Does anything like this exist, ideally to rent? A silent alternative to a generator appeals. I appreciate that you’d need something large. But a small trailer sized battery could pack some serious capacity. Is the problem supplying 240v?

google: leisure battery

Capcity, duration? output?
Start with the real question, what are you powering and for how long

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

Aren’t they always 12v?

Application – music and lights (led fairy lights) for a party in a marquee in a field. Not sure on total capacity required.
Duration – until everyone is drunk and has fallen asleep. 8hrs?

I think its a bit of a non-starter, you’d need a huge battery bank on a strong trailer, when the job could be done by a relatively quiet generator/inverter.

It would be quite easy to create a soundproof enclosure if the noise is too loud.

If you want to pursue the battery option, you need to calculate the current draw of all the gear, LED fairy lights will be minimal but the sound system could draw a considerable amount.

long cable and a generator up wind

Worth asking, sounds like a generator is easier (and by that reckoning, cheaper!).

hire a couple honda suitcase generators. super quiet. 1 for lights, 1 for sounds etc

12v battery – use voltage invertor to run 240v. 🙂 but that kind of load would kill one..

work out what power you need. However let e save you some time as i have lived off grid and just save time and effort and just hire a suitcase generator and use that some way form where you are – you wont hear it over the music noise anyway- they are pretty quiet even at a few feet away IME and putting it behind say a hale bale – or similar non combustible sound deadening thing- will render it effectively silent

I doubt anyone hires batteries out as they are consumable and can be ruined by a full discharge but i have never actually looked- even if they do the generator will be the cheaper option

Still need to work out what your power needs are though I doubt they are over 1kw and wont be over 2 kw unless its a pretty serious stereo set up you are using

Probably use about a gallon ish of fuel in that time frame

Aren’t they always 12v?

If you want a trailer full just hook up 50 and they’ll be 600v.

Why do you want 240v anyway? Most stuff tends to drop 240v AC down to 6/12/18v DC anyway. It all depends on what you plan to do.

For 24 hour events (which really last over 48 hours) we use a pair of leisure batteries, one in the camper, one outside. That does all our lighting, device recharging, jet washers, music etc etc. There’s 10+ of us. One would probably do the job.

hire a couple honda suitcase generators. super quiet.

+1.

52db at 1/4 load, which is conversation noise level. Excellent bits of kit.

Just make sure the sound system is louder than the generator. Sorted! 🙂

Duration – until everyone is drunk and has fallen asleep. 8hrs?

You either need to up the AHs of you battery or increase the ABV of your booze 🙂

Not sure if they’re still at it but in this neck of the woods theres a gang who goe by the name of ‘Ray-Mundo’ (part of the general Mungos Hifi / Pointless Creations diaspora) who have a solar / battery powered towable sound system and lights. A bit of googling might find him and give an indication of what the set up is

EDIT – found it http://www.ray-mundo.co.uk

just hire a suitcase generator

The availability of them to hire can be a bit inconsistent – to buy they’re about 5 to 10 times the price of a conventional genie of the same output and offer more sophistication than most tool hire customers need so if a hire co has them at all they’ll have few and tend to share them between a few depots. If you’re hiring one and your event is dependant on it….. make sure the hire co actually has one and that you’ve seen it working and hire it a day or two in advance. I ended up buying one of my own (for outdoor video projections) because I was fed up of going on last minute 100 mile round trip wild goose chases when hire companies let me down.

Have a chat with my mate Dougal.
http://www.resourceliving.org/
Rich.