Choosing a Suitable Generator for your requirement

Electricity is the life of any event. Whether this comes in the form of powering fans, air coolers or air conditioning,  speakers and microphone for voice amplification or music, or lights to illuminate the area in the night.

For most places in Singapore, you can ask your town council for electricity points for your events at common areas such as void decks or multi-purpose halls. However, in the event that you are not able to or if you require a large amount power, you will definitely need to rent a generator for your event.

Traditional diesel generators convert fuel into electricity via an engine and alternator. It comes in many different sizes ranging from 5kVA which is suitable to power a 3 room hdb to 1500kVA which can power a medium size shipping vessel.

small capacity 5kVA generator

1500kVA open generator

With such a large range of power capacity available, how can one select an appropriate generator size?

Checking with your M&E Staff

If you have your own M&E staff, seeking their advice will definitely be a good step forward. They know how much ampere, voltage (single phase or 3 phase) and wattage is required. They have the knowledge also to connect your equipment to our DB box and to safely operate the machinery.

Requesting a quotation from our staff

The easiest method of getting an appropriate generator will be to request a quotation from our staff. That said, you will need to provide us with some information so that we can provide you an accurate quotation and generator.

For starters, let us know the duration of rental as well as the use of generator for each day. This will help us determine on how many generators are needed as well as how much diesel will be needed for each day.

Secondly, let us know the power requirements of your equipment. Most equipment will have a power rating sticker which will help you identify how much wattage it uses or amperes. If it isn’t written, please consult the manufacturer. If your equipment has an engine or is an industrial equipment, it might require larger ampere in order to start the equipment. Different generator capacities have ampere limitations so its important to check with us first.

Estimation based on number of guests

If you have multiple equipment and do not know the individual rating for each, we can estimate based on the number of guest attending the equipment. We have a in depth knowledge on lighting requirements as well as cooling solutions wattage requirements so we will be able to give you a good estimate.
For small events for less than 100 pax involving lighting, cooling solutions and small electrical equipment, a 15kVA or 25 kVA generator will be more than sufficient. However, if you are opting for portable air con, you will need to up the capacity to 45kVA generator and above.

mainly used for medium events or small events with air con requirements.

Assisting Equipment for Generators

Distribution box

3 phase DB box

Besides a generator rental, there are many factors to be concerned about. In order to have a safe circuit, you require a distribution box to distribute the power from the generator safely. If there is a surge in the power, the DB box will cut the power off to the divice, preventing the surge in power from damaging the device or causing an electrical fire.

Cabling

Cables are rated based on how many amperes it can carry. If a cable receives too much ampere, it will melt the cable. Thus permanently damaging it. As such, if the equipment requires a larger ampere, larger diameter cables will be needed. Also, if the distance of the cable is further, you will also need to cater for a large diameter sized cable. Different manufacturers have different tables for their cables but they are fairly similar across the lot, Click here to see an example of the amperage each diameter of cable can handle

Manual Change over switch

A manual change over switch is only required if you intend to use generators to power your machinery 24 hours a day.. Just like how you would give you car a rest after driving for long duration, generators need that too in order to run smoothly and consistently over long duration. That is where manual change over switches serve its purpose. It allows two generators to be hooked up onto the same circuit and allows for the power source to be switched whenever needed. This allows you to run both generators interchangeably without any major interruptions to the circuit.