Few ?'s

C

certainunknown

Member
I'll get right to it.
1. Is it safe to plug a surge protector into a surge protector?
-I plan on putting 3 CFL's on a surge protector then run another surge protector to the other opposite wall with 3 more CFL's all off of the 1st surge protector.
2. How much can a single house socket handle? As of now I will be having 6 CFL lights, 2 computer fans, and well that's it.
-Thanks
 
Love1Fear

Love1Fear

Well-Known Member
Well first off what does your outlet look like if it looks like a equal sign || || then it is a 10 amp outlet if it looks like this - -| then it is a 15 amp socket.
They cant run continually at this amperage though they can only dish out 70% of its rated amperage the leftover 30% is for a little spike very short duration.

So now you know what your wall socket is rated at lets see what your lights/fans power draw is, Add up what your CFL lights consume in actual wattage then look on your fans and see what there watt consumption is as well it most likely will not say watt consumption it will say DC 12V (meaning volts it needs to run) then .18A meaning the amperage it consumes to run. To find out what the watts it consumes all you have to do is multiply the Volts so in this case 12 by the amperage which in this case is not even a amp its just a .18 of an amp so .18 x 12 which equals 2.16 or 2 watts.
Now the lights you say you have 6 ok, lets just say they are 26 watt equivalent bulbs so 26 x 6 = 156 so 156 total watts plus lets just say 4 watts for fans, so 160 watts, to get the amperage we just do 160watts divided by 120volts 1.33333 so you are only using 1.3 amps LOL so you can have a total of 10 systems like that and be right on the cusp of you max power consumption on a 15 amp socket from just 1 single wall outlet. FREAKING CRAZY HUH LOL
 
briwaller

briwaller

Active Member
i live in an old house that does not have a lot of outlets, i used a box that had 6 plugs with a surge protec.in it, with a timer and my 400 w hps plugged into the timer, my t.v., a fan and a few other things., i never blew a breaker,, but i always worried about a fire when i was gone, so i had the light kick on when i was home at night, just to be safe.
 
Love1Fear

Love1Fear

Well-Known Member
Woops pluging a surge power strip into another one is definatly 100% safe as a single surge strip. Hope all this helps ill stay on this site for awhile if you have any questions or what ever.
 
TeaTreeOil

TeaTreeOil

Well-Known Member
Unless your CFLs are 300W(actual, total of 1800W).... You'll be fine.

Newer homes typically run 10 or 15 amp lines to bedrooms. A lot of older homes run 20 amp lines throughout(mine does, anyway). Though only 70-75% of this should ever be used per branch(usually 20 amps).
 
Love1Fear

Love1Fear

Well-Known Member
1800 watts would equal 15 amps and in mostly all 98% residential homes today run 10 amp and 15 amp sockets, if your equipment is consuming 1800 watts/15 amps it will pop the circuit in absolutely no time.
 
TeaTreeOil

TeaTreeOil

Well-Known Member
That's what I'm saying. 1800W would be too much for a lot of homes. Especially if anything else is on the same branch.

I'm guessing he has 26W or maybe 42W cfls. 6 of those are no problem no matter what. My computer uses more juice than that.
 
C

certainunknown

Member
Love1Fear said:
Well first off what does your outlet look like if it looks like a equal sign || || then it is a 10 amp outlet if it looks like this - -| then it is a 15 amp socket.
They cant run continually at this amperage though they can only dish out 70% of its rated amperage the leftover 30% is for a little spike very short duration.

So now you know what your wall socket is rated at lets see what your lights/fans power draw is, Add up what your CFL lights consume in actual wattage then look on your fans and see what there watt consumption is as well it most likely will not say watt consumption it will say DC 12V (meaning volts it needs to run) then .18A meaning the amperage it consumes to run. To find out what the watts it consumes all you have to do is multiply the Volts so in this case 12 by the amperage which in this case is not even a amp its just a .18 of an amp so .18 x 12 which equals 2.16 or 2 watts.
Now the lights you say you have 6 ok, lets just say they are 26 watt equivalent bulbs so 26 x 6 = 156 so 156 total watts plus lets just say 4 watts for fans, so 160 watts, to get the amperage we just do 160watts divided by 120volts 1.33333 so you are only using 1.3 amps LOL so you can have a total of 10 systems like that and be right on the cusp of you max power consumption on a 15 amp socket from just 1 single wall outlet. FREAKING CRAZY HUH LOL
Click to expand...
+rep thanks everyone for the replies.
 
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