Powering on 10 x 250w at once from one socket.

Joe34

Joe34

Active Member
In UK, we have single sockets capable of atleast 13A at 240V = 3100W

Is there any issue with powering on all at once our 10 250w = 2500w drivers?

Drivers would be Manwell HLG 240
 
I like to match my loads to breaker strength at about 75%. You don't want too much more at constant load because of humidity and heat, and you don't want to much less because in-case of a short the more head room the more the shocky skocky.
 
@CobKits, do you know if thats a conservative number(as its meanwell)

Also, why it's only 4? seems like we have loads of amperage at the socket going unused...
 
Joe34 said:
@CobKits, do you know if thats a conservative number(as its meanwell)

Also, why it's only 4? seems like we have loads of amperage at the socket going unused...
Click to expand...
its only 4 if you use C class breaker and that is mounted on a din rail. That is another reason I like the elg drivers better you can have 6 on a class c breaker 4 on a b class
The majority of breakers in houses are b class
 
This is news to me I need to use 27 drivers... i can't have that many plugs. That would mean I'd need just as many timers as I do plugs that would be insane.

What's the reason why we can't have so many drivers on the same plug?
 
The reason is literally posted and highlighted in red a few posts up. Inrush current. When you turn on a power supply it pulls much higher current at start up than it does once it has reached its constant load. Pretty standard stuff to be honest.
 
That says the inrush current is 75a? No circuit could handle 75a.

If you have a 16a breaker which can handle 3600w and you have say 300w drivers.

Your circuit breaker will trip every time you turn more than a couple of drivers on at once?

If you turn on one at a time if it spikes the first time at 3000w not too bad it goes down to 300w out of 3600

You turn 2nd one on it spikes at 3000w plus the original 3300w still ok

Now your at 600w you turn next one on and another spike of 3000w is 3600w

Then it goes down to 900w next time you turn a driver on... spike 3900w trips breaker?

So you can only run 900w from a 16a breaker?
 
George2324 said:
That says the inrush current is 75a? No circuit could handle 75a.

If you have a 16a breaker which can handle 3600w and you have say 300w drivers.

Your circuit breaker will trip every time you turn more than a couple of drivers on at once?

If you turn on one at a time if it spikes the first time at 3000w not too bad it goes down to 300w out of 3600

You turn 2nd one on it spikes at 3000w plus the original 3300w still ok

Now your at 600w you turn next one on and another spike of 3000w is 3600w

Then it goes down to 900w next time you turn a driver on... spike 3900w trips breaker?

So you can only run 900w from a 16a breaker?
Click to expand...

It's not only about the wattage, it's about timing.
Most houses have type B breakers which are fast to break to circuit to prevent electrocution.
Type C breakers are common in industry where inductive loads (like motors for example) can use 8 times their working current for a milisecond
when you turn them on, similarly to your drivers. Type C breakers are slow and will not break the circuit if it's above the rated current for a short amount of time, unlike type B which will break it more or less instantly.
 
George2324 said:
This is news to me I need to use 27 drivers... i can't have that many plugs. That would mean I'd need just as many timers as I do plugs that would be insane.

What's the reason why we can't have so many drivers on the same plug?
Click to expand...

And yes, many times in life we are faced with a dilemma: Do we do things properly and safely, OR do we do them cheaply.
When it comes to electricity smart people will choose the first option. Which are you going to choose?
 
In this case guys, is there a smarter way to power on two at a time from one power source? Ideally Id rather not use 5-10 timers all 2 mins apart, perhaps there is a relay or connector that can be used?
 
So a type b won't break the circuit as long as the inrush current is only for a milisecond?

How can we set this up safely then. If I was going to be using 8000w I was going to use 2000w per plug and 4 plugs...

If I run hlg drivers I'll have a total of 27 drivers in my flower room.

Is there a way to possibly still wire them all together but somehow delay each driver coming on by a few seconds with some sort of hardware? Maybe a capacitor or a delayed switch?
 
Read again, Type C is slow.
Type B is fast.

The safest course you can take on your own without hiring an electrician will be to use a timer for each driver and delay them for example one minute from each other.
 
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