheat-sheet — is the Build Guide’s Power Map.
Generator plan
One generator runs the entire installation; the second identical unit is a dedicated backup (failover, not load-share). The units are DuroMax XP12000EH dual-fuel portables run on propane: 9,025 W running / 11,400 W starting (gasoline would be 9,500/12,000 — plan on the propane numbers). Outlets: 2× 120 V 20 A, 120 V 30 A, 120/240 V 30 A, 120/240 V 50 A. Since 2026-08-06 this works because of the 8 kW software power budget (below): every sequence is analyzed/compressed to ≤ 8 kW AC — ~89% of the 9,025 W propane running rating — leaving ~1 kW for sound, crew, and charging. The port caps (80% / rose 70%) protect the wiring, not the generator.
| Cap | LED DC | AC draw | One XP12000EH on propane (9,025 W) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% full white | 11,810 W | ~13,100 W | ❌ needs both |
| 70% | 8,270 W | ~9,250 W | ❌ over |
| 80% / rose 70% (port backstops) | ~9,100 W | ~10,300 W | ❌ needs the software budget |
| 8 kW software budget (enforced, #113) | ~7,050 W | 8,000 W | ✅ ~89% |
| 30% (typical show) | 3,540 W | ~4,050 W | ✅ ~45% |
Layout: the primary generator sits next to the front-right tower — all AC originates at the front. AC feeds to the back towers run along the canopy lines. One generator = one ground reference: all towers and scaffold bond to it (equipotential).
For the licensed electrician: panel/breaker distribution of all PSUs; conductor sizing, voltage drop and GFCI on the front→back AC runs; backup-generator transfer scheme (manual vs ATS, neutral-ground bonding); confirmation of the real continuous single-unit rating (XP12000EH propane running = 9,025 W; verify derate for playa altitude ~3,900 ft + heat — rule of thumb ~3%/1,000 ft ≈ 8,000 W real, which is exactly the software budget — zero-margin at worst case, flag to the electrician).
Fuel: propane. DuroMax suggests a 40-gal tank per unit; at typical show draw plan roughly ~56–80 gallons for 8 hrs/night × 7 nights (confirm against the XP12000EH propane burn rate at ~60–90% load).
AC distribution — spider box + generator outlets
All AC originates at the primary generator (front-right tower). The generator’s two native 120 V 20 A outlets carry the right-side loads standing next to it; a 6-circuit spider box off the 50 A outlet carries the rest. Every drop cord is 12 AWG outdoor cordage. Amps below are the enforced ceilings — worst case at the hardware port caps (80% / rose 70%), which no sequence or test pattern can exceed; real show content runs lower still (hottest analyzed sequence: every PSU ≤86% of rating). The 8 kW software budget governs the simultaneous total.
Generator receptacles
| Trunk | Branches off it | Circuit | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 601 | controller gear | Front-right tower (A + E) + F48V5/FPP/network | ~9 A |
| 611 | 612–615 + 609 | Major Arch Right Feet — one chained line (6 taps; arch data + power fail together) | ~9.6 A |
Spider box (6 circuits)
| Trunk | Branches off it | Circuit | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 610 | — | Rose hub — always its own circuit (hottest PSU bank in the show) | ~8 A |
| 607 | — | Minor arches LEFT | ~8.8 A |
| 608 | — | Minor arches RIGHT | ~8.8 A |
| 602 · 621 | 622–625 | Front-left tower (A + E) + Major Arch Left Feet chain (both left side) | ~15.2 A |
| 603 | 604 | Back-left tower (A + E) — one long pull along the canopy line, splits at the A box | ~10 A |
| 605 | 606 | Back-right tower (A + E) — same | ~10 A |
If rearranging: keep heavy loads on the short front cords (the long back runs carry only ~5.6 A each at the caps); use sealed inline taps on the ground-level arch-feet chains. The generator’s 30 A twist-lock stays free as the escape hatch.
Brightness policy: 80% / 70% backstops + an 8 kW software budget (revised 2026-08-06)
Ports 5–32 are set to 80% brightness; rose ports 33–48 to 70%. The old global 50% cap (mandated 2026-07-15) made the hardware ceiling the generator guarantee — and made every non-white color unsatisfyingly dim. The revised architecture splits the two jobs:
- The SOFTWARE pipeline is the generator guarantee. Every sequence passes
analyze-fseq.py+ the #113 power compressor against a hard 8 kW AC budget (~89% of one 9 kW unit, leaving sound/crew headroom). Full whites and taxing combinations get compressed — preferentially in the non-star zones (stars = rose + arches) — before they ever reach the controller. - The port caps are the ELECTRICAL backstop only. At 80/70%, every fuse, wire, and PSU stays within rating even if a full-white frame slips through: the spire circuits were re-fused 5 A → 7.5 A for this, and the rose sits at 70% because a slipped white puts its HLG-320H-12s at 94% of rating there (the binding limit — raising the rose further means 4× HLG-600H-12).
⚠️ The generator is NOT protected by the port caps anymore. Worst-case full white at these caps is ~10.3 kW against one 9 kW unit. Every playable file must go through the analyzer/compressor pipeline, and never run full-white F48 test patterns at show brightness on generator power — test at reduced brightness or on shore power.
⚠️ Enforce at the port level ONLY. Do NOT also set a Max Brightness in xLights models — the two would compound and under-drive everything. One enforcement point: the port.
Sizing rule that still stands: all hardware (PSUs, fuses, wire) is sized to the full-white numbers — the port caps give margin on top, and the software budget governs the generator.
Voltage strategy
Everything runs 24 V (long runs, low voltage drop) except two 12 V systems. The controller’s differential signal is power-independent, so zones at different voltages coexist without converters.
| Zone | Voltage | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Arches (major, minor, quad) + spires + canopy | 24 V | Long runs; 24 V RGB hardware |
| Rose window | 12 V (dedicated PSUs) | WS2815 is 12 V-native |
| Spirelets + wash floods | 12 V (dedicated flood PSUs) | 12 V flood fixture |
| SR boards | 12 V | Tower/front boxes: from the 12 V flood rail (2 A holder); 24 V-only boxes: 10 A buck; rose SRs: direct 12 V |
Data is always 5 V logic regardless of strip voltage — the SR’s 5 V data signal drives 12 V and 24 V strips alike, no level shifters. See Wiring.
The power/data split — one rule
On every 24 V zone, LED power NEVER flows through the SmartReceiver (SRs run at 12 V and cannot power 24 V fixtures). Data comes from the SR; V+ comes from the rail’s WAGO common through a labeled inline fuse holder inside the enclosure (v9 — no distribution blocks); grounds are common. The strip still plugs into a normal 3-pin pigtail — the split happens inside the box, where the pigtail’s V+ conductor lands on the bus instead of the SR board. Dual-end zones add a far-end power-only tap.
The rose window (12 V) is the only exception — petal power flows through its 12 V SRx1 at the near end (within the 5 A output fuse at the 50% cap), plus a raw far-end tap.
Common ground is mandatory everywhere — SR ↔ PSU ↔ fixture. Without it the data has no reference; this is the silent failure mode of split power/data.
PSU plan
Full per-PSU letters, locations, loads, and fuses: Power Map. Summary:
| PSUs | Zone | Model | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| A–D | Rose window (1 per rose SR box, 4 petals each, both ends) | HLG-320H-12 | 4 — in hand |
| E–N | Major arches (1 per foot; leg + curve half; V+ cut at crown) | HLG-320H-24 | 10 |
| O–R | Minor arches (2 per side, both at that side’s SR box; 3 injection points per arch) | HLG-600H-24B | 4 |
| S–X | Towers (front = 1 each: spire + quad; back = 2 each: top / bottom) | HLG-600H-24B | 6 |
| Y–Z | Canopy — dedicated, 1 per front tower | HLG-320H-24 | 2 |
| — | Flood rails (spirelets + wash, 12 V, per tower) | HLG-185H-12 | 4 (+2 spares) |
| Total | 30 (+ spares) |
Canopy PSUs (as built): each front tower carries a dedicated canopy supply — PSU-Y (front-right) and PSU-Z (front-left), HLG-320H-24 at ~57% of rating — so the tower’s HLG-600H-24B (PSU-S / PSU-T) carries only spire + quad. That 600H still reaches ~7% over its 25 A rating at theoretical full white; the 80% port cap and the power compressor hold it within rating in practice. The 320H-24 is the same model as the arch-foot PSUs, so one spare covers both.
Zone loads (full-white sizing numbers)
Arch strips (WS2811 24 V 60/m, ~14.4 W/m):
| Zone | Strip length | Full white |
|---|---|---|
| Major arches (5) | ~114 m | ~1,642 W |
| Minor arches (10) | ~265 m | ~3,816 W |
| Quad arches (6 chained strings) | ~264 m | ~3,802 W |
Globe strings (~0.72 W/node design figure used in these tables): spires 416 nodes ~300 W; canopy 252 nodes ~182 W.
Rose window (WS2815 60/m, 12 W/m): ~144 m active, ~1,728 W full white. Per-PSU load exceeds the HLG-320H-12 rating at full white — held safe by the port-level 70% rose backstop (~94% loaded worst case, within continuous rating) with PSU OCP behind it; ~74% is the hard ceiling on the HLG-320H-12s — raising the rose beyond 70% requires swapping to 4× HLG-600H-12 (~$450).
Floods (12 V, 10 W each): 20 spirelets + 22 wash (14 front + 8 back, #99/#102) ≈ 420 W. Per-tower flood rail on the HLG-185H-12 (15 A): front = 6 spirelets + 7 wash ≈ 10.8 A full white; back = 4 spirelets + 4 wash ≈ 6.6 A — both comfortable.
Electronics overhead ≈ 140 W (controller ~20 W, 15 SR boards ~60 W, 5 buck converters ~25 W — the other boards ride their tower’s 12 V flood rail (v9, 2026-07-27) — WiFi AP ~15 W, misc).
Power injection — where and why
Rule of thumb at 60/m on 24 V:
| Run length | Injection |
|---|---|
| Under 5 m | One end only |
| 5–10 m | Both ends |
| Over 10 m | Both ends + midpoint(s) |
Per-zone injection scheme
| Zone | Scheme | PSU(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Major arches | 4 points: each foot + each mid-T. One PSU per leg; V+ cut at the crown where the two PSU domains meet (data + GND pass through) | E–N |
| Minor arches | 3 points: right foot, peak T, left foot — all one PSU, no cut | O–R |
| Quad arches | Raw 15 A taps at the SR corner and (big quads) the opposite corner — same tower PSU, no cut. Back-top quads: SR corner only, add opposite tap if far globes dim | S/T (front), V/X, U/W (top) |
| Spires | Fused bus feed at the base (whole tower’s 8 strings ≈ 3 A, one 5 A group fuse) | Y/Z (front), U/W (back) |
| Canopy | Front-tower end only (fused 3 A per run); far end unfed — add a back-end tap only if the far globes dim on-site | Y / Z |
| Rose petals | Both ends of every 9 m petal, same PSU: near end through the SRx1, far end via 5 A tap. Empirically required (bench-tested 2026-06-25) | A–D |
| Spirelets + wash | 12 V flood rail per tower, fused groups — data still from the SR sockets | Flood PSUs |
Fuse sizes, wire gauges, and per-box specifics: Power Map — fuse cheat-sheet. Injection-point connector labels are generated from the wiring database.
LED zones — summary
Type, voltage, and pixel count for every lit zone (design pixels; see each zone page for detail).
| Zone | Type | Spacing | Voltage | Pixels | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Window | WS2815, 60/m | 16.7 mm | 12 V (dedicated PSU) | 224 | ✅ Spec complete; strips ordered |
| Main Arches | WS2811, 60/m, 10 px/m | 10 cm | 24 V | ~1,120 | ✅ Strips ordered |
| Mini Arches | WS2811, 60/m, 10 px/m | 10 cm | 24 V | 1,100 | ✅ Strips ordered |
| Quad Arches | WS2811, 60/m, 10 px/m | 10 cm | 24 V | 1,696 | ✅ Strips ordered |
| Main Spires | WS2811 globe nodes, 50 cm | 50 cm | 24 V | 416 | ✅ Strings quoted |
| Canopy | WS2811 globe nodes, 50 cm | 50 cm | 24 V | 252 | ✅ Strings quoted |
| Corner Spirelets | 12 V WS2811 pixel flood, 1 px | — | 12 V | 20 | ✅ Fixture chosen (shared with wash); cone diffusion in progress |
| Wash Floods | 12 V WS2811 pixel flood, 1 px, IP65 | — | 12 V | 22 | ✅ Modeled + sourced (#99) |
| Total | ~4,850 | interior orbs (20) cut 2026-07-12 |