15 amp ciruit limitations

[Seth=L]

I am definitely being paranoid here, but I don't want to come anywhere close to overloading my living room's 15 amp circuit. I live in an apartment so heavy modification is not possible. I did some addition and found that under extreme conditions I may be able to draw more current than my circuit will allow. I have a 10 or 8 gauge yellow extension cord at my disposal. Should I run the extension cord from another room that is set on a different breaker?

I have a switched outlet in my living room, is it possible that the apartment complex would have put that under the "lighting" breaker, or is it more likely they put it on the living room breaker? I plan to call them and ask as soon as I can so I can figure this out.

 

[Warpdrv]

How many pieces of equipment do you have on that circuit...

Usually the biggest problem is the inrush of starting all the equipment at the same time.

Are the lights dimming when your sub is running full throttle...?

 

[BMXTRIX]

While it may be possible to trip the circut breaker, it is very rare to overload a single outlet anymore and cause harm because of the fault tolerances built into breakers and wiring.

Being realistic, you have 1440 watts of allowable draw and that'll put you at 75% of the actual level available with a 15amp breaker.

Almost no receivers are actually capable of delivering this much power directly, and it is rare that the rest of the gear is actually drawing enough power to cause serious concern.

Keep in mind, your power cabling on a 15amp circuit is 14 gauge and on a 20amp circuit is 12 gauge. Running cabling larger than that is completely pointless to carry power on.

I would leave it be and see if you ever pop a circuit at any time.

You may consider getting a UPS which can help maintain full power to all your gear all the time.

 

[Seth=L]

Niles power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 600 watts)

Yamaha receiver being used as amplifier (max power consumption is rated 300 watts)

Kenwood power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 270 watts)

B&K pre/pro (max power consumption is rated 30 watts)

Westinghouse 32" LCD (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Playstation 3 (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Total comes to 1890 watts maximum assuming no other devices are running on that circuit. My bedroom is on the same circuit as the living room and the switched outlet is as well. I popped some breakers after posting to test which outlets where on what circuit.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am definitely being paranoid here, but I don't want to come anywhere close to overloading my living room's 15 amp circuit. I live in an apartment so heavy modification is not possible. I did some addition and found that under extreme conditions I may be able to draw more current than my circuit will allow. I have a 10 or 8 gauge yellow extension cord at my disposal. Should I run the extension cord from another room that is set on a different breaker?

I have a switched outlet in my living room, is it possible that the apartment complex would have put that under the "lighting" breaker, or is it more likely they put it on the living room breaker? I plan to call them and ask as soon as I can so I can figure this out.

You should invest in this meter
http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/388_254?gclid=CJXRiaHP7JkCFSMSagodLX7oRA

It will tell you a lot and is very accurate.

 

[yettitheman]

Niles power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 600 watts)

Yamaha receiver being used as amplifier (max power consumption is rated 300 watts)

Kenwood power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 270 watts)

B&K pre/pro (max power consumption is rated 30 watts)

Westinghouse 32" LCD (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Playstation 3 (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Total comes to 1890 watts maximum assuming no other devices are running on that circuit. My bedroom is on the same circuit as the living room and the switched outlet is as well. I popped some breakers after posting to test which outlets where on what circuit.

I see you followed my advice. Just remember about what I said about your laser printer's peak in-rush; approximately 12 amps.

Technically, at 120VAC, 15 amps is 1800 watts. Now, nominal mean load for the amplifiers and PS3 should be at least half rated drawing value (except for high DB output or in the PS3's case of full CPU usage).
Technically, you are 90 watts over the limit. However, given the situation with your crappy outlets and who knows what gauge wiring they ran, I'd put all high draw devices on the 20A circuit.

That would be all you need; to draw over amperage on aluminum (yuck) wiring. Can you say, fire?

 

[highfigh]

Niles power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 600 watts)

Yamaha receiver being used as amplifier (max power consumption is rated 300 watts)

Kenwood power amplifier (max power consumption is rated 270 watts)

B&K pre/pro (max power consumption is rated 30 watts)

Westinghouse 32" LCD (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Playstation 3 (max power consumption is rated 360 watts)

Total comes to 1890 watts maximum assuming no other devices are running on that circuit. My bedroom is on the same circuit as the living room and the switched outlet is as well. I popped some breakers after posting to test which outlets where on what circuit.

If you run it a WOT all the time, worry about tripping the breaker. If you run it loud but not at WOT, don't worry about it but it's not a bad idea to have a way to monitor the line voltage. If you see that it's dropping significantly, you'll need to do something about it. An extension cord to another room won't do it.

In case you were wondering, WOT = Wide Open Throttle.

 

[Seth=L]

If you run it a WOT all the time, worry about tripping the breaker. If you run it loud but not at WOT, don't worry about it but it's not a bad idea to have a way to monitor the line voltage. If you see that it's dropping significantly, you'll need to do something about it. An extension cord to another room won't do it.

In case you were wondering, WOT = Wide Open Throttle.

I was only going to run the extension cord to avoid overloading that one breaker. I am fairly certain with my current configuration the only way that would happen is if I was running my stereo very loud and kicking on the laser printer on the same breaker.

Having said that, I rarely use the printer and when I do I doubt listening to loud music will be on my list of priorities while printing.

 

[Rickster71]

Hi Seth, looks like you have the situation pretty much solved.
Theoretically you've exceeded the breakers ampacity, though you would really have to "try" to trip that breaker.
In your case I doubt it will happen.

The device mtrycrafts mentioned looks like it would go a long way in giving some real world numbers.

Just to add a bit, since all the equipment power ratings are Max, and you'd be deaf if your listening levels were that high.
IMO you'll be OK.
Just turn the volume down before you use the printer.

Aluminum wire is only a problem if it not installed properly.