Main Power Supply

[NNomad007]

Hi Guys,

The sim is getting more and more complex by the day, almost 60% of all systems are waiting to be assembled, but one question is burning me:

When the sim is completed, will a regular house power supply (220v) be able to deal with all the systems?..(7 pc's running..lights, projectors..etc..)?....

cheers,

Alex

[skywatch]

That depends on what rating your home supply is.
Here in the UK I get 240V at up to 100A. This is plenty for what you are doing.

I would check your main electrical fuse box (breaker box) into your property and see what it says. I don't know about Portugal but I do know that in Spain there are many places where 3.5Kw (about 16A) is all people can have (and they can't even have the TV and electric oven on at the same time without tripping the breaker).

You can also contact your electricity supplier and ask them, they may be able to offer you a higher rating if needed, especially in built up areas.

#Skywatch

[NNomad007]

I'll do that, hopefully it will be ok, since its a new building and i never experienced a tripping breaker.

Thanks a lot skywatch

cheers

Alex

[Jackpilot]

Alex
The total amps available is one thing, wiring is another.
The load has to be spread, in other words if you plug everything on the same plug or circuit you create a serious hazard.
Have an electrician pull a high load circuit for your sim straight from the panel and (better) with it's own set of breakers at the end.

[NNomad007]

Ill probably do that Jack, its rather scary to have such an amount of wires hanging on one simple cable..

By the way guys, i've checked out my fuse box, and it says 250W with 30A ...
Do you think thats enough?..

Alex

[JBaymore]

Amps times Volts equals Watts.

What is most important is the circuit you have things plugged into, not the main breaker supply panel. Likely you are on a branch circuit from the panel. The branch circuit will be rated lower than the main panel.

You need to know the Voltage that you are running (in the US it is likely 110, 118, or 120 VAC). Then you need to know the amperage rating of the breaker on that branch circuit. Multiply the two and you know the maximum Wattage that that circuit will handle. And that is MAXIMUM........ you really don't want to use that regularly....think of it as occasional "peak".

Then add together all the wattages of the units pulgged into that circuit. For computers, the wattage is only used under the absolute maximum load possibility, so the typical computer draw is a bit less than the rating.....unless you have the machine loaded with a massive graphics card and fan, an huge CPU fan, and tons of pci and usb cards and such.

Remember all those powered usb hubs and such too.

As long as the latter # is smaller than the former #.... you are OK.

That is all assuming that the wiring was put in properly in the first place and there is no corrosion in the panel and box physical connections and such.


best,

....................john

PS: Likely that rating you mention there is 250V @ 30A......not 250Watts.

[craiso]

When I get as far as panel backlighting and cockpit flood lighting, is a dedicated PSU the way to go?

Christopher

[Michael Carter]

Yes, that's a good idea.

All of my panel backlighting is running on a 5VDC 40A supply except those requiring 28VDC.

[Rodney]

Yes, that's a good idea.

All of my panel backlighting is running on a 5VDC 40A supply except those requiring 28VDC.

Michael,
What are you using for the 28VDC ?

[Michael Carter]

A 24VDC 5A supply. It also runs all of the Korry indicators and the glareshield lighting. Except for the flourescent lighting, that's 110AC.

The bulb life is increased with little (if any) loss of brightness at the lower voltage and the supplies are more readily available at this voltage.

[AndyT]

I must agree with the above.
Bring in an electrician and tell him you need a dedicated supply to your sim room and show him what you are running on it. He should be able to easily calculate how much you will need and still be safe. And don't forget to have him install extra outlets on the line for you.

[NNomad007]

Im using the office to assemble the cockpit. (and yes, its 250v 30A supply), i have 3 power plugs at the office... using all 3, each one with its own distribution (lets say..8 plugs in each), could be consider safer?... anyway, ill probably follow your advices and get someone at the house to take a proper look into it...

Thanks for all the help guys, once again, i really appreciated.

Alex

[Michael Carter]

As long as you don't exceed 30 amps on the circuit you should be fine.

Is that 30 amps for your office alone, or for the entire facility?

[NNomad007]

Hi Michael,

No.. 250V 30A is the main fuse that controls the entire house......

[JBaymore]

Hi Michael,

No.. 250V 30A is the main fuse that controls the entire house......


Interesting "international" contrast. Due to some other construction/repair work, I just upgraded the electrical supply from the street to the main panel here at my home property..... which also holds my studio/business (I'm a ceramic artist) in an attached barn. Our main panel is now 220V @ 200 Amps. 100 Amps for the business side of things and 100 Amps for the home.

On the business side, I occasionally run some relatively high Amp load equipment so the 100 Amp upgrade is a good thing from the 50 Amps I had before.

For the house....... we really don't use that 100 Amp level of electricity by ANY means. But a 100 Amp house service is current "code" requirements here.

The sim is currently powered off a dedicated 20 A branch from the house main.

best,

.....................john

[fweinrebe]

Also consider not to start every PC up at the same time. Normally switching on certain devices, uses more power as you switch them on and then stabilises.

Although each PC has a 300W (for example) PSU, it doesn't mean it is actually consuming the full 300W. Let the electrician measure each PC's actual consumption and calculate the total wattage from there.

The electricity basic rate normally climbs as you request a larger amp electricity supply.

In Namibia we consider 40A circuit breakers as normal for a normal 3-4 bedroom house.

[skywatch]

for a about 20 euros you can buy a plug in meter that will tell you how much energy whatever is connected to it is using. They are very good.

Also consider heat dissipation. It's gonna get warm with a lot of power being used.

Go one step at a time and keep checking everything as you progress. Better to be safe at the end of the day. ;-)

Good luck!

Skywatch

[phil744]

Your best bet is to run a new ring main from your consumer unit with a 20A RCD, that should be plenty, I would be shocked (no pun inteneded) if you need any more.

But just to echo what every one else says here, if in doubt get a pro to check things over, only be a few euros to do and its wll worth it, stagger everything as you switch it on, especially on things like these new projectors that use the hot start method, they can be a killer on inrush current, decent surge protector and if you can run your PC's on a UPS. also change you schuko plugs to the fused version, cheap but well worth it.

[skywatch]

I don't think a 20A feed will be enough for what is planned.

20A will give you 220x20 = 4400W

So 7x Pc's running with 500W Psu in each (no screens) = 3500W
Then theres 3 projectors running say 1000W each = 3000W

we are already well over without lighting, panel flood lighting and back-lighting, interfaces, sound, LCD monitors etc....

Just my thoughts....

skywatch