Plan to add new circuit for folding farm, advise needed.

[LandShark]

I'm planning to add more juice to my basement folding farm since I basically maxed out the capacity and keep triggering the breaker (sometimes even when open the garage!!).

now, I'm wondering how much of the power do I need in order to power 6-8 folder (future proofed too, e.g. G80/R600/Kentfield/etc.)?? how do the measure? in amp?

I have no idea about electricity at all.....

 

[pscout]

when i added circuits to my old circuit breaker i had no more space so i put in some replacement breakers which gave me 2 1/2 width breakers in the place of 1 old one ... but they are limited to 15A.

On 15A safe load is 1440 watts.

Watts per rig varies a bunch but on minimal VC boost from stock for OC i would think budgeting 200-250 W per rig will do it, possibly including a GPU.

Assuming you have a modern breaker, and open slots for additional breakers, I would go the 20A circuit route which I think is around 1800 W safe load. Use 12 gauge wire with 20 A ( instead of 14 ga you can use on a 15 A circuit).

1 20 A circuit should be enuf for 6 rigs and maybe 8.

If you are going to be laying the circuits to just 1 point, lay 2 circuits ( or more ) at the same time since the extra work and cost will be minimal. Use 12 ga wire and you can run them as 15 or 20 A.

If you have breaker box limits like me and can only use 15A breakers then 14 guage wire is cheaper.

I think you can also run 2 cuircuits through a single 3 conductor cable like you would use for running a 240V circuit ...this may reduce the work to lay the cables. In this config I believe you need to tie the 2 breakers together since they would share a common neutral and so there is a bit of a loss of flexibility vs 2 independant circuits. Use 14 ga for 15A and 12 ga for 20 A.

I am sure the master electricians will wade in here and correct whatever i got wrong.

 

[Silver]

Exactly what I did last month and added a 20a (thus two 20a's) to handle tv, stereo and ten computers and their supporting hardware. Can tell you that the same set up with one 20a resulted in tripped breaker if the vac was hooked up and only 8 comps (oc'd). Now no more trouble and I feel better about things.

 

[LandShark]

so, IF breaker supported, the best way for me is to add another 20A circuit right? and can I have it route to support certain wall outlet for I can have my farm plug only to that particular walljack(s)?

my goal is to have a dedicated circuit(s) to be able to handle up to 10 machines (again, future proof R600/G80/Kentfield in mind too) w/out having to worry where do I plug in the vac cleaner or even the hair dyer.

as of right now, even just a hair dyer will trip the breaker and my GF is started to complain..... and I'm afraid to fire up the other two x1900xtx that is sitting on my desk....

oh, tried to have a electrician to come check it out next week. what kinda cost should I budget it??

 

[Joe Camel]

ugg

ive had the Vac-cleaner trip the breaker B4 but only once.

although 4x rigs downstairs and 1x up is NO 10+ rigs ...


good luck

sorry no advice here, im "handy" but not THAT handy around the house.

 

[ihrsetrdr]

Here's a link to a thread where we discussed adding circuits awhile back.

Ah, here's the other thread I was thinking of, also.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

A 20A is the prime option and PScout is on the money. One other option is a 30A circuit fo future planning of some major power with 10G wire but it's a btch to run due to the stiff wire. A 30A would double as a place for plugging in major shop tools, table saws, heaters etc. But without the farm of course.

 

[LandShark]

tks for all the advise guys!!

 

[ssjwizard]

adding a single 20amp circuit in addition to the current one is probably the easiest. however you can possibly ask him to replace the old circuit with 20a and run heavier wire as it shouldnt be to much additional work if hes allready going to be in there. just depends how much 14ga is run off the current circuit.

 

[davekusa]

****word of caution***

Make sure your wiring will support that kind of amperage.
The breaker is there for a reason. Hate to see your breaker not trip and your wiring act as a breaker (fire). Most houses are just fine but you never know when some unlicensed electricion added circuits to a recroom in the basement on the cheep with thin wire.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

****word of caution***

Make sure your wiring will support that kind of amperage.
The breaker is there for a reason. Hate to see your breaker not trip and your wiring act as a breaker (fire). Most houses are just fine but you never know when some unlicensed electrician added circuits to a recroom in the basement on the cheep with thin wire.

If he sticks with the gauges we listed he'll be fine. Just never mix gauges in a circuit. Also don't use the push in holes on the back of a socket, screw the wires on. Those push ins are a potential fire hazard.

 

[LandShark]

adding a single 20amp circuit in addition to the current one is probably the easiest. however you can possibly ask him to replace the old circuit with 20a and run heavier wire as it shouldnt be to much additional work if hes allready going to be in there. just depends how much 14ga is run off the current circuit.

good idea! while I'm at it, why not upgrade the old one too for better future proof and probably won't cost much more.

****word of caution***

Make sure your wiring will support that kind of amperage.
The breaker is there for a reason. Hate to see your breaker not trip and your wiring act as a breaker (fire). Most houses are just fine but you never know when some unlicensed electricion added circuits to a recroom in the basement on the cheep with thin wire.

tks! will make sure that!!!

 

[Sleepy_Steve]

****word of caution***

Make sure your wiring will support that kind of amperage.
The breaker is there for a reason. Hate to see your breaker not trip and your wiring act as a breaker (fire). Most houses are just fine but you never know when some unlicensed electricion added circuits to a recroom in the basement on the cheep with thin wire.

Yeah, that was the only concern i had as well. But of the gauges using his 15 amp circuts will take 20 amp... then he should be in the clear.

The closest ive come is when i have a lan with 14-17 PC's spread over 3x 15 amp circuts in my basement. And i dont think ive ever thrown a breaker. Im kind of supprised youre having such a bad issue.

 

[pscout]

Yeah, that was the only concern i had as well. But of the gauges using his 15 amp circuts will take 20 amp... then he should be in the clear.

The closest ive come is when i have a lan with 14-17 PC's spread over 3x 15 amp circuts in my basement. And i dont think ive ever thrown a breaker. Im kind of supprised youre having such a bad issue.

The load 1 rig puts on the circuit can vary a lot ... the lowest for any of my currently retired p4 dual folding OC'ed northwoods is about 140W ... single hdd, a few fans, minimal video, no monitor. Presslers OC'ed are 165W-200+ depending how much v you give them and fsb. Add 60+W per OC'ed x1900 folding. Conroes are pretty good at 150-185W on the ones i have measured. I had one prescott 551 that oc'ed pulled more wattage than on oc'ed smithfield Add a few monitors, especially big crt's ....

Adding a 1000-1200 watt hairdryer to anything but a lights only 15A circuit will likely pop the breaker ... as my son knows only too well when my daughter plugs one into his comp's circuit.

When i added circuits for my basement farm room i put 4 15A circuits in with 1 GFCI+1 normal outlet per double outlet box.
My wire run to the breaker panel is only 15' and running cable was simple since i already had the drywall off the furnace room ceiing where all my electric cabling runs.

When i did it i removed a bunch of dead bx cables leftover from when the house had its own well/pump, electric water tank etc. I only had to drill a few new holes through the joist's to run the cables. Even tho the original wiring is 50+ years old, at least is was all copper and grounded. But i did redo some hacked addon stuff the original owner did.

 

[aftermath]

You do make things hard for your selves over the pond. Here we have 240 volts and a nice 30amp ring-main can handle 7200w we have 4 in our house 1 for barn 2 downstairs and 1 upstairs.

you don't actually connect a hairdryer to the lights circuit do you? here light circuits are 5amps.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

You do make things hard for your selves over the pond. Here we have 240 volts and a nice 30amp ring-main can handle 7200w we have 4 in our house 1 for barn 2 downstairs and 1 upstairs.

you don't actually connect a hairdryer to the lights circuit do you? here light circuits are 5amps.

Generally our light circuits are 10-15A at 120 which would be 5-7.5A at 240 to cover the same wattage. Wall socket which are similar to your ring circuits are normally 15A or 20A. It just happens that some electricians wire lights into the same circuit as wall outlets. Back in the 1950-60s we had outlets on bathroom fixtures which was a hazard all it's own.
I might consider going 240 since all PSUs take 240/120. That would beat a split circuit with no neutral return. The problem is getting UPSs that are rated at 240V here is not cheap.

 

[aftermath]

I would have presumed that all UPS would be equipped with active / auto sensing PFC by now. if so you could just log in to it the first time you turn it on with no equipment attached and set the output to 240?
I was just thinking that with 2 lights and a hair dryer you would trip your breaker... as well as it being rather nuts to have a plug on that loop. (although our phone is shhh) <-- scratch that the phone is in a plug that was moved from the top and other side of a wall. (was a fly zapper)

 

[Hack30]

you really need to figure out how much load will be on each circuit and then you can figure out how many you will need

watts/volts=amps
watts=amps*volts

12awg wire 20amp circuit
watts=20amps*120volts=2400watts total

80% of load= 1920watts need room for surges/startups

14awg wire 15 amp circuit
watts=15amps*120volts=1800watts total

80% of load= 1440watts some things draw more during cycling/startup



find out if there are any special electrical codes for your area
find out if you truely have space in you panel by taking off the cover
some covers have knock outs on them but when you take the cover off there are not any spaces left



pm if you have any questions