Common Reasons People Leave Linux

[Rob Williams]

I didn't realize that simply having both plugged in would affect anything... that's too bad. Makes you wonder why anyone "needs" a 1KW PSU at all. Your PC could easily get by on 800W, and there, you could have used both at the same time on the same circuit ;-)

 

[Kougar]

As Glider said it doesn't matter what size the PSU's are. They won't affect overall system power consumption beyond raising/lowering efficiency numbers. Therefore it's something with the circuit they are plugged into... since Merlin stated there are other devices plugged into the same circuit that's probably the issue. I'd carefully line test the circuit to see what the voltage/Hz readings were, if the outlet voltage number is extremely low then the circuit is badly overloaded or wired to begin with.

I run a 750 watt Quad Silencer and 1,000 watt UCP PSU, 24 monitor, NAS, and laptop on the same circuit (had no choice as two of my UPS devices had batteries finally fail). Both are Quadcore systems running an 8800GTS and GTX 260, and both do 24/7 Folding@home work on the CPU/GPU. I've taken care to route everything NOT on the single 1500VA UPS to a different circuit and have monitored the outlet voltages closely to ensure I wasn't overloading the socket.

As it is the outlet voltage is already lower than I'd like... I need to find new batteries for one of the UPS's so I can route it to another outlet. Remember the lower the outlet voltage, the more the PSU(s) must work to power the system, and the lower the PSU efficiency numbers will be.

 

[Rob Williams]

As Glider said it doesn't matter what size the PSU's are. They won't affect overall system power consumption beyond raising/lowering efficiency numbers. Therefore it's something with the circuit they are plugged into... since Merlin stated there are other devices plugged into the same circuit that's probably the issue. I'd carefully line test the circuit to see what the voltage/Hz readings were, if the outlet voltage number is extremely low then the circuit is badly overloaded or wired to begin with.

I run a 750 watt Quad Silencer and 1,000 watt UCP PSU, 24 monitor, NAS, and laptop on the same circuit (had no choice as two of my UPS devices had batteries finally fail). Both are Quadcore systems running an 8800GTS and GTX 260, and both do 24/7 Folding@home work on the CPU/GPU. I've taken care to route everything NOT on the single 1500VA UPS to a different circuit and have monitored the outlet voltages closely to ensure I wasn't overloading the socket.

As it is the outlet voltage is already lower than I'd like... I need to find new batteries for one of the UPS's so I can route it to another outlet. Remember the lower the outlet voltage, the more the PSU(s) must work to power the system, and the lower the PSU efficiency numbers will be.

Here's a new question, and forgive me since I know nothing on the subject. Are circuits on a per-room basis, or per-socket basis? Because I realized I also have two 1000W PSUs running in the same room without issue, but in two different sockets (it's a small room, so I'd assume that they'd be on the same circuit).

 

[Glider]

It depends on how your circuits are built. Common practice (and regulations in Belgium) states that you should spread the sockets on 1 breaker over different rooms.

Also, in Belgium the circuit breakers are 16A, on 230V (in ideal conditions) they should be able to deliver 3600W of power to all of their sockets combined.

 

[Merlin]

Okay, the way this circuit is set up is, 8 outlets on one circuit ( truly not meant for a computer command center ) 4 in living room, 3 in front bedroom and one in dining room. One computer in front bedroom, one computer in living room. Front bedroom has two printers, network server, 9450 quad machine, 24" monitor, VOIP modem, Fax machine, wireless N DLink router. cordless phone and cell phone charger, all on UPS battery backup system.
Living room has Plasma TV, cable box, Surround system, i7 water cooled computer, 25.5 Asus monitor on another UPS battery backup.
I have pretty well loaded the circuit.
What I really need to do is to seperate the circuits into three and there would be no problem.
I would need to change out the circuit box to add circuits to get the balance I need or maybe a daughter box off the main would be better. Most circuits are for temporary use but these I have set up now are on 24/7.
With all the math, I have to shut down both computers just to vaccuum...LOL
That's why I can't add a 3rd computer in the area and still hardwire the network

 

[Kougar]

Rob, at least US-side it depends on who wired your house, more often than not. The typical US home will have one large room or two small rooms on one line to the circuit box. Wiring code have changed numerous times, however, so plenty of homes built before the changes use old code wiring standards, assuming the builder didn't build under spec as is more commonly done than realized. (Heard of aluminum wiring, instead of copper? I heard it was done in Canada and elsewhere!) Really old homes could either just have bad wiring that's old and failing, or was wired for a different, non-electronic era and therefore not designed for the loads today's house uses.

To be clear, in my post I was specifically meaning to the socket itself, even on the same circuit it's most common to overload at the wall socket. Just testing the sockets in one room and comparing them to the one socket everything is plugged into can show you a difference in line voltage, which is obviously a warning sign that the load on that socket needs to be distributed more evenly with the others.