• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  OT-Understanding amps

  Posted by Scott Davis on July 2, 2008 at 1:24 am

  I’m interested in buying a rackmount power distribution unit from Trip Lite. They offer a 15 amp and a 20 amp unit. Which is necessary for connecting a few FW drives, a small deck, an external SATA RAID, and some misc other equipment in a small rack.

  Thanks,

  Scott Davis

  Scott Davis replied 17 years, 10 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Walter Biscardi

  July 2, 2008 at 2:10 am

  [Scott Davis] “Which is necessary for connecting a few FW drives”

  15 Amp is more than enough. Our entire facility with everything turned on only runs 33 Amps and that’s three full edit suites and 7 VTR’s.

  Walter Biscardi, Jr.
  Biscardi Creative Media
  HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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• 

  Scott Davis

  July 2, 2008 at 2:12 am

  Thanks Walter, much appreciated the wiki entry was way beyond my understanding.

  Scott Davis
• 

  Steven Gonzales

  July 2, 2008 at 3:08 am

  Power (P) measured in watts = Current (I) measured in amps * Electromotive force (E) measured in volts.

  So a 45W power draw (the transformer on this portable computer I’m using), from a Electromotive Force source of 120 Volts (approx. supply in the US), would be a Current (I) of 45/120, or .375 Amps (I).

  So if you add up all the power of the devices you’re plugging in, and divide that by 120 (or even 100, to give yourself a 20% margin) then you’ll know how many amps you’re drawing.

  So using that 100 volts with it’s margin of error, you would not want more than 2000 watts on a 20 amp circuit, or 1500 watts on a 15 amp circuit.
• 

  Scott Davis

  July 3, 2008 at 12:29 am

  Thanks Steven, one other question: How do you find out how much power is being used by your devices?

  Scott

  Scott Davis

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