How many Amps can this surge protector support?

[computernewbie]

Last time when i plugged in my computer into a extension block that was laying around the house, i hadent known i over-voltaged it and my PSU got fried, so now i bought a surge protector but im not sure how many amps it can support

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3898853

Will that be able to support my computer, 14A + monitor, 4A?

 

[cjl]

Your computer pulls 14A? You do realize that 14A is over 1600W, right?

 

[hunter315]

If your computer is pulling 14 amps i would be far more worried about your houses circuit breaker. That surge protector will handle the current draw through it fine, but if you really are pulling 14 amps to a single outlet i would be concerned about your house wiring more than the surge protector.

 

[computernewbie]

im using a corsair 850TX PSU, the power cable that connects from the wall outlet to the PSU has a little card on it, which says 13A, 125V (sorry, i meant 13A before)

Or wait, does the power cable specify the maximum energy load it can take? Or the PSU's?

 

[hunter315]

That little card on the power cable specifies how much power the power cable can handle, they had standardized connectors on the end but the 13 amp rating on it means that you shouldnt use it to power something like a 1600 watt power supply which would come with its own power cable with heavier gauge wiring.

The 850TX wont draw any more than about 10 amps at full load, which will be hard to do, combined with the monitor you are still well within a safe range for the surge suppressor and household wiring.

 

[computernewbie]

so a houseplug cant pull no more than 15A? i guess

oh, yeah, and how many amps does a 850TX PSU take?

 

[hunter315]

Most homes use primarily 15A circuit breakers which restricts you to drawing no more than 15A from all of the plug on that circuit combined.

The 850TX will provide up to 850 watts of DC power, divide that by its worst case efficiency rating of 80%, and you have a worst case AC draw of about 1060W. Dividing this by 110V, the nominal domestic AC voltage, and you come up with 9.64A as your worst case current draw by the 850TX. Even a large LCD monitor has a power draw of less than 100W, so at most you will be pulling about 10.5A from the wall for your computer and monitor leaving you well within the safe range for both the surge supressor and your house's wiring.

 

[leon2006]

Surge protectors are rated in JOUE. It’s the unit of energy to produce one Watt of power for one second.

Surge protectors vary in Energy Rating or JOULES. Look at the sticker or information on the surge protector you are buying.

The HIGHER the JOULE RATING THE BETTER. It means the surge protector can protect the load higher amount of energy beyond what is normally needed.

Don't confuse it with the AMP Rating of the SURGE PROTECTOR. In most cases the AMP rating defines the current the SURGE PROTECTOR can take. That includes the circuit breaker (when included) on the surge protector. The AMP rating does not translate to energy protection rating that is specified in JOULE.

SURGE protector is the protection circuit that protects the load from excessive energy from the wall outlet going to the load. These circuitries react way faster than the circuit breaker as excess energy from power anomalies happen in micro-seconds or even faster.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE HIGH CURRENT CAPACITY BUT VERLY ENERGY RATING (LOW JOULE RATING).

Below is the path for more information pertaining to JOULE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule

Note: I recommend that you be clear with your need. If you need more capacity then you need more AMPS (Current). If you are interested with higher protection level then you need higher energy rating (Higher JOULE).

 

[leon2006]

Typo Correction:

IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE HIGH CURRENT CAPACITY BUT VERLY LOW ENERGY RATING (LOW JOULE RATING).

 

[computernewbie]

ok well...

The old surge protecter, which burned out my PSU also has a max load of 15A and 125V

Does max load mean the maximum surge it can take? Or the maximum energy it can give out through its extension block. Becuse i REALLY dont want to burn out another PSU -.-

If your wondering, i had my monitor, computer, and lamp plugged in, although i doubt the lamp takes too much energy.

 

[leon2006]

The AMP rating on the surge protector specifies the MAX amount of current that can pass through from its Wall Plug distributed to the different outlets of the surge-protector.

A 15A 125V extension, or a Surge-Protector extension should be more than enough for your load. A 15A , 125VAC is 1875 Watts of capacity. Your actual load is not even close to that. I'm not even sure that wall outlets are rated above 15A.

My recommendation is buy a reputable brand of surge protector such as Belkin, Excide, APC. Get an energy rating of above 3500 Joules. Most of this will have current rating of 15A.

The one that you got from Radio Shack is not the one i use in my house. Cheap Surge Protectors? You get what you paid for.

As the other had stated i don't think your PC draws 13A or 14A whatever it is.

Note: Lamps are non-critical load. You don't need a surge protector for it.

 

[westom]

The old surge protecter, which burned out my PSU also has a max load of 15A and 125V

Your assumptions make no sense. If a protector burned out your PSU, then any extension cord or power strip can burn out your PSU. Nonsense.

PSU and incandescent lamps draw about same amps - same power. Your PSU probably failed due to manufacturing defect - the most common reason for PSU failures. Or because it was missing essential functions that have been standard in PSUs since long before the IBM PC existed.

Not only do computer and lamp draw well less than every power strip must provided. But the power strip also has a 15 amp circuit breaker - a backup safety device - that will trip if the load is too large.

Best power strip is a non-surge protector power strip as long as it has that always important 15 amp circuit breaker.

 

[computernewbie]

Your assumptions make no sense. If a protector burned out your PSU, then any extension cord or power strip can burn out your PSU. Nonsense.

PSU and incandescent lamps draw about same amps - same power. Your PSU probably failed due to manufacturing defect - the most common reason for PSU failures. Or because it was missing essential functions that have been standard in PSUs since long before the IBM PC existed.

Not only do computer and lamp draw well less than every power strip must provided. But the power strip also has a 15 amp circuit breaker - a backup safety device - that will trip if the load is too large.

Best power strip is a non-surge protector power strip as long as it has that always important 15 amp circuit breaker.

ok, so your saying that it was a manufactureres defect? When the product is top notch and right after i plugged in the extension block, PSU, monitor, and lamp, the computer wouldent turn on, and after trying several techniques to restart the PSU nothing happend, the PSU got fried.

 

[westom]

... and after trying several techniques to restart the PSU nothing happend, the PSU got fried.

Based upon your other assumptions, I have no reason to believe your PSU is fried. What fries a PSU? All output PSU wires can be shorted together and the PSU plugged in. And that does not harm any standard PSU.

To obtain a useful answer, you must post details - not conclusions based in assumptions. For example, why would a power supply not power up? Because the power supply controller is defective. Did you know about that power supply controller?

I did not say anything about a manufacturing defect. I said your conclusions are not based in how thing work. No power cord - good or defective - can harm any power supply. That you did not know that implies you have also assumed the PSU is fried.

Meanwhile, how do you know any component is good? Because they were new? Another defective assumption. To obtain useful replies, post only what you know. Do not convert speculations and assumptions into conclusions (ie PSU is fried) so that useful replies can occur.

 

[computernewbie]

Based upon your other assumptions, I have no reason to believe your PSU is fried. What fries a PSU? All output PSU wires can be shorted together and the PSU plugged in. And that does not harm any standard PSU.

To obtain a useful answer, you must post details - not conclusions based in assumptions. For example, why would a power supply not power up? Because the power supply controller is defective. Did you know about that power supply controller?

I did not say anything about a manufacturing defect. I said your conclusions are not based in how thing work. No power cord - good or defective - can harm any power supply. That you did not know that implies you have also assumed the PSU is fried.

Meanwhile, how do you know any component is good? Because they were new? Another defective assumption. To obtain useful replies, post only what you know. Do not convert speculations and assumptions into conclusions (ie PSU is fried) so that useful replies can occur.

i had used the power supply several times before i had plugged it into the extension block. What i had done was undervolt the power supply, and thats what killed it. Or the block pulled too much energy and thats what fried it. Ive gotten the new power supply from corsair and they do check whats wrong with it, so if there was a switch or such turned off, they would have repaired it and sent me the old one, instead i got a new one. The core of the question of what im trying to ask is if i plugged in my monitor + computer in together, would either one get fried. But i guess to get an answer i might have to open up the wall plug to see how many amps it disburses, hopefully 15A, enough to support both

 

[westom]

i had used the power supply several times before i had plugged it into the extension block. What i had done was undervolt the power supply, and thats what killed it. Or the block pulled too much energy and thats what fried it.

Undervoltage can be destructive to electric motors. Undervoltage does not harm electronics. Numbers. Voltage drops below 5% are bad for electric motors. Voltage drops of even 20% mean electronics must still work normally. How low can voltage drop? Electronics must work normally and even startup normally when the incandescent bulb is less than 50% intensity. An international standard that has existed long before the IBM PC even existed. And is unknown (apparently) to a majoriity of computer techs.

Power supply only draws the energy it needs. Again, you can short together all outputs of a power supply, then turn on AC power. And even that maximum loading does not harm any standard power supply.

Does not matter even if the wall plug is rated for 500 amps. Neither the monitor nor computer will draw any more power. Both contain power supplies that only draw what is required - nothing more.

How many amps will a wall receptacle provide? That is defined by the shape of the holes that your plug attaches to. If a plug can provide more than 15 amps, then its holes for a plug will be shaped differently. Your plug probably has the holes for NEMA5-15. That means it is rated for 15 amps and connected either to a 15 amp or 20 amp circuit breaker inside the breaker box. That also means the appliance must be limiited to (rated to consume) less than 13 amps.

 

[mrbob84]

i had used the power supply several times before i had plugged it into the extension block. What i had done was undervolt the power supply, and thats what killed it. Or the block pulled too much energy and thats what fried it.

Undervoltage can be destructive to electric motors. Undervoltage does not harm electronics. Numbers. Voltage drops below 5% are bad for electric motors. Voltage drops of even 20% mean electronics must still work normally. How low can voltage drop? Electronics must work normally and even startup normally when the incandescent bulb is less than 50% intensity. An international standard that has existed long before the IBM PC even existed. And is unknown (apparently) to a majoriity of computer techs.

Power supply only draws the energy it needs. Again, you can short together all outputs of a power supply, then turn on AC power. And even that maximum loading does not harm any standard power supply.

Does not matter even if the wall plug is rated for 500 amps. Neither the monitor nor computer will draw any more power. Both contain power supplies that only draw what is required - nothing more.

How many amps will a wall receptacle provide? That is defined by the shape of the holes that your plug attaches to. If a plug can provide more than 15 amps, then its holes for a plug will be shaped differently. Your plug probably has the holes for NEMA5-15. That means it is rated for 15 amps and connected either to a 15 amp or 20 amp circuit breaker inside the breaker box. That also means the appliance must be limiited to (rated to consume) less than 13 amps.

I have a problem believing that shorting all outputs of a power supply will not blow that power supply. When you short outputs, the load the power supply sees goes from the normal load of what you are powering up, to infinity. And beyond... Any power supply will either blow its fuses, trip its protection circuit or fry its actual components when asked to provide infinite power into a dead short from any wall plug capable of putting out even 10 amps, much less 20.

That's why we service technicians refer to such experiences when servicing an audio or video unit as "blowing up" that unit. We use calibrated ammeters built into our variacs when testing a unit that has just been fixed but is a heavy duty amp that pulls many amps from the circuit. We "tickle" the voltage up from zero with a knob we mechanically turn, rather than simply throwing a switch for full tilt boogie power into a circuit we are not sure is fully fixed yet. If the amps start climbing up alarmingly fast as the voltage slowly goes up from zero to our target of 120AC volts, we back it down immediately again and go back to work. No harm, no foul.

The big audio amplifiers draw high amounts of current just to turn on, far more than when cruising, after on. That's when we use our 10 amp fused turn-on section, rather than our normal 2 amp fused section. With a big amplifier, the 2 amp fuse will blow just from turning the unit on, even if while cruising it only draws half an amp.

Mr Bob

 

[westom]

I have a problem believing that shorting all outputs of a power supply will not blow that power supply. When you short outputs, the load the power supply sees goes from the normal load of what you are powering up, to infinity. And beyond...

Shorting power supplies without damage was an industry standard even long before PCs existed. One name for the feature is current foldback limiting. Intel even defined the thickness (gauge) of the wire used to perform the test. Even single chip power supplies have that essential function.

Same with amps. A power amp should have the same feature so that shorts on speaker wire do not cause damage. I had same in a transistor power amp I constructed back in the early 1960s. The technology is that old and routine.

Also learn about the purpose of inrush current limiters.