i wasnt thinking about driving for them,but someone on here might know the answer, what voltage do the rides run on? im only asking because iv a fairground currently parked near my home and the generator truck is chuffing away- iv gotten to thinking surely it must be a big engine+ big voltage on the rides?
corij:
i wasnt thinking about driving for them,but someone on here might know the answer, what voltage do the rides run on? im only asking because iv a fairground currently parked near my home and the generator truck is chuffing away- iv gotten to thinking surely it must be a big engine+ big voltage on the rides?
Not a clue, but surely it would be small voltage high amps?
A quick look-up on a physics forum suggests they use 3-phase at 240/277/480 volts, but dodgems use 24 to 90 volts DC.
Large rides may draw lots of amps, hence the thick cables from the generators. Generators often seem to be aged Gardners (no DPFs, AdBlue to worry about and probably no turbos either).
telegraph.co.uk/motoring/47 … ction.html
Seems modern dodgems run on 110v. Read elsewhere about 90v but thats near enough the same. [youtube.com/watch?v=uxkzir16Wbk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkzir16Wbk) 250 kva generator. (Assuming DC) Thats 250 kilo watts. A kettle is 2.2 kw. So that could heat well over 100 kettles at once.
So at 110v thats 250,000/110= 2,272 amps. [youtube.com/watch?v=SKtVkAutApY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKtVkAutApY) Old DC gennie filmed 4 years ago at 1min 14 the plate is shown. Looks like 100v, 22kw, 220amps ? Thatll make it one tenth the power of the new one??
Am I wrong? (again)
EDIT is it possible the 250kva genset is really 25kva?
Franglais:
Fairground attraction
Seems modern dodgems run on 110v. Read elsewhere about 90v but thats near enough the same. [youtube.com/watch?v=uxkzir16Wbk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxkzir16Wbk) 250 kva generator. (Assuming DC) Thats 250 kilo watts. A kettle is 2.2 kw. So that could heat well over 100 kettles at once.
So at 110v thats 250,000/110= 2,272 amps. [youtube.com/watch?v=SKtVkAutApY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKtVkAutApY) Old DC gennie filmed 4 years ago at 1min 14 the plate is shown. Looks like 100v, 22kw, 220amps ? Thatll make it one tenth the power of the new one??
Am I wrong? (again)
That’s a slick piece of research, Franglais, presumably the new genset is designed to power multiple equipments, the old one I’d imagine had just one to supply.
22kw doesn’t sound much but it probably can put that out at not many rpm and do it for hours at a time, like marine ones, de-rated from the road transport power settings of the engine.
/I just put an edit to my prev as you were posting. 250kva sounds too much to me.
Current over 2000 amps would need cables of over 2000 sq,mm cross section. Thats a rough estimate based on this [batt.co.uk/upload/files/tabl ... 253954.pdf](http://www.batt.co.uk/upload/files/table4d1abs6004bs6231bs6346_1220253954.pdf) Or pi.(r.sq) = 2000, so 2000/pi= r squared , sq root of 640 = 25mm radius. So cables needed with 50mm diameter conductor? 2inch plus insulation sound believable? Ill admit to flailing about here!
Maybe 250kva is true then?
Franglais:
/I just put an edit to my prev as you were posting. 250kva sounds too much to me.
Current over 2000 amps would need cables of over 2000 sq,mm cross section. Thats a rough estimate based on this [batt.co.uk/upload/files/tabl ... 253954.pdf](http://www.batt.co.uk/upload/files/table4d1abs6004bs6231bs6346_1220253954.pdf) Or pi.(r.sq) = 2000, so 2000/pi= r squared , sq root of 640 = 25mm radius. So cables needed with 50mm diameter conductor? 2inch plus insulation sound believable? Ill admit to flailing about here!
Maybe 250kva is true then?
The voltage could be 240/480 so not 2000 amps total, and if supplying (say) 10 equipments each cable would have to carry much lower currents. 250 Kva is 335 bhp, several rides would be unlikely to all start/run at once, each one maybe a 20/30 /40 hp motor?
There is a fairground here in Huddersfield today, but as we have 3 inches of wet snow I don’t plan to walk down and have a look to get a proper answer.
(Went past it on my way to Aldi in the car this morning, glad I have all-season tyres, many problems on local roads, all the transPennine ones closed except M62 which had at least 3 accidents so very slow.)
Buckstones:
Franglais:
/I just put an edit to my prev as you were posting. 250kva sounds too much to me.
Current over 2000 amps would need cables of over 2000 sq,mm cross section. Thats a rough estimate based on this [batt.co.uk/upload/files/tabl ... 253954.pdf](http://www.batt.co.uk/upload/files/table4d1abs6004bs6231bs6346_1220253954.pdf) Or pi.(r.sq) = 2000, so 2000/pi= r squared , sq root of 640 = 25mm radius. So cables needed with 50mm diameter conductor? 2inch plus insulation sound believable? Ill admit to flailing about here!
Maybe 250kva is true then?The voltage could be 240/480 so not 2000 amps total, and if supplying (say) 10 equipments each cable would have to carry much lower currents. 250 Kva is 335 bhp, several rides would be unlikely to all start/run at once, each one maybe a 20/30 /40 hp motor?
There is a fairground here in Huddersfield today, but as we have 3 inches of wet snow I don’t plan to walk down and have a look to get a proper answer.
(Went past it on my way to Aldi in the car this morning, glad I have all-season tyres, many problems on local roads, all the transPennine ones closed except M62 which had at least 3 accidents so very slow.)
Proper answer later in the year maybe then? Until then a bit of harmless speculation is OK I reckon. 
Back in the 60s, when I was going to fairgrounds, many of them were using ex-army kit. youtube.com/watch?v=vSPjrPTJBvU The army had thousands of these and sold them off as army surplus after the war for peanuts.
Santa:
Back in the 60s, when I was going to fairgrounds, many of them were using ex-army kit. youtube.com/watch?v=vSPjrPTJBvU The army had thousands of these and sold them off as army surplus after the war for peanuts.
Looks good there.
No ear defenders being used ! From this link
anti-aircraft.co.uk/ListerJP4.html
it`s rated at 38hp and 24kw.
Bigger again
geograph.org.uk/photo/4595769
youtube.com/watch?v=aUWvIju9LSw
Two 18 litre Ruston Hornsby engines each with a 110v gennie at 910amps.
When i was working on the fair grounds the two genrators we used was out of fishing trawlers i bet they are still being used today
The fairgrounds are slowly modernising as the next generation of showmen take up the reins. Traditionally a worn out Gardner 6LW will be powering a 110 volt DC generator. The ‘knife’ will usually be the controller out of a 1920’s tram.
.
The modern fairgrounds generation game
Just a load of posh p1keys, who roll up on the carparks, with un-roadworthy old, bodged up vehicles, with the sole intention of making you pay, an extortionate price to try and win a piece of Chinese plastic cr@p.
Hi Corij,
When I worked n the fairgrounds back in the late 60s I drove a 8 legger Foden ex blue circle cement and had 2 x 25ft trailers in tow. the Foden is now in Hereford it goes to most of the old classic shows.
Regarding the question about the generators they are all mostly 180 gardners with a maudsley dynamo attatched producing 240v. because we used them for stick arc welding on the bodies we used to make on the trucks.
The machine I worked on was built in 1921 for the Coronation, hence the name of it was “The Coronation Ark”. it was built by a company Larkins in Clapham London build No. A78 and painted by Hall and Fowell in Clapham. it was made of oak I know, it was bloody heavy building up.
The machine is now in The Alberta - Reynolds museum in Alberta Canada.The orinal owner was Harry Gray it was then passed down to his son Patsy Gray he then passed away and another showman Chrissy Davis managed it for Gladys Patsys late wife, this is when I joined them, I had 6 happy years with them.
The steam engine that pulled the machine and the living wagon was “Lord Lascelles” which is in prestine condition and is stabled in Holt near Wrexham, she goes to most of the Steam Fairs.
Sorry to rattle on but the back in the day gets me going. I myself have retired from many years in Heavy Haulage all over Europe Middle East and North Africa.
Good Luck
Ben
I had a spell working for Bert Stocks from Leiston in Suffolk years ago on the skid, £5 an yer grub and all the cash you could find down the back of the cars … 