Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dedicated Theatre Room Wiring.

I am currently painting my dedicated theatre room. I still can run some more wire if required to some walls. HEre is my setup.

Front/side outlets will house the receiver/dvd player/xbox 360. Both are on differnt breakers.

Now the back wall outlets are connected to 7 pot lights and the outlet for the projector. Is there to much load on this breaker? Should I run one more wire from the breakbox before I drywall the whole thing up? I was thinking about running one more wire for the back 2 oulets and the projector outlet. I will not be using the back outlets all that often which would basically put the projector on its own breaker. Then put the 7 pot lights on their own breaker..

Is this overkill for the lights? Do they need their own breaker? After all, they will be off/dimmed when movies are playing.

-Robb.

I'm no electrician, however, I did run a seperate 12-2 wire from the breaker box to my AV location which powers all of my equipment and projector with a 20amp breaker. All of my equipment is plugged into a tripplite surge/conditioner. All my lights and outlets are wired seperatly on their own circuit.

Displays are more sensitive to power quality than most components, particularly if you are running HDMI or DVI to the display (projector in this case).

I would try really hard to put the projector on a lightly loaded circuit. I'm sure there are thousands of projectors running happily on heavily loaded circuits today but it's such a pain to pull more wires after the fact...

I agree completely with Bridgeman, but I would think you will be fine with one circuit.

Is your run to the back outlets and 7 lights 14 or 12 guage wire (a 15 or 20 Amp breaker)?

Even if it's a 15 Amp run, what is the wattage of the lights bulbs you are using? If they are 60W each, that's 420W total for the lights. 700W if they are 100W bulbs each.

A 15A breaker gives you a max of 1800W (P=V*A, = 120V * 15A). You should stay under 1500W to be safe. Most projectors are easily under 500 Watts, some are higher but you should have plenty of current for the lights and the projector if that is all that is on the run. Just add the wattages up.

I've got just about ALL the lights for my basement (not just the theater) on one breaker. And all the theater equipment (Receiver, DVD, TiVo, Projector, Subs) are one one dedicated 20 Amp circuit.

I am pretty sure it is all 14 guage. Which rules out the 20amp breaker (that kinda sucks). half of the wires were already run into the theatre room when I bought the house, So i had no control over the 14 guage. I also had no idea what i wanted at the time, I was so busy closing the deal that I had no time to research all the wiring stuff. Then my father in-law came down to help me dry-wall (he used to dry wall for a living), So I had to decide quick what I wanted for outlets in the room.

I have decided to run all the lights in the room on their own breaker, and run one more cable for the 2 back outlets and the projector outlet. In all reality, there will probably not be anything plugged into thoese other outlets at the back of the room (they will be behind couches...).

So here is what I have now:

1 x 15a for 2 outlets at the front under the screen which will power my reciever, dvd player, xbox360.

1 x 15a on the right hand side wall that can be used if the front outlets get over powered. I will probably stick the sub on this breaker.

1 x 15a for the 7 pot lights

1 x 15a for the back 3 outlets (only 1 will be used, and that is the projector, at most, there may be a lamp of some kind on the other outlets.

I think I am pretty much covered, lol. 4 x 15a breakers in a 14 x 16 room? At least I will never regret anything!

-Hutz

Yes, I think you will be covered

It is wise to have another outlet for your sub, separate than your equipment. While I think you can get by with less, if you have the room in your breaker box for the extra circuits- you will never regret having more than you need.

I think you will be fine with the 15A. The only place I might want a 20A for future use is for the front outlets for your main equipment. But you've got the 2nd circuit on the sidewall too. If the walls are still open you could run #12 wire and replace the breaker with a 20A, but probably not necessary.

good luck with the project- have fun

Dave,

The walls are no longer open, i could fish the 12 guage from the ceiling as it is still open, but I don't really want to spend the time doing that if I don't have to.

I think I am pretty safe with my setup, if I REALLY need to get extra power, like you said I could plug in some equipment to the side wall (which I may do in the future)

YOu seem to be fine with 2 subs, your receiver, dvd player and projector on the same breaker (20). I will only have 1 sub, receiver and DVD player on a 15a, should be plenty of power.

BTW, nice theatre! My room doesn't allow for such a theatre, mabey in the future I will do something similar, I love how the kitchen is right behind the seats for snacks and stuff.

-Hutz.

I have a maintenance and construction background. For that reason, I always run lights and recetps on separate circuits and home run them to the panel. It makes troubleshooting much easier for two reasons 1) hard to see to troubleshoot when the lights are off 2) hard to troubleshoot with stay power on the neutral leg off lighting circuits. I know it’s also preferable to keep electronics on their own circuit without sharing a neutral with lighting curcuits, but I don’t recall why and I’m too busy to break out the hand book.

Some 14 gauge is rated for 20 amps in air (not in conduit), but again, too busy to research. I think it’s THHN copper - solid.

Good points Mike. Now I remember that's why I put all the lights on 1 breaker, and outlets on others.

Yes, I am fine with all my equipment on the 1 dedicated circuit,including both subs- and you should be fine with what you are planning so no worries.