3 Key Considerations For Powering Outdoor Events
If you’ve never organised an outdoor event before, it can easily seem like quite an overwhelming task. And of everything you’ve got to sort out, the power arrangements can be particularly daunting. Don’t worry though – this week on the blog here at Rubber Box, our experts on power distribution equipment have got a couple of top tips which should make things easier. We’re not going to go into too much technical detail, but instead we’re just aiming to provide you with a few jumping-off points to get started.
Get The Basic Information
While planning an event, the very first step for you should always be to find out what amount of power is available to you. That means doing this before you invest in any equipment or book any services! You should find out how many sockets are available and what sort of sockets they are. If the sockets are in 13amps or 16ams, learn how many ring mains there are, and what their maximum load is. Speaking of which…
Know Your Limits
No, we’re not talking about alcohol (although obviously, we all encourage responsible drinking here at Rubber Box). We’re talking in this instance about the maximum load, which is an especially key bit of information. The worst case scenario is that you experience an outage on the night of your event, which can be perplexing, frustrating and potentially very damaging to your event! Most ring mains have a maximum load of around 7500 watts (7.5kw), and that can often end up being less than you think. Lights for a decent-sized marquee, for example, can be around 1kw – and that’s just an empty tent with lights, before you’ve added anything else!
This is why catering companies, amongst others, are often extremely sceptical of relying solely on ring mains for powering all their equipment. It’s also a good plan to double-check in advance that your supply is reliable. Don’t forget, mobile generators are always an excellent alternative, and frequently very robust and reliable.
Safety First
This is admittedly one of the more obvious steps (which is why we’re actually talking about it last), but we think we’d be remiss not to at least give it a mention. Naturally, PAT testing is a must for any product that’s going to be used in an outdoors environment. All of our own power distros at Rubber Box are rigorously tested before they get as far as your doorstep, but you need to make sure the same can be said of all your lighting and sound equipment. It’s important to keep an eye on the weather, too, and do everything you can to weatherproof your equipment ahead of time. For some items, this could be as simple as stacking them on milk crates so they’re not in danger of sitting in the rain.
Here at Rubber Box, our very own power distros are extensively weatherproofed to a very high degree, no matter their make or model. Safety is our absolute highest priority in everything we do, with quality, reliability and efficiency all coming on top of our list, too. If you need any help or advice with any of our products, or you’d like to place an order, don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01282 677 910.