FAO MPUK staff: What are the chances.....

[el_Paulio]

What are the chances of been able to have a desk fan, and/or a mini fridge at future i series events?

Would be alright to keep my water cool and stop my jaffa's from melting :)

[Shazz]

the simple answer for that is


NO

for the mini fridge.

a fan might just be acceptable though, but dunno.

[Mu5icMan]

buy a mini fridge that plugs into your computer

[FL1X]

a mini fridge is very unlikly due to the amount of power they drain
but in advance i wouldnt ask staff questions within a week of the last event cause they wont really be on the forums just something they do they leave a week or so breather.
so ask again in a week or so or ask on #multiplay
but again i think it will be no fan i doubt aswell due to the magnitic interference they produce mostly and the power drains.
but im not staff and its not my choice but go forth and ask.

[Neon]

Yes, but it must run from your pc.

YoYo tech were selling £5 usb fans at the event, maybe invest in one of these. Or do what most people do, use an external molex plug and use an old case fan :)

[Devvy]

As an official reply....*no*.

As stated, fridges drain far too much power (like kettles) and will short out your row.

If you plug in a fridge, and short out the row (highly likely), not only will we be after you, but likely so will the rest of your row who's power you cut mid-game!


USB/molex fans are fine though.

[FL1X]

Originally posted by Devvy
As an official reply....*no*.

As stated, fridges drain far too much power (like kettles) and will short out your row.

If you plug in a fridge, and short out the row (highly likely), not only will we be after you, but likely so will the rest of your row who's power you cut mid-game!


USB/molex fans are fine though.

/me takes a bow

[KingDaveRa]

http://www.kensington.com/html/1265.html

QD currently have a similar model for £1.49 and they are pretty effective!

[el_Paulio]

alright.
so.. pretty much.
no

cheers :)

(off to purchase quite a few USB fans then)

[Jez_Gafys]

What I used to do is use the incar cooler leave it to get to the lowest temperature and then just unplug it and keep it on your desk. Then you can fill it with all yah stuff and you find it will keep them all cool for atleast the duration of the product any ways (which with jaffa cakes aint long :))

Yeah and then use a usb or molex fan



What I think MPUK should do is Purchase 3 or 4 large fridges and then they rent out the fridge space and you pay per item (or size of item. So you buy a case of coke and this is placed in the fridge with a sticker on it that reffers to your Booking Reference. Well maybe :D

[Barney]

or alternatively get a cool box and fill it with ice (which can be bought it nearby tescos/sainsburys)

[Omnituens]

Originally posted by Neon
Or do what most people do, use an external molex plug and use an old case fan :)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel_rogers1/forum/omgcooling.jpg

[10G0]

USB Fans are the way forward

[Skillet]

I'm not complaining, really I'm not but I was sure that there were a few desk fans running in the staff area at i24.

You say no to fans but use them anyway........ fair?

I bought a USB fan and although it provides lite relief it's minimal :(

[Exegesis]

i think the general idea here is that staff is AWARE of their power limitations, and can ensure they have adequate power prior to the punters even arrive at an event.

but due to the fact that there are an ENORMOUS amount of punters and a limited amount of power per row, they have set expectations for power consumption.

[Inferno]

nicelly put

[Skillet]

That's a fair point and I can understand it as a staff perk (I work in IT and take the piss a bit on the rules) but is it not a little harsh to blanketly say NO to the punters then have a fan on a staff desk?

I'm not planning coming to i25 as I think it will be just too hot in that building in August as it was bad enough in June :(

That said, it's loud enough without the extra 1000 desktop fans and I fear for the smell waft created by so many fans too :p:

[Inferno]

The heat is regulated with aircon units on the top floors and during the big events most doors are opened so you may not think it but it is cool a lot of the time, As for your comments above theres still the whole problem with having fridges and fans ect not properlly accounted for in the electrics plan will just short rows out.

[Skillet]

Personally I wouldn't dream of bringing a fan or a fridge to this event. I am also not saying they should be allowed. Hell, there's only just enough room for my PC gear let alone a fridge and a fan lol. I am only ointing out the fact that it is unwise to have fans for some and not others. Unless of course you make it a Service to be paid for?

£10 to have a fan?

[DjArcas]

Originally posted by Skillet
Unless of course you make it a Service to be paid for?

£10 to have a fan?


...are you joking?

[SilentMike]

Originally posted by Omnituens
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel_rogers1/forum/omgcooling.jpg

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7838/mikekeepscoollikethis1nr.th.jpg (http://img269.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mikekeepscoollikethis1nr.jpg)
Worked for me!

[Omnituens]

its the future of personal cooling.

[Qdos]

Originally posted by Skillet


I bought a USB fan and although it provides lite relief it's minimal :(

It provided many hours of amusement for me.....

*stares intently at fan*
"wonder if it would hurt?"
*sticks finger on fan*
"mmmmm buzzzzing"
*goes back to staring at fan*

[Jobabob]

I remember i-12 where someone blew out the entire row I was on and the one next to it by plugging in something like a toaster into a multi adapter connected to a kettle into another multiadapter

[Skillet]

Originally posted by Qdos
It provided many hours of amusement for me.....

*stares intently at fan*
"wonder if it would hurt?"
*sticks finger on fan*
"mmmmm buzzzzing"
*goes back to staring at fan*

You missed of the line.....

"Slapped by Skillet for blocking the minimal airflow"

[MONK]

500 extra fans will make more heat than anything else and will result in them canceling each other out. There were fans in the server areas due to the fact there were an awful lot of servers, making an awful lot of heat!

I25 I would have thought would most likely have the same equipment we had last august which managed to keep the building fairly cool. It should also be noted it was very hot the weekend of I24 so there isn't too much that can be done about it anyway. Funnily enough the buildings were not designed to cope of hundreds and hundreds of gaming PC's and they were not designed for large air conditioning units either. The problem of heat effect nearly all major events throughout the summer time in all countries.

[Skillet]

Originally posted by MONK
500 extra fans will make more heat than anything else and will result in them canceling each other out. There were fans in the server areas due to the fact there were an awful lot of servers, making an awful lot of heat!

I25 I would have thought would most likely have the same equipment we had last august which managed to keep the building fairly cool. It should also be noted it was very hot the weekend of I24 so there isn't too much that can be done about it anyway. Funnily enough the buildings were not designed to cope of hundreds and hundreds of gaming PC's and they were not designed for large air conditioning units either. The problem of heat effect nearly all major events throughout the summer time in all countries.

At last, a good answer! :)

[Murray-Mint]

i23 I did see a kettle on the end of a row. It wasn't plugged but it also wasn't a joke. The owner wasn't around, but I told the rest of the row: NO. Was borderline cutting the plug off the end (was a cordless kettle, so the plug/cord was wired into the base and it wasn't a separate kettle lead).

Remember kids: If you can't run it off your PSU or it's not in the FAQ, NO.

[Minidisk]

If you can't run it off your PSU

Ohhh, :D

/me rewires his psu for a 240v custom built port ;p

[Murray-Mint]

Maybe I should clarify, if it doesn't unmodified, plug into an unmodified molex or USB connector, connected to an unmodified (excluding cosmetic modifications) power supply, for the purposes of drawing power, then it is not ALLOWED. (Unless it's a mobile phone charger or a joystick power, or mouse charger, or wireless headphones transmitter, etc.)

[LozB]

i did notice....

a set of christmas light in like row N or somewhere near, draped across 4 PC's.
a storm ball / disc with lightning in row R.
and quite a few fans in the punters area.

out off all the kit only the fans were removed. i bought a usb fan, which on many occassion got very close to cutting my throat... infact it was so hot i burnout out 1 usb fan
:rolleyes: and had to take it back to yoyo tech shop...

i think the way forward is plenty of fans externally wired to your case. freezer box under the desk full of ice to put your cold drinks in and your feet...

i wanted to bring my duck lights, but decided not too as they run off 240 volt.

i suppose i was drawing more power than most.

laptop, PC, monitor, phone charger, headphone power unit...

[Sakey]

Ok then, This should be allowed then.

I saw a 12 v Car lighter that can be fitted to a 5.25 inch bay. That should be allowed, therefore a travel kettle that works off a car power socket should be allowed :p

Correct me if I am wrong.

[Murray-Mint]

Your pedantic little...

The travel kettle would either draw too much current for the socket/PSU/12v or 5v power line into the socket. Causing destruction (For details, see i21 or i22 where someone by the name of Abuse connected the power for his Floppy drive the wrong way round). Or it would take so long to boil, you could go away to the bar, the pub quiz, get a pint, walk to Sainsburys, buy a Pot Noodle, walk back to reception, fill it with hot water from the urn and get back to your desk before the water has even warmed up slightly.

It could possibly take out your row... and that wouldn't make you popular...

[Kibit]

i got one of these.. (Well one very similar)
http://www.solware.co.uk/automotive/emergency-jump-start.shtml

Which has car cigar lighter sockets on the front, It would run a 12v car fan and a car phone charger in the other socket for a good long time It can be charged up from a car also thus not needing to plug anything extra into the MPUK sockets.

It would run things like 12v mini fridge, 12v Kettle, 12v TV (Plugged in 1 at a time) etc but with these power draining items I doubt it would last more than a couple of hours.