Home IT, Power Use Question

[Mako Koiwai]

In the home office of our little old house we only have two outlets, which are probably on the same circuit. The house only has 12 circuit breakers (a couple have one switch connecting two breakers) for five rooms plus the water heater/central air/heating system and including the washer/dryer and kitchen.

At the moment we have something like two lap tops, one desktop computer + flatscreen monitor, scanner, printer/fax, modem, router, seven external hard drives, tel./answer machine, computer speakers, plus a desk lamp going into one wall outlet. The computers and modem/router are plugged into an Uninterrupted Power Supply that is plugged into that one outlet. The room also has a ceiling lamp fixture ... using fluorescent bulbs.

We've never had any power issues. I know that theoretically we could add up all of the power consumption ratings on all of these devices.

Does anyone have a feel if we're getting close to being max'ed out?

About two thirds of the mess ... that I want to re-do ... to make it more convenient for us to "plug-in" our "traveling" laptops:

[Will Kalman]

Buy a Kill-a-Watt meter and see what your usage is when everything is running:

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International- ... 429&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It also shows Volt-Amps (not the same as Watts) so you can compare it to the VA rating of your UPS. Plus, you can leave it plugged in and see what your cumulative power consumption is.

[Mako Koiwai]

That device is rated up to 15 amps ... the rooms circuit is protected by a 20 amp fuse, so I should be able to use a good 2,000 watts of ? When I think how much energy a 2,000 watt light uses at work, and how much light & heat it produces ... I think we should be OK with our collection of low power usage electronic devices.

[Jayson Woodruff]

At the moment we have something like two lap tops,

About 100W each

one desktop computer

About 200W, unless its something special

flatscreen monitor,

About 40W unless it's something abnormally large

scanner, printer/fax,

Usually minimal, but can spike on start up. If the printer is a laser, it could be significant wattage. Figure 100W for the both.

modem, router, seven external hard drives, tel./answer machine, computer speakers,

minimal

plus a desk lamp going into one wall outlet.

Look at the bulb for wattage. If it's a CFL, no more than 20W

The computers and modem/router are plugged into an Uninterrupted Power Supply that is plugged into that one outlet.

Unless your laptop can't handle a simple 'shutdown', don't bother plugging them into a UPS. The DC power supply of laptops fliter out all those spikes that best buy wants to sell you a serge protector for.

The room also has a ceiling lamp fixture ... using fluorescent bulbs.

Convention is to have this on a seperate circuit than the outlets. Even still, with CFLs, no more than 80W

So that's about 400-700watts. Not really something to worry about even on a 15A line.

Speaking of which, be sure it's really a 20A circuit. You said 'fuse', but I assume you still mean breaker, and you say there's only 2 outlets, which makes it sound like an old house. Old houses are usually only wired with 14g wire, which is only good for 15A, even if someone put a 20A breaker on it. Also, most outlets are only rated for 15A. There's likely an outlet on the other side of the wall (if there is an 'other side of the wall') that shares the circuit. It's also very likely the two outlets are on different circuits. Circuits tend to branch by wall rather than by room (makes sence when you look at it from a builders perspective).

Jay W

[John Stimson]

My desktop gaming PC draws 97 Watts in normal usage. Dual Core, fairly high end fan-less video card, 2 hard drives and a Blu-Ray drive.
External hard drives are about 12 Watts each.