Electrical outlets

Canabuz said:

Hey guys , quick question, Im running one 400w ballast a vortex fan and two "300" equivalent CFL, my house is 18yrs old, am I pushing it?

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If you are running with no problems, run it. Don't borrow trouble bro. Most modern appliances have an amp draw on them somewhere, and if you use the ohms law rules posted in this thread you can figure amps from a watt rating. I don't know what your stuff draws for sure, you are the one who has the info right there with you. Do the math man, it aint even hard. There is another way to figure your amp draw but it requires you to get in a live panel and take a reading with an electrical meter on a hot circuit.... That aint something for just anybody to try, not without some experience anyway.

callahanman said:

Nope. Amps is what it can draw, you might have a 30amp circuit in your car at 12 volts. Dryer is prob a 30amp circuit. Look on the breaker that feeds it. Keep in mind that 220 volts at 30 amps is more watts. Go back to the ohms law post on this thread and do the math yourself. This is one reason commercial and industrial place run higher voltage lighting, some ballasts are what we call multi-tap and are good for 120v, 220v, 277v, and even up to 480v.

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Awesome info, thank you!

callahanman said:

-snip- There is another way to figure your amp draw but it requires you to get in a live panel and take a reading with an electrical meter on a hot circuit.... That aint something for just anybody to try, not without some experience anyway.

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Hooking a meter up in series or a parallel shunt with a load is pretty old school. A clamp meter will give you amperage based on induction and doesn't require you to do anything dangerous at all. They are like, 12 bucks at Harbor Freight.

Glaucoma said:

Hooking a meter up in series or a parallel shunt with a load is pretty old school. A clamp meter will give you amperage based on induction and doesn't require you to do anything dangerous at all. They are like, 12 bucks at Harbor Freight.

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Agree Glau, I was actually thinking about a clamp-on. You still gotta take the cover off the panel to clamp around the hot tho, and you would want the circuit loaded with all the stuff operating. Not a big deal really, if somebody is ok with it and maybe has a little experience. You can't see (well you can but if you do it aint good) what is energized and will dead your ass, you gotta know what not to touch. I am not telling ANYBODY to screw around with electricity unless they are comfortable doing it. Would rather dude added up his amps and did a calc on the load. It is good practice.