80% rule on an outlet? amp rule? huh?

sooo..how do you even know how many amps you can pull from an outlet? also what about one light socket? lol what if you had an adapter thing in there to plug in your equipment? what is the 80% rule thing about? is it ok for a light socket in the cieling to run like 200+W of cfl but less than 300? idk how the rule works but my friend runs his from a light socket instead of an outlet lol.

Its refering to the limit your circuit can hold without tripping. Ever run like a microwave and an AC at the same time and trip your power? Thats because the circuits wiring is protected by a circuit breaker, if the 15amp breaker has 16 amps on it the wiring used will become to hot and put you at risk for a house fire.

Go in your basement and find what breaker that light is on.

If youre worried about 300w light overloading your circuit, then dont, thats nothing.

My refrigerator pulls 2.1amps on its highest setting, then .4 when it is idle.

The basics of electricity are that you cannot exceed the amperage rating on a breaker or fuse, too many amps causes the circuit breaker to trip or the fuse to burn out. Exceeding the amperage rating happens when you add too many watts to the circuit. There is an equation you can use to figure out the maximum watts you can have on any circuit. Most household voltage is 110 volts from a standard outlet on a 15 amp circuit, so the maximum watts on this system would be equal to volts times amps, or 110 x 15, equals 1650 watts. Every device plugged into the circuit will pull a little bit of amperage, so you could have a 400w light with a 100w fan, or any other combination up to 1650 watts.

Some household plug circuits are rated at 20 amps and 110 volts. In this case, your total wattage available would be 20 x 110 = 2200 watts. To know if your circuit is 15 or 20 amps, look on the handle of the breaker. There should be a number stamped onto the handle. Same with fuses. The amp rating should be on the fuse label.

Having a plug that goes into a light socket is just a diiferent way of connection, it doesn't affect the available amps or watts. However, if you try and pull all of the available amps through that type of plug in, you might overheat the connection and cause problems. Better to plug directly into an outlet.

The 80% rule just means that you should stay under 80% of the maximum wattage available on a circuit to avoid tripping a breaker. If you put 1650 watts on a 15 amp 110 volt circuit, then you will probably be tripping the breaker every time the lights come on, as the lighting ballast draws just a little extra amperage when it comes on.