Trying to understand AMPs, and loads on outputs.

Baf05

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I was just taking a look at Davids 4 way mains distro boards, and it says that it can handle a max of 10amp over the 4 outputs.

Then I was looking at 8 way distro boards and it says 80amps in total?

I simply do not understand stand this, ever since I started this hobby, this part has confused the hell out of me! Having said that I have not ever had a fuse blow or tripped a breaker in my house so I maybe doing some thing right?

The reason I ask, is to try and work out a box build, I see a lot of people build their boxes or daisy chain boxes together with power boards the use one mains power point? (which is rated at 10amps?)

When I built my first box, I wired in 5 power supplies to one power cord (for ease of plugging in) and the still plugged that into a power board.

THEN I add the radio for music, the switch power, the box for the DC lights, I think there was another power board too....all back to one power point. When I spoke to an electrician about getting a 15amp power point he basically laughed at me?

If I was going to the mini I think I would be in the ear of someone trying to understand this all day!!! LOL
 

David_AVD

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You need to know / learn about Wattage. Basically, the Wattage is defined as the Amps multiplied by the Voltage.

So a mains power example is 240V x 10A = 2400W.

If you have a 5V power supply that can supply 80 Amps on it's output, that's 5 x 80 = 400 Watts of DC power.

So the current (Amps) on the low voltage side is 80A, but on the 240V side that's still only 400W, so just 1.6A.

The conversion of high voltage to low voltage transforms the current from low to high.

I'm simplifying it for now, but do you get the general idea?
 
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fasteddy

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Amps values vary based on the voltage for the same power used

So for example if you have a 30 amp load at 12vdc then the load at the 240v outlet will be much less than 30amps because of Ohms law
so lets start with the equation used to calculate power (watts)
P (watts) = E (Volts) x I (current)
So in the 12vdc example the wattage used at 12vdc 30 amps would be
P (watts) = 12vdc x 30 amps = 360 watts

But if we used the same current at 240 volts then the power (wattage is much higher
P (watts) = 240vdc x 30 amps = 7200 watts

So as you see the voltage plays a big role in how much current is needed for the same power

So now if we wanted to know the actual current we would be drawing from a 30 amp 12vdc supply (360 watts) plugged into a 240 volt outlet then we would use the below equation
I (current) = P (watts) / E (volts)
I (current = 360 watts / 240 volts
So that 30 amps at 12vdc will draw 1.5 amps at 240 volts
 

David_AVD

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Of course, in reality there are electrical conversion losses.

This means that a power supply putting out 5V at 80A (400W) on it's output will actually draw more than 400W from the 240V side.

A typical power supply efficiency would be 80% - 90% so the actual power draw could be 500W (400W / 0.8) on the 240V side.
 

fasteddy

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Of course, in reality there are electrical conversion losses.

This means that a power supply putting out 5V at 80A (400W) on it's output will actually draw more than 400W from the 240V side.

A typical power supply efficiency would be 80% - 90% so the actual power draw could be 500W (400W / 0.8) on the 240V side.

Yes you are correct David, losses also play a part but didn't want to over complicate things for the theory as losses would depend on the power supply used and the load on the power supply, generally the cheap Ray Wu power supplies have higher losses then quality Meanwell power supplies and I would factor in what you have being only 80% efficient to get your 240v current draw
 

videoman3857

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f you have a 5V power supply that can supply 80 Amps on it's output, that's 5 x 80 = 400 Watts of DC power.

So the current (Amps) on the low voltage side is 80A, but on the 240V side that's still only 400W, so just 5A.

How do you get 5 amps ??
400/240 = 1.666666666666667. Add a power factor of 80 % and I get 2 AMPS
240 VOLT X 5 AMPS = 1200 WATT Add power loss factor and I get 960 watts

What am I not seeing here ?
 

Kimbo3000

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If you DO NOT include the losses from converting 1 voltage to another.. then 400W @ 240V is still 400W @ 5V.. its just the current (amps) that changes.
Power = Volts x Amps.. so Amps = Power / Volts
.. so 400W / 240V = 1.67 Amps
and 400W / 5V = 80 Amps

This isnt exactly true as one voltage is AC and one is DC.. but for this discussion its good enough :)

If you have an Android phone/tablet there is a handy app called 'ElectroDroid'.. its free and includes calculators for the above mentioned things.. and also voltage drop (how long the cable can be before your pixels turn red). It also includes pinouts for ethernet cables etc.
 
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David_AVD

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How do you get 5 amps ??
400/240 = 1.666666666666667. Add a power factor of 80 % and I get 2 AMPS
240 VOLT X 5 AMPS = 1200 WATT Add power loss factor and I get 960 watts

What am I not seeing here ?

Sorry, that was a typo. I started writing a different example and forgot to go back and change the 240V current. 1.6A is correct. :)
 

JasonC

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If you DO NOT include the losses from converting 1 voltage to another.. then 400W @ 240V is still 400W @ 5V.. its just the current (amps) that changes.
Power = Volts x Amps.. so Amps = Power / Volts
.. so 400W / 240V = 1.67 Amps
and 400W / 5V = 80 Amps

This isnt exactly true as one voltage is AC and one is DC.. but for this discussion its good enough :)

If you have an Android phone/tablet there is a handy app called 'ElectroDroid'.. its free and includes calculators for the above mentioned things.. and also voltage drop (how long the cable can be before your pixels turn red). It also includes pinouts for ethernet cables etc.
That handy little App is also available on the Apple store. It's probably worth more than the $4 something that they're charging for it.
 
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