 halfbandPremium
join:2002-06-01
Huntsville, AL
 ·Comcast
| reply to calvoiper
Re: piff You would need another outlet/plug type to limit the plug to a 2 amp connection. AC plugs are unique to the type of circuit they plug into. Your common AC plug is 15amp. To avoid a potential fire hazard, and all the liability associated with it, a outlet box with six 2amp plugs just for laptops could not use the same plug type as your common AC plug.
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Registered Bandwidth Offender #40812 |
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 calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | reply to bogey780
(Actually, most laptops draw closer to 1 amp than 2. But I digress....)
When an unusual overload occurs, the breaker blows--just as it would for 4 floor polishers.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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| And if you're constantly popping breakers you need to re-evaluate the wiring set-up. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | Yes, you do. But this won't be the most common outcome--it's only a worst case scenario, and then it would justify the additional, higher expense of new wiring. Still a better result than rewiring everything just for the sake of doing so because old expectations were that the only use of outlets on a terminal concourse would be floor polishing.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | reply to halfband
No, you wouldn't need a new kind of plug. You can easily overload any duplex outlet today by plugging two 15 amp loads into it and putting 30 amps on wiring designed for 20 or less. In such a case the circuit breaker blows.
For years this country has "over outleted" its wiring because average loads, per plug, are less than the maximum load per plug. In this situation average loads are even lower, and warrant making more plugs available on existing wiring.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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| reply to calvoiper
'--it's only a worst case scenario'
Actually the worse case scenario is that the breaker fails to trip and the wire burns through causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fire and smoke damage. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | And that can happen with three floor polishers plugged into the circuit more easily than with 16 laptops plugged in....
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:3 | reply to calvoiper
said by calvoiper:For years this country has "over outleted" its wiring because average loads, per plug, are less than the maximum load per plug. In this situation average loads are even lower, and warrant making more plugs available on existing wiring. When a load calculation is done, what is the value assigned to a typical receptacle?
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A is A |
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| reply to calvoiper
Not likely. Electric motors usually trip the breaker from the initial surge needed. A steady but increasing demand is more dangerous. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | OK--you could easily overload the circuit with 3 1800 watt (15 amp) standard space heaters. It doesn't matter--the circuits are easily overloaded today, they are protected against that, and (very rarely) that protection fails.
I'll say it again--adding outlets on existing wiring to allow very light 1 or 2 amp loads for laptop power supplies is very unlikely to create overload conditions. Only if a flippin' idiot plugs tons of load onto one circuit is there an overload, and there are breakers there to protect against that. The risk of breakers failing is no greater for a (very rare) laptop induced overload is no greater than for a (much more common) overload caused by heavy current draw devices, and those types of overloads are already quite possible.
You're either trying to find problems where they don't exist, or you are so "fund the bloat" happy that you love the spectre of paying inflated construction costs for unnecessary additional wiring. You're probably one of those extortionist union types that insist only union electricians can plug in electric devices in public buildings.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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| There's an electrical code for safety reasons. It's not designed around padding union paychecks. Technically you can put dozens of 15 amp outlets on a single 12ga run but there's a safety concern when you're expecting to draw a lot of current down there. Using a power strip is okay as long as it's not used in abundance.
Technically I could use aluminum wire and save a ton of cash but those damn electricians demand I use expensive copper. /sarcasm
Don't confuse bloat with safety budget. |
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| reply to n1zuk
said by n1zuk:Heavy duty commercial codes. Outlet, box, wire, and labor for licensed electrician. We're talking VERY high traffic area. And the largest driver is that you are limited by code to the number of boxes that can be on a single circuit. Adding outlets doesn't mean 6 feet of romex and a box. It means lots of new breakers and home runs back to the breaker box. |
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| reply to calvoiper
said by calvoiper:For the third time, these are TWO AMP loads we're talking about. The wires can carry 15-20 amps depending on whether they are 14 or 12 guage. We just need more outlets. What you seem to be having trouble grasping is that these are not laptop outlets, they can be used for anything with a plug. That means the idiots that want to plug a floor polisher, air compressor, refrigerator and portable air conditioner all on the same circuit.
That's why code limits the number of outlets on a circuit. More outlets = more circuits. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | ...and for about the tenth time, the existing codes allow enough outlets on a circuit that idiots can easily overload it AS IS with a couple floor polishers and an air conditioner or two. That's why we have circuit breakers.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to DaMaGeINC
one thing to remember about building codes, in a home for example they dont figure in dual 15amp loads on a single outlet because most sockets are infact used for light loads such as lighting.
imo codes need to be reviewed as while compact flourescents make our lighting take less power, our new electronic gadgets suck down power like Oprah does an all you can buffet. i run my PC and home theater on seperate circuits and my window AC has its own dedicated 20amp feed.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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