So I need to power a small PA and a couple of laptops in a field for two days running 11 hours per day…

Total power about 500w, normally use a little “suitcase” generator but the site in question will only allow Silenced Diesel generators which would involve a 4kva thing about the size of one of those workmans air compressors…

Have a 500w invertor but by my best maths I would need an awful lot of Leisure batteries to run each day..

Can’t see any alternative than to rent the behemoth, unless you know better…(Oh and budget would have to be about £250 tops)

Not happening, I’m afraid.

Best bet is to team up with someone else who does have such a thing. Or go to a plant hire place. Or buy a Honda generator, they are supposed to be amazingly silent.

so you need a silent generator to run next to your PA ?

does that not seem a little silly to anyone else? Fair enough if you were powering fridges or anything quiet like that, but if you are powering speakers blaring out music, a bit of noise from the generator is hardly a problem!

Dave

A few anouncements over a PA is a bit different from a diesel engine rattling away for 11 hours a day.

one here

Is that not good enough?

A few anouncements over a PA is a bit different from a diesel engine rattling away for 11 hours a day.

didn’t think about announcements… i was picturing more like the music they blare out at events.

5 people on exercise bikes?

5 people on exercise bikes?

I understand it takes 18 to power a hairdryer so 5 may not be enough.

Mr Fusion?

What about flying a key from a kite or something and waiting for lightning to strike it? There’s a lot of power in lightning, apparently.

Or, I’m sure the A team did something with some old oil barrels and lengths of pipe when they were trapped and needed some power urgently. Can’t quite remember the details, but a quick run through their shows on DVD would probably reveal the answer?

Could you move the site to one where there are several leylines colliding and use the resulting forcefield to power everything?

Trust that helps.

Thinking laterally:
1) if the PA is only for a few announcements could you power it by battery and switch it off between announcements?

2) what are the laptops doing? Could they be replaced with iPads which would prob use a lot less power and could be recharged off the leisure battery?

probably no help but just a thought.

nice honda, but petrol, has to be diesel…

Looks like my only option is to rent the big thing, painful

What is their reason for diesel? Is there a fire risk? Diesel generators are notorious for being louder and bulky.

Group together with other energy users and share the generation effort?

No petrol gennys allowed on site. Normal cooncil Licensing Rules. Tis a Fire risk and you don’t know its service (or lack of) history.

And it forces people to use the power supplied or hire a decent diesel from a good supplier. They are really quiet, even the small ones.

Can you not ask the festival management for power? That’s what they are for.

……IGMC

Nahhhh…

You need Druids.

You need to sit around a Stone Hearth and Hum:
“Power, Lord of the almighty bring us power”
Then you need to sacrifice a small mammal, nothing large or Human like, a rodent will do, then you need to pour the blood of the mammal over the Stone Hearth and upon doing so break out into a Dance whilst waiving your arms in the air (like you just don’t care)
And Fire, you need lots of sticks with fire coming out of them, and crosses, you most certainly need lots of crosses.
And naked Wimin.

That should do it.

Eh?

Run it off a landy/other diesel with an inverter no, or will that not give enough juice? Look at the toys from the PowerMonkey people, they may have some ideas.

was there some spammer thread resurrection that’s been moderated?

I’ve run quite a few festivals before on a fairly tight budget and I always just get non-silenced diesel generators and put them a fair distance away from the stage, preferably behind something, and run a long extension. Not really a problem IMO and around £50 for a weekend IIRC.

Do those ‘suitcase’ generators have a voltage regulator anyway – in theory you should have one for using a generator with sensitive electrical equipment. I’ve got away with it in the past though……

Yup Druids, him and his family could help you out.

Failing all that lots of Chinese Folk..

Chinese Proverb Say..

“Many Hands make Light Work”

this little Honda ones linked too are perfect – silenced and a smooth power output ideal for electronic stuff. A bit rare to rent though as to buy they’re tres expensive but theres not much of a premium on renting them out – book one well in advance as, if theres a festival type event on, all the local ones will get booked up pretty sharpish.

{edit} doesn’t solve your petrol/diesel issue though.