Power at Nowhere

If you're taking mains electrical equipment to Nowhere, read these frequently asked questions first...

For artists requesting power from the central Nowhere grid, a more detailed document will be sent out closer to the event.

If you have a question not listed here, then email Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. and we’ll try to help.

Where can I plug my stuff in?
Nowhere. We only supply power to official Norg (Nowhere Organisational Board) projects such as the Middle of Nowhere and Malfare, as well as to artists who register their need in advance (you’ll need to have a IP67 16A Single Phase CEE plug on your cable to use Norg power). If you need power for anything else, you need to source it yourselves.

How do I know how much power I’ll use?
Most electronic equipment has a sticker somewhere that gives the power usage in Watts. If you can’t find this, you can always invest in a power meter (search for power watt meter, going for around £10 on eBay at the time of writing).

A good rule of thumb is that anything that generates heat will use a lot of power, eg a kettle (2kW), hair dryer (1.5kW) and incandescent lightbulbs.

I bought a 100m extension cable for £6. Why is my stuff not working?
Any distance that electricity travels reduces the power it can supply. Cheap cables tend to contain less metal, which makes this worse. Either buy a better cable or move things closer.

I’ve got a small extension lead, but it’s still not working, what now?
It’s possible that you’re plugging too much in. A normal cable is designed to have up to 3kW plugged into it; going over this will blow the fuse or start melting things.

I only have a few lights – that doesn’t need much power, right?
Lights vary a lot: LED lights will only use a few watts, but floodlights can use several thousand. Think carefully about how much light you need (a 150W floodlight is more than enough for most things).

How can I protect myself from electrocution?
You should consider getting an RCD or Residual Current Device. Unlike a regular circuit breaker, which acts like a fuse and turns off the power if too much is flowing, an RCD trips if it detects any power not travelling around the normal circuit. An RCD may otherwise be known as an RCCB or (if it works like a fuse as well) an RCBO.

Is my equipment waterproof?
Probably not. Household plugs are not designed for rain, so need to be kept sheltered and off the ground. CEEform plugs are designed for outdoor use and normally come with ratings explaining how good they are. The ratings look like ‘IP44’, where the first number gives how well solid objects are kept out (4 = keeps out anything smaller than 1mm, 6 = dust proof) and the second number gives the water resistance (4 = splash/rain proof, 7 = waterproof to 1m).

I’ve found a cheap generator on eBay. Is there anything I should look out for?
Cheap generators tend to have an unregulated voltage output, so if you have any sensitive electronics (laptop, speakers, phone charger) you should get a voltage regulator to make sure you don’t fry them. Another concern is that small generators are very noisy and fuel hungry, so it’s worth seeing if your neighbours want to pool together to get a bigger one.

What’s a kVa?
Try Wikipedia for a proper explanation, but if you’re trying to figure out generator capacities, they’re closely related to watts. Try not to go above 75% of your generator capacity in kW.