Exhibitor Power supply adaptor at NEC

[Dazz]

Hello
I will be an exhibitor at an exhibition to be held at the NEC early next year. I am going to display multiple specialist outdoor LED displays. All of my displays are wired with NZ plugs.

I know that I can buy and use a UK to NZ travel adapter at any airport in the UK so there must be regulations that allow these to be used. I don't want to rely on a travel adapter at an exhibition (it probably wouldn't be allowed anyway). I do want to use an adapter that consists of a UK plug wired to a New Zealand power strip (a better safer travel adapter). Thermal overloads are mandatory for NZ power strips so the UK plug fuse would provide additional protection.

I am a registered electrician in New Zealand but I am fairly sure that doesn't count for anything in the UK. It does mean that the UK plug to NZ power strip has been legally wired here. Maybe that is relevant.

My question is, what (if any) regulations would allow the use of a UK plug to NZ power strip?

Even if regulations allow this, I realise that the NEC can reject their use. So I need to ask the exhibition organizers. Before I do, I would like to know what the UK regulations have to say on this subject.

Using UK plugs and power strips is the option of last resort.

 

[dmxtothemax]

How many power supplies are we talking about ?
Might be easier to just get some power supplies in the UK ?

 

[Dazz]

I am aiming to display 10-15 LED displays. I have looked at the option fitting UK plugs and using UK power strips. I'd like to avoid that path.

 

[Pete999]

Whats the Voltage in NZ?

 

[Richard Burns]

Because you have no issues with a change of voltage or frequency the adaption you suggest should be fine.
Nominally anything installed in the UK should meet the UK or EU standards however if items are constructed to the same level of safety this is also permitted, so your equipment (if it does meet NZ standards!) should be acceptable.
I would not be able to make a definitive statement of the law but I would expect because you will have a UK plug on the adaptor this will protect the cable in a compliant manner. I would not expect there to be any significant worries about cable sizes and so on after a 13A fuse.
But do talk to the NEC because they should be familiar with these issues.

 

[Dazz]

Volts/freq in NZ are the same as UK. From a technical point of view, putting a UK plug onto a NZ strip is fine but putting an NZ plug on a UK strip is unsafe. NEC standard supply options are up to 1kW from a single plug so a 13A plug fuse is overkill. And for that feeble amount of power they charge ££££!

From the comments here it seems that there is nothing screaming from the regs that it can't be done. That gives me some confidence I can ask NEC the question without looking stoopid.

 

[UKMeterman]

Have a chat with these people. PowerConnections products, Converters, Rewireable plugs, Powerleads, Extension Sockets, Accessories - http://www.powerconnections.co.uk/products.htm

 

[Dazz]

Thanks for the link. I have asked NEC and been told that I can use a UK to NZ power strip, but with no more than 4 sockets, and they won't let me daisy chain them. No point in fighting them on this. I will just make up a junction box with the required number of power cables hard wired to a terminal strip within.

 

[Dazz]

OK so I found this document called the eguide that details what you can and can't do with power at exhibition venues. It has some weird stuff in it, like you can't use a 4 way power strip drawing more than 500W but it makes no mention of 2,3 or 10 way power strips. I came up with a circuit that I think complies with all the requirements. Just waiting for feedback from the venue.

The various clauses basically say that the venue is responsible for the safety of the supply side and the exhibitor is responsible for the safety of the "appliances" on the stand. That seems reasonable.

The organizers seem to want to charge me £15 to test stuff my side of the supply. My question is, if their electrician does the tests and signs off my stuff as "safe", is the venue then responsible for the safety of my installation???

I suspect that if their electrician declared the installation "safe" then something bad happened, my public liability insurance company would be claiming against the venue.