Things you learn after a power outage..

crunchman

Phil_aka_Pip said:

When I were a kid, we lived in a thatch'n'beams place out in the sticks with no lekky. We had a Rayburn with a back boiler and the hot water made it to the tank in the corner of us kids' bedroom by convection. We were never short of hot water, warmth, or hot food.

We were similar.  We lived on a farm in a big old farmhouse and had an Aga.  It was quite an adventure having to use candles as an eight year old in the winter of discontent.

Bridgehouse said:

Well, actually, yes and no re the UPS.

Really spend the £££s and get a 6000kva with 6x battery modules and it will give you more than a few minutes (depending on your power draw), but certainly enough to boil a kettle. 

Course, that's not it's intended purpose - and good luck installing the UPS management software on your kettle.

There is a huge UPS at my work.  Think it will power a whole office for 10 hours or so.  There is a reason that it is needed.  It's not something you could take to a gig though.

ICBM

Danny1969 said:

To be honest it was the last resort in situations where they couldn't be bribed to disable the limiter or wouldn't let us run power from another ring. 
The one I had, an 8U HP unit was capable of sourcing 3KW constant for 22 mins so plenty enough for the class D PA and backline at wedding volumes

That must be pretty funny in venues where they insist you use the limiter - and it trips, but the band carries merrily on regardless .

crunchman

ICBM said:

Danny1969 said:

To be honest it was the last resort in situations where they couldn't be bribed to disable the limiter or wouldn't let us run power from another ring. 
The one I had, an 8U HP unit was capable of sourcing 3KW constant for 22 mins so plenty enough for the class D PA and backline at wedding volumes

That must be pretty funny in venues where they insist you use the limiter - and it trips, but the band carries merrily on regardless .

Good idea though.  My wife's younger sister got married a couple of weeks ago, and the limiter cut in at what I would consider quite low volumes.

The DJ was a bit thick.  There was an indicator on the limiter that showed the level, and when it was stuck in the red he didn't think to turn it down slightly - at least not until it had cut out a few times. 

ICBM

crunchman said:

Good idea though.  My wife's younger sister got married a couple of weeks ago, and the limiter cut in at what I would consider quite low volumes.

The DJ was a bit thick.  There was an indicator on the limiter that showed the level, and when it was stuck in the red he didn't think to turn it down slightly - at least not until it had cut out a few times. 

I assume he wasn't using digital gear? Power outs can be damaging to some digital desks (and probably other equipment), if they don't shut themselves down properly. That's probably the most important reason for using a UPS with a modern gigging set-up - even if it's not big enough to run the entire band - whether or not there is a limiter.

crunchman

ICBM said:

crunchman said:

Good idea though.  My wife's younger sister got married a couple of weeks ago, and the limiter cut in at what I would consider quite low volumes.

The DJ was a bit thick.  There was an indicator on the limiter that showed the level, and when it was stuck in the red he didn't think to turn it down slightly - at least not until it had cut out a few times. 

I assume he wasn't using digital gear? Power outs can be damaging to some digital desks (and probably other equipment), if they don't shut themselves down properly. That's probably the most important reason for using a UPS with a modern gigging set-up - even if it's not big enough to run the entire band - whether or not there is a limiter.

He was using a laptop for the actual music so that would have carried on with battery power.  I didn't go and look closely at his other gear though so not sure what it was.

Danny1969

@ICBM ;
 Yeah that's the reason we still have one UPS, even if the desk isn't affected by the on  \ off cutout the current settings are lost and it reverts back to the last saved state ... which is a problem unless the guy running the desk constantly stores the scene every couple of minutes 

Garden solar lights are useful in powercuts, feeble as they look they will help with a tiny amount of light that's enough to stop you walking into walls etc