How many amps foes a PC general use ??

[jg1234]

Folks,

I have an older home and was wondering on average what type of amperage a PC uses?

I have a PC sharing a 15 amp fuse with an AC adapter and 4 or 5 lamps ( in two different rooms ) I am electrically illeterate so pardon me if this seems like a basic question.

[GroundZero3]

depends on the system. different hardware makes a huge difference on the uage of "amps"
what are the specs of the computer?

[jg1234]

The system is a PIII 933 , 5400 RPM Hard Drive, 32 MB video card.

The PSU is a Q technology 230W rated, the cpu is being cooled by a Zalman Copper 6000 heatsink with fan. Case is well ventalleted - room is 12 x 12 - not too bad on temp - can be somewhat stuffy - but nothing major.

Hope this helps - any ideas on how to safeguard on overloading would be helpful. My wife wants to add an air conditioner to the same outlet !!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not worried about the system being damaged - just safety - !!!

Will a 15 amp handle an air conditioner, a PC and a few lights ???

[mad1]

Current(A) = Power(W) / Voltage(V)

230W/ 120 V = 1.92A,
US(120V),Europe(230V)

As for the airconditioner I would run that on a seperate breaker.

This formula will not apply to the input current,230W is the amout of output power the power supply can produce.
There is also a spec. sheet attached to the side of the power supply.Look for "Input Current". See if you can also find input power and you can the apply that formula.

[jg1234]

Thanks !!

[Psycho_Logical]

Current(A) = Power(W) / Voltage(V)
230W/ 120 V = 1.92A

Right formula, wrong figures. The result, 1.92 amps, is completely meaningless. The 230 watts are DC output, the 120 volts are AC input. You can't compare apples and oranges.

An average figure for the AC current draw of a 250-watt power supply is 6 amps @ 115 volts, or 4 amps @ 230 volts. This info should be on a label on the power supply. This AC amperage usage is constant, regardless how much of the converted DC power is being supplied to system components.

An average 17-19" monitor can draw 3 amps. With both of them running, a 15-amp circuit can still supply a maximum of 6 additional amps, or 690 watts (6 x 115).

The biggest current draw of any system with a motor, and especially with a compressor, is at startup. An air conditioner that draws 4 amps (460 watts) while running may draw 7-8 amps (805-920 watts) to start. Any hard drives in the system also need more power to start than to run.

Every 100-watt light bulb in the circuit will draw 0.87 amps (100 / 115).

[newbie~wan]

So what would be an accurate way to compare them then? Can you explain why the formula doesn't work?

i.e. 230W != 115V x 6A.

I don't doubt you, I just want to undestand. I don't know jack.

[mad1]

Psyco Logical,
Read my edit of the post,this was there prior to your post'


"This formula will not apply to the input current,230W is the amout of output power the power supply can produce.
There is also a spec. sheet attached to the side of the power supply.Look for "Input Current". See if you can also find input power and you can the apply that formula."

[Graham]

jg1234

The previous posts are right .... and wrong.

The current darwn by a psu delivering 230W from a 120v supply is


W=V x A

Power = volts x current

Therefore A=W/V

substituting, A=230/120 or 1.92Amperes

so mad1 is right?, well in an ideal world yes but (there is always a but), power supplies even nice switch mode ones like the PC uses are not 100% efficient, this is what Psycho_Logical is getting at I think.

Switch mode PSU's are in the order of 90% efficient therefore the power drawn fron the AC supply would be about 10% more than the power available to the PC, about 2.11 Amperes (a long way from the suggested fuse rating of 7A). The reason for the large fuse rating is that there is a switch on surge form the PSU that can draw very high currents for a very short time.

This AC amperage usage is constant, regardless how much of the converted DC power is being supplied to system components.

This is NOT true, the current from the AC supply will vary according to the current required by the board.
If this were not the case, then a PSU which is powered up but not supplying current (you can get ATX psu's to turn on with no connection) would still be drawing 230W from the AC and supplying nothing, all the power would have to be dissipated as heat !!! get yer eggs and bacon out .

So, to get to the question, I dont know the answer.
Given that the PC may draw(momentarily) say 5A, each 100W lamp (momentarily) over 1A, and an unknown but presumably quite high surge form the AC unit, I would say, no it wont do it.

You may be lucky, but if you can run another circuit, the last thing you want (other than a fire) is the AC unit to cut in and the PC to re-boot !!!!

G

[Bovon]

Originally posted by jg1234
I have a PC sharing a 15 amp fuse with an AC adapter and 4 or 5 lamps ( in two different rooms ) I am electrically illeterate so pardon me if this seems like a basic question.

This is getting pretty close to normal amperage/capacity for one 15 amp circuit according to most wireing codes. Put the airconditioner on a different circuit even if a new romex cable has to be pulled in from the fuse box, which hopefully is more that a 60 amp box in the first place. Many of the older homes only had a 60 amp service in the early days, which usually was enough for lights ect. These 60 amp services were never designed to run a house with air conditioning, electric heat, electric ranges ect. As an example, an electric range needs a 50 amp service/circuit by itself.

Be carefull about connecting too much to existing circuits in an older home. Many are burned to the ground each year from such. The cable used in many older homes had a combustible wrapping, unlike the more modern romex of today, and copper gets hot when too many amperes are drawn thru them, this somethimes will ignite the older cable wrappings.

[newbie~wan]

Example:

Input 115V @ 6 A
230V @ 3 A

OUTPUT 200 W

red: +5V @ 20 A
yellow: +12V @ 8 A
white: -5V @ .3A
blue: -12V @ .3A
black: ground
orange: p.g.

If you add up the numbers from the colors, you get about 200 W, but I still dont understand how 115V x 6 A = 230 W ?!

[Graham]

newbie~wan

You're right, the 6A (115V) 3A(230V) relates to the fuse rating not the current drawn. The fuse will be rated significantly higher than the steady load to allow for switch on surges and other things like efficiency variations between individual PSU's.

G

[greenlion]

Right formula, wrong figures. The result, 1.92 amps, is completely meaningless. The 230 watts are DC output, the 120 volts are AC input. You can't compare apples and oranges.

Er ... AC is different from DC but watts is watts though no matter how you twist it around.

The question is how many amps does a PC use. The VOLT AMPERE at the primary winding of the transformer is always equal to the VOLT AMPERE at the secondary winding. Actually, there is a loss consisting of the core and copper losses inherent in all transformers but let's just say its negligible to keep it simple

The amps at the input can be no more than 230W/110V = 2.09A. Supposing the stepped down voltage at the secondary winding of the transformer is 12 Vac, the amps before the voltage goes to the rectifying circuit should be 230W/12V = 19.16A

As someone has said, the fuse at the primary winding is rated 6A taking into account the inrush surges during energization of the transformer.

[Solid Snake]

Typical towers use anywhere from 0.8A at idle to about 1.2A full load. This is excluding the monitor.