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ch1ck3n.s0up
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 680
Location: USA, NJ, Exit 100
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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject: Power Consumption |
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What's the maximum number of watts that I can connect to an outlet, or series of outlets) before I trip a breaker?
For example, I have on one outlet right now:
Computer: 300W ps
Monitor: 100-240V 50-60HZ 1.7-0.9A (Whatever that means)
HP Color Printer: 190W when printing
HP copier/all-in-one
Small stereo amp (doesn't say power rating)
Bass woofer
Various other junk (cellphone chargers, cable modem, postal scale, etc)
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Code_of_Life
Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 2129
Location: Irving, TX
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation |
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_breaker
| Quote: |
| The commonly-available preferred values for the rated current are 6 A, 10 A, 13 A, 16 A, 20 A, 25 A, 32 A, 40 A, 50 A, 63 A, 80 A and 100 A. The circuit breaker is labeled with the rated current in ampere, but without the unit symbol "A". Instead, the ampere figure is preceded by a letter "B", "C" or "D" that indicates the instantaneous tripping current, that is the minimum value of current that causes the circuit-breaker to trip without intentional time delay (i.e., in less than 100 ms), expressed in terms of In" |
. i.e look for the specs printed on your circuit breaker. ex: C10 |
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ch1ck3n.s0up
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 680
Location: USA, NJ, Exit 100
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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15 or 20 amps
But what does that mean? The power consumption of my stuff is in watts!
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Code_of_Life
Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 2129
Location: Irving, TX
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Current in Amps= Power in watts / Voltage in volts
For you total amps is
500W/110V + 1.7A = 4.54 + 1.7= 6.24A |
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Cold_Comfort
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 396
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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Let's say for the purpose of argument it's 20 amps which is probably where mine breaks at -- (older building anyway)
P=I X E
Therefore "P" (expressed in Watts) will be 120 X 20 = 2400
You might not want to have a space heater attached to the same breaker line -- but other than that you are quite safe.
By the way, here is a nice little gizmo (I have one) which will determine just how much power you actually are pulling -- under idle and under load >>
http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1215618957&sr=8-1
I've found the actual load to be much less than I would have expected.
I've also found that I don't save squatt by putting my XP system into Standby -- (100 > 80 watts) But Vista drops down to just 3 or 4 watts.
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Code_of_Life
Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 2129
Location: Irving, TX
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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Microsoft introduced a hybrid between Standby and Hibernate.
“Even this short wait happens less frequently than before, because instead of shutting down the computer to save power, users can use the new Sleep state, the default state for turning off computers running Windows Vista. Sleep combines the resume speed of Standby mode with the data protection and low power-consumption characteristics of Hibernate. When entering the Sleep state, Windows Vista records the contents of memory to the hard disk, just as it would with Hibernate. However, it also maintains the memory for a period of time, just as Windows XP maintains the memory in Standby mode. Windows Vista enters and recovers from Sleep state in seconds, and while the system sleeps, power consumption is extremely low,” Microsoft explained. |
I have the KillAWatt too and after seeing about 11W draining even when everything is off, I now switch off the power strip when I turn off the PC for a long period of time. |
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Cold_Comfort
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 396
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting info on the Vista difference; I would have thought it was the hardware evolution -- not the software on Windows side that was mostly responsible.
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Krusnik02
Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 1596
Location: As if you need to know... lol.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Cold_Comfort wrote: |
| Let's say for the purpose of argument it's 20 amps which is probably where mine breaks at -- (older building anyway) |
Most house power outlets give out 15 amps, so you won't hit that much. This means, of course, that the threshold is 1800 amps on an outlet. There is a visual difference between 15-amp and 20-amp outlets, if you don't know it then don't bother.
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Cold_Comfort
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 396
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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For what it's worth, I took a close look at mine -- they are all clearly marked at 20 amps.
It's an older building but it was rewired about 20 years ago.
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Krusnik02
Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 1596
Location: As if you need to know... lol.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:30 am Post subject: |
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Interesting. Btw I meant 1800 watts, that was a stumble I missed.
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soL1s
Joined: 07 Aug 2007
Posts: 183
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| Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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Amps X Volts = Watts........ simple!
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