Can a power condensor be plugged into a UPS? the UPS has surge protection too.
Also, I've always wondered about this: Can you chain surge protectors? (plug one into the other to make it longer and with more outlets)?
I just want to be extra careful not to blow anything up or cause a melted studio in flames... not very helpful when producing music...
Can a power condensor be plugged into a UPS?
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- KVRian
- 607 posts since 25 Apr, 2005 from Orange County
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- KVRAF
- 4222 posts since 23 Feb, 2004 from Tucson Arizona USA
What is a power condensor? A voltage converter? Like a travel adaptor?
People who have to insure you against fire will tell you otherwise, but there's not really a problem with chaining power strips. The important thing to avoid is overloading the circuit with total amperage. The equation will have different parameters in 240-volt land (UK?) but basically, the circuit will have a certain rating, will be breaker protected, but if you put 20 amps on one load, and try to run that through something that can only handle 10 amps, you'll trip a breaker or a wire will start burning.
My office which is also my music studio has four dedicated 20 amp circuits that I ran straight from the panel. Each of these circuits has an isolated ground. I've got quite a bit of equipment, but I'm nowhere near the load capacity. For reasons related to grounding, all my music gear is on one single circuit. I'm still not pulling 20 amps. You pretty much need devices with motors and heating elements to do that.
One thing I don't recommend is to use GFI outlets, since they tend to be a bit quicker to trip than a regular circuit breaker, plus, your circuit should actually be grounded, not GFI.
Short answer, the instructions on an extension cord or a power strip will tell you not to chain them, and that's for liability reasons, for problems related to load because you can more easily overload a 15 amp circuit (typical residential limit) with 11 appliances than you can with 6.
Look at the labels on all your gear. Add up the "Amps" spec, and that is the maximum total current draw according to the ratings of your equipment. Actual values will tend to be significantly lower than that. But if you want to be safe, you'll not plug more into a circuit than the breaker will allow -- the breaker or fuse will let you know, but those wires *will* get warm before the breaker trips.
Look at it another way -- hidden behind the wall, the outlets are nothing more than exposed copper terminals wired in parallel. All you're doing by chaining power strips is the same thing, with an added level of circuit breaker protection.
If it's more aesthetical to you, you might find it a simple task to wire in another outlet next to your existing one. Or you might have no problem doing what I did, and just bring in a few dedicated circuits.
People who have to insure you against fire will tell you otherwise, but there's not really a problem with chaining power strips. The important thing to avoid is overloading the circuit with total amperage. The equation will have different parameters in 240-volt land (UK?) but basically, the circuit will have a certain rating, will be breaker protected, but if you put 20 amps on one load, and try to run that through something that can only handle 10 amps, you'll trip a breaker or a wire will start burning.
My office which is also my music studio has four dedicated 20 amp circuits that I ran straight from the panel. Each of these circuits has an isolated ground. I've got quite a bit of equipment, but I'm nowhere near the load capacity. For reasons related to grounding, all my music gear is on one single circuit. I'm still not pulling 20 amps. You pretty much need devices with motors and heating elements to do that.
One thing I don't recommend is to use GFI outlets, since they tend to be a bit quicker to trip than a regular circuit breaker, plus, your circuit should actually be grounded, not GFI.
Short answer, the instructions on an extension cord or a power strip will tell you not to chain them, and that's for liability reasons, for problems related to load because you can more easily overload a 15 amp circuit (typical residential limit) with 11 appliances than you can with 6.
Look at the labels on all your gear. Add up the "Amps" spec, and that is the maximum total current draw according to the ratings of your equipment. Actual values will tend to be significantly lower than that. But if you want to be safe, you'll not plug more into a circuit than the breaker will allow -- the breaker or fuse will let you know, but those wires *will* get warm before the breaker trips.
Look at it another way -- hidden behind the wall, the outlets are nothing more than exposed copper terminals wired in parallel. All you're doing by chaining power strips is the same thing, with an added level of circuit breaker protection.
If it's more aesthetical to you, you might find it a simple task to wire in another outlet next to your existing one. Or you might have no problem doing what I did, and just bring in a few dedicated circuits.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 607 posts since 25 Apr, 2005 from Orange County
wow, thanks for the info! I'm going to have to read that a few times and soak it in...
How do you find out how many amps are on your load if you can't find the amps label?
And how do you discover the limit of your circuit so you don't go over it?
How do I know if I have a GFI outlet?
How do you find out how much a breaker will allow?
What are dedicated circuits and how do you get them?
A power conditioner smoothes out the flow of electricity to your computer, filtering out surges, spikes and brownouts
How do you find out how many amps are on your load if you can't find the amps label?
And how do you discover the limit of your circuit so you don't go over it?
How do I know if I have a GFI outlet?
How do you find out how much a breaker will allow?
What are dedicated circuits and how do you get them?
A power conditioner smoothes out the flow of electricity to your computer, filtering out surges, spikes and brownouts
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- KVRAF
- 6937 posts since 4 Jun, 2004 from Utrecht, Holland
There are fuses and short-circuit & overload protections in at least two or three places in this setup. Probably if you overload the UPS or conditioner, it will shut down itself immediately. No need to be "extra careful" since it sounds to me you’re getting close to paranoid.Adambomb337 wrote:I just want to be extra careful not to blow anything up or cause a melted studio in flames... not very helpful when producing music...
The power conditioner is definitely labelled with the maximum load. And so should everything be that's connected to it. Just add up the watts of all the devices connected to the power strip. Same goes for fuses that can be blown: they are always labelled, otherwise you’d have a problem when replacing them.Adambomb337 wrote:A power conditioner smoothes out the flow of electricity to your computer, filtering out surges, spikes and brownouts
If you don't have the "W" figure, but the label does state V (voltage) and A (amperage) you can calculate the watts by simply multiplying the volts with the amperage: W = V * A.
For instance, the label says “240V, 300mA”. Now mA is “milli Ampere” which is one-thousandth of one Ampere. So this would be 0.3 * 240 = 72W.
Alternatively, if you know Voltage and Wattage you can calculate the Amperage: A = W / V. For instance, on the amp it says it consumes 400W and it runs on 110V. The amperage would be 400 / 110 = 3.6A
My MusicCalc is temporary offline.
We are the KVR collective. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
We are the KVR collective. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 607 posts since 25 Apr, 2005 from Orange County
thanks for the tip C00kie!