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How do you calculate your power draw?


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Thinking about the whole generator issue and what you'll need...

 

How do you go about calculating how much power you'll use?

 

In my situation it would be:

 

1 MixWiz 16:2

2 DBX 231

2 QSC 181s

2 QSC 153s

1 iPod

 

Does each have a power rating in their manual? Sorry if I'm not using the right terminology. I don't know much about energy. Other than it takes 1.21 Jiggawatts to go back in time.

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There should be an amp or ampere draw listed. Most of the electronics you can assume it to be as written, steady state power draw. However, the power amps or powered speakers with the amps will vary depending on the demand ytou place on them, i.e., how loud you get. There will be a maximum designed power draw listed for those. On power amplifiers, the manuals' normally list different levels of power draw and the 1/8th pink noise level is the average draw, figure the 1/3 power draw if you have some clipping. Don't know if the powered speaker manuals list the same way. The QSC power amp manuals do list the various power draw for the various conditions.

 

Tried to download the speaker manual but no luck yet ;>)

 

Boomerweps

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Looked it up for you.

 

1 MixWiz 16:2 - .29A

 

2 DBX 231 - .125A each

 

2 QSC 181s - .3A at idle, 2.5A at 1/8 power(no clipping), 4.2A at 1/3 power (minor to moderate clipping), 8.4A at full power (that's heavy clipping) EACH

 

2 QSC 153s - .2A at idle, 1.8A at 1/8 power, 2.9A at 1/3 power, & 6.2A at full power EACH

 

1 iPod - battery or adapter, up to 500mw.

 

So forgetting the IPOD, at 1/8th power your draw is 9.265 amps and at 1/3 power your draw is 14.865 amps. So you could easily get away with using a single 20 amp circuit for your PA and even a single 15 amp circuit if you didn't get into heavy clipping.

 

Boomerweps

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This thread got me to wondering just what the nominal power draw of my rig is ... so I started wandering back through my collection of manuals. Unfortunately, most of the manuals state the power consumption in "watts" - which leads me to my question. How do I convert watts to amps? Is there a simple formula?

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This thread got me to wondering just what the nominal power draw of my rig is ... so I started wandering back through my collection of manuals. Unfortunately, most of the manuals state the power consumption in "watts" - which leads me to my question. How do I convert watts to amps? Is there a simple formula?

 

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=convert+watts+to+amps

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How do I convert watts to amps? Is there a simple formula?

 

A fast, dirty, and inaccurate method is: 1 Amp is drawn for every 100 Watts. This is a ballpark formula for when you have to quickly do the math in your head.

 

Dennis

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Phil,

 

Thanks for the "Google" lesson! Note that I asked the question in the forum - not because I'm unfamiliar with "self help" resources like Google - but rather because I've learned that quite often it's all to easy to end up with the right answer to the wrong question and end up not having gained the knowledge I was looking for. The value that this forum brings is the insight that many of the old salts include in the answers.

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Phil,


Thanks for the "Google" lesson! Note that I asked the question in the forum - not because I'm unfamiliar with "self help" resources like Google - but rather because I've learned that quite often it's all to easy to end up with the
right
answer to the
wrong
question and end up not having gained the knowledge I was looking for. The value that this forum brings is the insight that many of the old salts include in the answers.

 

 

Very true, which is why I never diss a legitimate question. Now when the question is a statement of incorrect fact, and is argumentative, then the answer is generally in that context.

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A fast, dirty, and inaccurate method is: 1 Amp is drawn for every 100 Watts. This is a ballpark formula for when you have to quickly do the math in your head.


Dennis

 

 

Assuming you are using US voltage;)

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