American Cinematographer - April 2023 - 12

Shot Craft
A 100-amp " lunchbox, " which connects to 100-amp Bates
and provides five 20-amp standard Edison sockets.
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12 / APRIL 2023
Camlock 4/0 or 2/0 runs start from the electrical service and end at
a distribution box (with some caveats, as discussed later in this piece).
There are many variations of distro boxes, but the basic idea is that
electricity is fed into a junction point where it can continue as 4/0 or 2/0,
or break out into smaller branches of the electrical river.
Pictured on page 10 is the line, or feed, side of a 600-amp distribution
box. This is the side where the electricity comes in. The 4/0 cable
is connected to the box, feeding electricity via its red, black, blue, white
and green terminating lines. Above that, on the left side of the box, is
a red " courtesy " standard 20-amp Edison outlet (to run a worklight or
something small close to the distro box). It's red to designate that it is
associated with the red leg of the electrical circuit. Just to the left of that
is a dedicated 20-amp circuit breaker for that outlet.
If we flipped to the other side of the box - the load side, which feeds
electricity to other components - we'd see another set of camlock connections.
This is usually not for more 4/0 or 2/0, but for smaller cables
that feed off to other breakout distribution boxes. Most often, this would
be for " banded " cable, composed of five 2-gauge cables - each capable
of 190 amps per leg - taped into a bundle. Banded is used closer to the
set to lay out moderately sized sub-rivers around the shooting area.
If the set is close to the power source, or if the overall draw doesn't
exceed 190 amps per leg (there are generally the three hot legs: red,
black and blue), then a banded cable can be used in place of 2/0 or 4/0.
For most small sets, this is pretty typical.
The long black sections on both sides of the distro box are outlets for
100-amp Bates paddles. These feed even smaller rivers, capable of 100
amps each, to supply other components. The load side also has a courtesy
Edison outlet (blue, denoting that it's connected to the blue leg). To
the right of this courtesy outlet is a series of small, circular ports; these
are also " courtesy, " intended for voltage-measurement meters. When the
camlock terminals are filled, it can be difficult to measure the voltage, so
these ports are provided for that purpose.
Bates extensions (see bottom photo, page 11) come in standard 25',
50' and 100' lengths. The connection consists of a rectangular paddle
(with slight contouring to make it more comfortable in the hand) with
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