[Noisebridge-discuss] Computer Equipment in an old home?

[Adrian Chadd]

... turn-on current.

TThe rush of turn-on current on a strip of electronics is not negligible.

I'd also be surprised if ye olde house wiring is actually safe at
drawing 15A. You may find it's actually not safe to drive it at that
for very long.

Combine that with all the myriad ways that these things are hooked up
behind the scenes - American houses seem have this habit of having
separate wiring for lights-that-terminate-on-wall-sockets versus the
occasional high-powered wall socket for something more than a light.
So it can all be quite deceptive. Your light circuit may not really
terminate a full 15A, let alone the higher rush when all your devices
turn on.

Add in all the possible damage and failure cases with that wire, with
say weather and other environmental effects, and there's quite a lot
of potential "wtf?" going on that a fuse just won't tell you about.
And that's the kind of thing that can start fires and/or kill people
in other creative ways.

Circuit breakers can detect and cut off these transient current
rushes. Fuses in mains wiring tend not to. I'd personally upgrade
everything to circuit breakers. If you start having some intermittent
circuit breaker resets, you can be sure you've done something stupid
or there's some transient dodgy wiring somewhere.



-adrian
(I don't fuck around when it comes to mains electricity.)

On 9 July 2013 17:40, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:
> Hi Brian,
>
> I agree with what Gopi says - use a kill-a-watt to measure how much power
> you're using if you're afraid of overloading the wiring.
>
> but instead of that, you can simply get a power strip and plug everything
> into that.  A power strip has its own circuit breaker (15 amps) and that
> will trip before you blow a fuse.
>
> If your whole room is running from an extension cord from somewhere else,
> use a power strip (with its own circuit breaker - they all have one) where
> that extension cord plugs in.  You can also use a GFCI adaptor like this:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/GFCI-Outlet-Adapters-Single-Adapter/dp/B001OE3JHC
>
> That will get you a lot of protection.  If you take too much power in your
> room, you might pop the breaker in a power strip, or you might blow a fuse,
> but it shouldn't cause a problem otherwise.
>
> The thing is, most modern electronics don't use very much power.  You can
> have ten desktop computers and LCD monitors on one 15 amp circuit (1500
> watts total).  A cellphone charger is up to 5 watts - you can have 300 of
> those!
>
> All this goes out the window if you try a toaster, electric oven, or space
> heater.  Forget it.  Also those big hot halogen lamps use a lot of power.
> But you can read the labels and do the math.
>
> If you want to preserve the wiring you have and keep it from messing up,
> just don't mess with it or allow things to flex.  The solid wires in the
> walls are not meant to move, they are stiff.  So if an outlet is loose and
> flops around, either tune it up or plug a power strip into it and screw the
> cord of the power strip to the wall, so it doesn't move things around.
>
> The fuses in your fuse box are fine.  This technology is very reliable,
> moreso than many circuit breakers!  A fuse is very unlikely to fail to fail,
> if you know what i mean, which means it will protect you.  Of course if a
> fuse has a penny stuck under it (someone tried to save the cost of a new
> fuse) then there is no protection.  The screw-in fuses were designed to
> allow you to put a lightbulb in place of a fuse to diagnose shorts. When the
> bulb stopped lighting up, there was no more current draw and you could
> install a new fuse.
>
> long story short, it's not the number of things you have, it's the total
> power draw, which will be limited by the fuse and any power strips on the
> way.  And don't let that old wiring move around or it might break.
>
> -jake
>
>
>
> Brian Perez wrote:
> Hey all, since SF has a lot of old buildings I'm sure someone could help me
> with this problem I'm facing.  I have an old home (circa 1930s) and all the
> wiring is the old copper cloth-covered kind and there's BARELY an outlet in
> the house.  My room has no outlet; my power is pulled through the window to
> the back room and up to the light socket.  BAD, I know.
>
> Being the tech guy I am I'm starting to run out of sockets with the
> extensions I have.  There's basically three surge protectors daisy changed
> to power everything in my room.
>
> What are my options to make this more secure and safe? (And potentially add
> more sockets)
>
> Thanks!
> Brian
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss