Electrical Question re Do I have enough amperes

[zuzu]

My main electrical panel says living room 15 amperes. Does this mean I can only plug a total of things into all the wall sockets in the living room that in sum do not exceed 15 amps? This means a total of 1600 watts also doesn't it.?

[NJbob]

Yes, It means that when you draw 15 amps the circut breaker or fuse will blow. Now lets say you havea amp that puts out 50amps at 100 watts. Doesnt mean your fuse will blow, because their is transformer and capacitors that make the current after the draw from your circut. Meaning the amp might only draw 5 amps but put out 50. Basically look at the main fuses in all your equipment, You might have 3 for the cd, 2.5 for a tuner, 5 for a amp.so all operating at max still wont blow the circut.

Hope that help

Bob

[zuzu]

Thanks Bob. What about wattage? If I have a 550 watt pwr amp and a 1250 watt RMS subwoofer won't that exceed the 1600 watts criteria.

[Guest " "]

Thanks Bob. What about wattage? If I have a 550 watt pwr amp and a 1250 watt RMS subwoofer won't that exceed the 1600 watts criteria.

you need to know how many amps or voltage amps these items draw at rest or idle and at max power. The UL info on the rear panel usally indicate max power.

[Islander]

speakerfritz is right, check the info on the back of your units.

BTW, 120 volts x 15 amps = 1800 watts, not 1600.

In any case, if you have a 1250 watt sub, you should probably connect it to a different circuit from the one your amp is on.

[LarryC]

Do you have just one circuit for your equipment AND living room circuits? You might trip the breaker if you run a vacuum cleaner while the sub is on, if it actually uses 1250 watts. Nothing wrong with tripping a breaker or we'd all be in trouble, but you should know that aged breakers can sometimes pass more current than they're supposed to. A friend of mind had scorching around her old panel because a breaker was passing too much current and she didn't know it! Looked like a fire hazard to us. []

I recommend you do a house wiring diagram, i.e., an outline of each floor, where the outlets and lights are, and the number of the circuit each is on. That gives you an idea if a circuit or two is overloaded, and tells you which breaker to flip off if you need to kill an outlet or light (be sure and double check it's the right one!). I agree that a 1250 watt sub practically sould be on a separate circuit that doesn't have a lot else on it.

lc

[russ69]

A quick check is: The house lights dim to the beat of the music! Then you know the volume is just right! If the lights go out completly, you might have a little too much current demand.

Thanx, Russ

[@silverfox@]

has your circuit breaker tripped since you have had these eqpt in service, if so under what circumstances,

and has it happen since, most breaker will trip at the next standard breaker size ie 15 at 20, 20 at 25, 25 at30

and so on, compolent will not always be at full load so until it trips play on.

[bhenry]

Zuzu, I would be suprised if that circuit only supplies the living room. It probably goes to other rooms also. It probably also supplies the ceiling fan (if any) and ceiling lighting also, not just receptacles (plugs), so consider that when calculating the load on this circuit. Most if not all homes share lighting and power circuits except for kitchen and dining room areas (these rooms and now bathrooms require 20 amp circuits for receptacles).

Also consider that everything on the circuit would need to be operating to actually overload the cicuit.

If you have the knowledge and experience to do so, running a seperate circuit for your equipment is a good way to go. It's the easiest way to lighten the load on the existing circuit.

Good luck!