Fluke 3540-FC User Manual
PROFESSIONAL REVIEW
Fluke power monitoring helps
UPS manager confidently relay
data to TV broadcast clients
Name: Rick Fadeley
UPS Manager
Company: Filmwerks
International
Tools: 3540 FC Three-Phase
Power Monitor, Fluke Connect®
Condition Monitoring
Key benefits:
• Real-time alerts and access to
three-phase power data
• 24/7 access to equipment
performance
On an unseasonably humid
September day in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, the Filmwerks International crew preps a broadcast
stage at Lambeau Field for the
professional football game
between the teams from Green
Bay and Chicago, a heated
rivalry that spans nearly 100
years.
While stage assembly and
maintenance may put them
within close proximity of
on-air talent and commentators, Filmwerks’ core business
is providing backup uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for
broadcast compounds that televise professional sporting and
entertainment events, including
football, wrestling, golf, mixed
martial arts, and concerts.
Headquartered in Rocky Point,
North Carolina, Filmwerks dispatches a few custom-built UPS
broadcast trailers on epic road
trips across the country during
football season. For these
jobs, it’s critical that the entire
team receives alerts, based
on customized measurement
thresholds that could reveal
possible electrical issues.
They run a UPS system with a
500 kW generator to accommodate their clients that broadcast
live professional football games.
For their job at Lambeau Field,
they hooked up to four 3540
FC Three-Phase Power Monitors with iFlex current probes
to keep tabs on voltage, amps,
frequency, and total harmonic
distortion (THD)
Brief primer on Fluke 3540
FC, Fluke Connect
Compact, rugged, and sophisticated, the 3540 FC assists
professionals in monitoring
power input and output to their
equipment. Teams can stream
vital power data to the Fluke
Connect Cloud, then access
measurement information—displayed in graphs that show
baselines and historical data
for trending—using the Fluke
Connect Mobile App or the
desktop interface. From there,
technicians and managers
can set thresholds for alarms
that notify the team whenever
measurements, such as voltage or current, are outside the
accepted range.
The next time we have to deploy to
this stadium, we know what we’re
“
dealing with.”
How UPS systems are evolving
Rick Fadeley is Filmwerks’ UPS manager, charged
with alerting clients of notable changes to power
before and during events, as well as providing
comprehensive reports after the referee blows
the final game whistle. The ability to hook up
multiple high functioning and mobile 3540 FCs
to monitor three-phase input-output, while being
connected to the cloud via Fluke Connect, gives
Filmwerks and their technologically savvy clients
confidence in their power monitoring efforts.
“Traditionally in the live broadcast power busi-
ness, up until a couple years ago, it was always
twin generators for redundancy. So, they weren’t
even connected to shore power utility at all; they
were in isle mode floating these broadcast trucks.”
In many ways, Filmwerks pioneers a greener
and more reliable approach to providing UPS
technology to clients who cannot risk prolonged
outages, as there are substantial advertising dollars at stake. They employ a modular design and
state-of-the-art battery banks and avoid running
generators and burning diesel fuel, which lowers
fuel costs for their clients. The effects are a
reduction in their carbon footprint and the minimization of excess machine noise. To accomplish
this, Filmwerks uses silent UPS systems with
battery backup. And a big selling point to clients
is their deep knowledge of and ability to remotely
monitor power transference.
“Our clients like it that they feel comfortable that
everything is going well,” Fadeley said. “We
also use it for data recording. We get a baseline
of what the critical loads are, what to anticipate, how to connect and load our equipment
up. It also archives data, and we can go back a
week or month later and see how that particular
show performed, how particular equipment was
consuming power. Again, this is all traveling
equipment, and every week or so it’s in a different location and at times different electrical
loads.”
Power monitoring and real-time data
Filmwerks depends upon utility power as the
primary power supply to broadcast operations,
so Fadeley recognized a pressing need to have
real-time power data at the team’s fingertips.
Filmwerks trailers are equipped with eight
custom air conditioning units to sustain a stable
room temperature for the battery banks. With
access to remote monitoring on his smartphone
via the Fluke Connect Mobile App desktop software, Rick can be alerted to any power issue that
demands immediate attention.
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