Query failed: connection to localhost:9312 failed (errno=111, msg=Connection refused). Generator for Outdoor Gig? Advice, please. - Live Discussions on The Fretboard
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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Generator for Outdoor Gig? Advice, please.

RocknRollDaveRocknRollDave Frets: 6075
in Live
The school I work at would like to put on an outdoor event in the field that adjoins our playground.
We have discussed the possibility of some of us musical-ish teachers having a bit of a bash at a song or two.
I have volunteered the use of my PA, but we are now considering how to power it.

Trailing electrical cables across the playground is a definite NO, so we're thinking hiring a generator is a better option.

That said, we know nothing about these things...other than that HSS is one place to go.

I have no idea what the wattage of my PA is, other than that it is a decent sized PA with a good bit of welly and has a powered sub and two powered speakers. It won't be uber-cranked for this. Amps pedalboards will need to be powered too, as well as mixing desk, obvs, and maybe a device or two for music playback.


Any ideas on:

Who best to hire from.

What sort of generator I need. I know different power output capabilities will be the main difference, but what sort of power output would comfortably power the kind of kit I have described?


Thanking you in advance. 


Also thanking you in advance if you tell me the idea is pants, cos at least I get out of making a fool of myself at school... 

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Comments

  • maltingsaudiomaltingsaudio Frets: 2910
    First of all good luck getting hold of one! You need electronically smoothed outputs, this means you won’t get any spikes down the wire. Assuming it’s not a really big Pa ask for a 3 or5kva output and single phase which should be ok for this type of thing.
    www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    If you normally run your rig from standard 13A sockets on a ring main then 5KW will definitely be enough. Less might be - if you look on the back of each item there will be a draw rating, either in W (watts) VA (volt-amps, effectively the same thing for this) or A (multiply by 240 to get the power in watts). Add all of them up and you have the minimum generator rating. As maltingsaudio said, it needs to have a properly filtered output.

    But I would also look at hiring cable ramp so you can use an extension from the building - it may be cheaper, will be less noisy (physically as well as electrically) and potentially be safer.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

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