We're helping a friend organise her birthday party on the far field of our usual site in June, and I've been tasked with sorting out power for the music (ipod linked to amp). Reading other posts, it looks as though we could do this with a leisure battery and not need a generator. What other kit would we need? Is it better to hire or buy?
Not techy answers please - I now really regret giving up physics so early . . .
Hi. can you give us some more info on what is planned. How many people will you be expecting? Do you want LOUD music over a large field? Is EHU available? Do you already have the amp and speakers or are you going to get hold of one somehow? Are you well away from other people who might get upset by the noise?
Let us know what your requirements are and we may be able to help much more.
Pete
About a 100 people. Not REALLY loud, but enough to get people dancing. We are away from other campers and in open countryside, the site owner knows we are having the party. No EHU. Have been offered amp from an electric guitar, which I'm hoping to use next weekend for an indoor party. I was thinking of taking our old free-standing speakers that we were going to get rid of, having got new kit in our front room - but they are big and will take up valuable room in the car.
Quote: Originally posted by ClifdenCampers on 09/5/2009We're helping a friend organise her birthday party on the far field of our usual site in June, and I've been tasked with sorting out power for the music (ipod linked to amp). Reading other posts, it looks as though we could do this with a leisure battery and not need a generator. What other kit would we need? Is it better to hire or buy?
Not techy answers please - I now really regret giving up physics so early . . .
Hi,
Depending on the amp and length of time its going to be used for a leisure battery may not have enough run time. For example the amp in my home cinema setup draws a max 300w from the mains - using an inverter this works out to be a drain of 25A at 12v plus a bit for inefficiency, or about something less than 4hrs from a 100Ah battery. Would guess it be be much less than this though as many inverters shut down when the battery voltage drops below a certain level to prevent a complete discharge.
Guess in all practicality a genarator would probably work out better, cant see the noise it produces being much of a problem either lol. With regards to buying or renting screwfix do a 650w genny for change from £80, not sure what renting would come to but if you did buy on would be handy during power cuts etc.
*edit*
Just seen your other post re the guitar amp, cant see this being anywhere near suitable as guitar amps tend have a single built in speaker and the power output would probably be far to low. A friend of mine used to be involved in discos etc his seup was outputting about 300w, a guitar amp can be as low as 15w..... You might get away with some decent hi-fi separates but you need to "overcome" the considerable background noise 100 people make without pushing speakers etc to the point of distortion and potential damages
Hi again. So you're not looking for something like a pair of these:
To be serious, I wouldn't recomend using a guitar amp. They are specially designed to work with the instruments and wouldn't really sound that good with an I-Pod.
I would try to get hold of a proper PA amplifier, speakers and cables. As you are in the London area, you can probably find a local hire shop which could provide you with a complete set-up and advice. Also think about a microphone.
Do you have any contacts at a local school or college which might be able to help out?
When it comes to powering all this, I would have thought mains power would be essential. Will you also need some sort of lighting in the field for health and safety reasons?
Although I am not a believer in generators on camp sites, for this sort of event I think one would be essential.
Having had a sudden flash of inspiration, it may be worth talking to Hirequip as I believe they can supply all of this sort of stuff.
Good luck, if I can help anymore please ask.
Pete.
PS, why not tell the WHOLE of UKCS where and when the party is and we can all turn up. Only joking.
We have done this in the past and believe it or not a normal home cd player with a pair of stand alone speakers were sufficient, plenty loud enough and we ran it all including disco lights from a 650w generator that cost £50 from Aldi, A inverter would work but not for long enough,
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