Power usage of computers!

Sniipe

Dunno if this is in the right place, but there is no electronic forum
Computers and monitors, how much power do they use?

The reason i want to know this is because I'm short on sockets in a room and I want to estimate how many computers and monitors I can safely extend off one socket. The building(hotel conference room) is new and I would guess is up to power standards and such not!

Any guesses? I reckon 5 computers (I think they consume more power than monitors)

I have no other information to offer!

^whitey^

Erm i think the technology section would be more suited to this topic but anyway:

Yup your right the box uses more power but
as to how many p.c's you can run off the one socket depends what wattage the p.s.u is on each p.c.

Hope this helps.

Borzoi

At the back of the PC (assuming factoru built) and the back of the monitor, there's a label that details the maximum power consumption, usually in both Amps and Watts.

Normally most household sockets are rated to 13A (3000W approx), you overload, and you risk blowing the fuse.

BioHazRd

Yes - this has been asked in Technology before.

From experience, you can safely run 10 pc's from 16 amp outlet, though you can push it as far as 12, so from this it would be safe to assume that each pc pulls about 1.3 amps. You would think from this that you could run 10 pc's from a 13 amp socket, but this is not the case. You have to allow for surges in power at startup, and you would also need to allow for some overhead in the current requirements.
I would consider it prudent to limit it to 8 pc's per 13 amp socket. You will also need to bear in mind that this may be limited by the fusing arrangement in the venue. If they have a group of sockets going back to a 16A trip, then the total load on that circuit cannot exceed 16 amps, no matter how many 13 A sockets you have.

Bio

Victor

If it has been redone recently, there should be drawings available. The circuits should also be readily identifiable.

Sniipe

thanks guys thats exactly what I was looking for

next time I will try the mathematical side of things and estimate how many I can put on taking into account of wattage computer and looking on the power lable

Capt'n Midnight

Like bulbs and motors, computers draw maximum current when they are turned on (inrush). So turn on the machines one at a time rather than switching them all on at the wall. Many BIOS's have a option to turn the PC on again in the event of a power cut - Probably best to turn this off - except for those that are servers otherwise they will just trip the load again when the power comes back.

BTW: in a lot of new homes (inc mine) they skimped on wiring - apart from the kitchen ALL the sockets are on the same 25A ring - so I really only have two 13 amp sockets with a high contention ratio

You could use a UPS to even out the load a little - but it would have to be a bloody big one. Another use of a UPS would be to see how long a PC lasts on it - could give you a rough indication of how much power it uses - if you are using a server in the setup then recommened.

Might be no harm to turn down the brightness on the monitors..

If money was no object then notebooks would be your only man - ye chould have 50 of the things off of one plug...

watty

A 17" CRT monitor takes about twice the PC power (100W), PC typically 50W.
A LCD monitor takes about a 1/4 of the power of a PC.

Figures vary wildly with age, quantity of Disk drives, added expansion cards and type, CPU speed, RAM type & quantity etc.

A CRT monitor could be anything from 50W to 400W depending on model, tube type and size, and brightness.

A plug socket can do 2500W and the "ring main" type wiring about 4500W total on a 20 amp fuse / breaker.

So I would say 10 PCs on one socket. But one high spec machine with 15,000 RPM RAID SCSI disks could take ALL that.