Ok, got a gig tomorrow night in an old cattle shed on a farm thats turning into a bit of a problem gig. Have already posted another thread regarding the speaker/amp set up but thinking about this turned my attention to the power supply.

The supply comes in from what looks like a pretty hefty thick cable onto an MDF board which has four double sockets mounted on it in a daisy chain fashion.

I did question the supply when I saw it but he said it would be ok as it was grafted together by a qualified electrician.

I do however still have some concerns as it is essentially only one supply so therefore I assume it can only cope with 13amps and depending on the speaker set up i'll be drawing anywhere between 15 and 21 amps.

I'm now unsure as to what to do, I may mention to him that his supply is not sufficient and if it starts blowing fuses I can't take any blame for this BUT i'm more worried about my equipment being damaged is this possible and if so is there a way of protecting it from damage?

First what do your booking terms state in relation to your minimum supply requirements?.

Sadly, the ad-hoc approach to clients and their array of 'borrowed' extension leads of various shapes and sizes means that some form of stipulation has to be stated to protect yourself, otherwise those 5A flymo leads with no earth will make an welcome appearance at some point, usually when you arrive to set up!. Been there, done that.

Have you checked where the end of the supply lead ends up?. If it is plugged into a socket outlet like an extension lead, then you are right in the fact that you are limited to 13A (or the highest rating of the smallest cable in the chain)

If it has been installed by an electrician, then it may be terminated directly into a distribution board or an industrial style outlet at the house or in a barn, in which case if the cable is thick SWA and it is terminated into an RCD at the fuse box / industrial socket there could be as much as 32A available from the incoming supply (spread evenly over the four outlets obviously)

Don't assume anything without checking it for yourself. I've worked in marquees and events in the grounds of large houses and farms where 3 phase supplies are present and the mains to the marquee / barn was perfectly able of running several discos.

More information needed. Find out where the cable goes and what it is connected to, and ideally what the rating of the cable is.

Thanks for the help, I didn't realise that I would potentially have that much power available I'll ask him the questions you've posed above which should hopefully clear up the issues, fingers crossed that they've had it installed correctly!

if hes been running big machinery off the power, he'll probably have 3 phase and in theory could have 125A available (although unlikely)

I doubt this is a 13A, 32A is more common, but you cant presume anything, just ask him what is feeding it! You might be in for a pleasant surprise

Well whats the craic then?, what was on the end of the lead and what was it connected to?

He doesn't know the details of it (he's the farmers son so probably didn't organise the power originally) but assures me that it's been set up to be able to safely cope with every socket being used to its full extent.

I'll investigate a little further when I get there later on just to be sure.

No offense, but isn't that a little late?. What will you do if the cable turns out to be 13A?, worse still what if it is damaged, unusable or just plain unsafe?.

Do you have a back up plan?, access to leads of your own? or a workaround which is safe?

Obviously distance to the site is a factor but given the rather strange description and circumstances I would have been tempted to go over earlier today or yesterday and just check the situation when there was time to either do something about it myself, or get the client to do something about it. Electricians and suitable extension leads are easier to find during a working day as opposed to 7PM.

Electricity is a killer and a fire starter if not handled properly, and its not just your audiences' safety at stake but yours too.

I've lost track of the times when clients have either (a) stated that power would be available and (b) That it would be adequate for my needs and then turned up to find either no available power or something completely unacceptable.

Client says and client does are two different animals.

I wonder how well the gig went, hope the electrics were all ok!

To be fair I was 'winging it' and just hoping it would all work out ok!

It turns out it was wired into it's own fuse box but to be fair I haven't a clue what i'm looking at when it comes to electricity supplies anyway, just what i've read on here recently.

I put this gig down to experience really as it was the worst gig i've ever done for a number of reasons and the client wasn't particularly honest with me.

I am reasonably new to the mobile game although i've been Djing for around 11 years and i'm learning fast, all these experiences teach me something to take on to the next gig.

I don't know whether it was the electricity supply that did it but I blew my Peavey amp which really hacked me off because i'd stopped using the amp due to upgrading to Mackies and was about to put it on ebay, I only brought the amp out at the clients request for MASSIVE POWAAARRRSS!!

OK, if you are going to be approached to do gigs like these in the future, its always wise to put a few ground rules in place. Like you say, very few DJ's are electricians or know what to look for. This is why we shouldn't be medling in other trades and should instead be putting the onus on the client to engage another professional in the form of an electrician in order to provide the minimum requirements that we need. Its in their interests to ensure that their guests are safe and that the disco is able to provide the service that they will be paying for.

A good investment, is also a 13A 50M extension lead on a reel with an RCD fitted. These cost around £30 from Diy outlets or ebay and are a worthy investment for any mobile DJ who does outside events or marquees. I carry a 25m and a 50m version and although I don't make a habit of using or offering this, at least if the worst comes to the worst and I turn up for the gig and find that the offered system wasn't upto scratch. It isn't ideal, but in an emergency at least it stops the client from being disappointed.

Just make sure you unwind it fully!.



They seldom are. . Although I do find that they become more apt to duly provide the requirements when its verbally explained and requested of them AND stipulated in writing .

Thanks for the advise, I'm really starting to see the benefit and quite frankly neccessity of writing out a contract to use for future gigs as I felt very exposed and vulnerable as a business at that gig.