"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote in message
...
True thin client workstations are far less power hungry than their
larger PC cousins. Also, keep in mind that even though a desktop PC
may have a 400-watt power supply, its maximum power draw is likely to
be less than half that.

Here's the scoop according to eWeek:

"While a PC can consume as much as 220 watts of power, a thin client
such as Sun's Sun Ray 2FS consumes less than 8 watts. Even a thin
client with a processor and DDR (double data rate) RAM such as HP's HP
Compaq t5720 consumes about 30 watts or less."

Source:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1958315,00.asp

If the accompanying monitors are LCD flat screens, add an additional
30 to 60-watts per workstation; if, however, they are of the CRT
variety, you might bump that number up to 100 or 120-watts.

One other thing to note: if these thin clients are, in fact, older
generation or "obsolete" PCs that have been "reborn" as thin clients,
150-watts per workstation may be a more reasonable estimate.

So with that in mind, total wattage could fall anywhere from as little
as 150 to 200-watts ( 2.0 amps) at the low end, to perhaps as high as
800 or 900-watts ( 8.0 amps), with the monitor type accounting for
much of this spread. Even at 900-watts, this load would represent
less than half the circuit's rated capacity; a 20-amp circuit would
seem more than sufficient.

Cheers,
Paul

Well personally I would go by the wattage of the power supply, not what a
magazine article tells me, but I don't manage thin clients in my data
center.

I suspose you're probably more realistic here. If it were me I'd break it
out into at least 2 15 Amp circuits - not knowing anything at all about his
situation other than what little was provided. At least then you could
comfortably put something else on the circuit - like lights, a small fridge,
network routers, fans for the room, a radio, creature comforts.


On 30 Jan 2007 18:12:33 -0800, "T.J." wrote:

Can anybody tell me if 3 computers are too much for a 20 amp circuit?
Actually it is 3 monitors a printer "not laser" and 3 thin clients if
anybody knows what a thin client is. it is about the size of a book
and is not a full tower so I assume it consumes alot less power then a
full computer tower.