I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?

"hombrewdude" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?

It is called voltage drop. Your cable has resistance, so it uses up some of
the energy.

Toller wrote:
"hombrewdude" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?

It is called voltage drop. Your cable has resistance, so it uses up some of
the energy.




The reason why I bothered to check...

We are having storms high wind in my area now.
The lights flickered like the power was off.
But this one particular circuit was actually off (my fish tank)

Could I have had a voltage drop in my entire house, then compounded with
the fish tank draw cause it to go out?

hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet



Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?

nate

homebrewdude wrote:
....[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?


Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet

What size wire?

--

12 gage



dpb wrote:
homebrewdude wrote:
...[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?


Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet

What size wire?

--

I really messed that up...

I ran 20 amp on another project.

My basement and garage were on the same breaker.
I ran wire to isolate the basement from the garage.
Now they are on their own 15 breaker.

The basement service with the fish tank is probably pulling 10 amp at
full load.
Fish tank, lights and TV



homebrewdude wrote:
12 gage



dpb wrote:
homebrewdude wrote:
...[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?


Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet

What size wire?

--

"homebrewdude" wrote in message
news
Toller wrote:
"hombrewdude" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?

It is called voltage drop. Your cable has resistance, so it uses up some
of the energy.


The reason why I bothered to check...

We are having storms high wind in my area now.
The lights flickered like the power was off.
But this one particular circuit was actually off (my fish tank)

Could I have had a voltage drop in my entire house, then compounded with
the fish tank draw cause it to go out?

Most unlikely. The voltage drop is pretty constant, unless you have a large
motor go on and it spikes. But it can't trip a circuit breaker or damage a
circuit. (it can damage a motor, but that's another story.) More likely
you had some voltage transients hit you with the storm. They could easily
trip a GFCI or less likely a circuit breaker. I would look around for GFCIs
that have to be reset.

I don't think the distance had anything to do with the breaker
tripping. If it only happened once I would not sweat it.

I can't think of a scenario where a storm could trip an individual
breaker unless lightning directly hit something on the circuit.

A 5 amp load can cause that much drop over a long distance, but it is
within range. 12 gage wire on a 15 amp circuit gives you plenty of
breathing room.

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:28:27 -0500, homebrewdude
wrote:

I really messed that up...

I ran 20 amp on another project.

My basement and garage were on the same breaker.
I ran wire to isolate the basement from the garage.
Now they are on their own 15 breaker.

The basement service with the fish tank is probably pulling 10 amp at
full load.
Fish tank, lights and TV



homebrewdude wrote:
12 gage



dpb wrote:
homebrewdude wrote:
...[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?


Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet

What size wire?

--

The breaker never tripped.

The power dropped and lights went out, pumps turned off.

But all the other lights and TV stayed on.

All on one breaker, which did not trip.




Terry wrote:
I don't think the distance had anything to do with the breaker
tripping. If it only happened once I would not sweat it.

I can't think of a scenario where a storm could trip an individual
breaker unless lightning directly hit something on the circuit.

A 5 amp load can cause that much drop over a long distance, but it is
within range. 12 gage wire on a 15 amp circuit gives you plenty of
breathing room.

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:28:27 -0500, homebrewdude
wrote:

I really messed that up...

I ran 20 amp on another project.

My basement and garage were on the same breaker.
I ran wire to isolate the basement from the garage.
Now they are on their own 15 breaker.

The basement service with the fish tank is probably pulling 10 amp at
full load.
Fish tank, lights and TV



homebrewdude wrote:
12 gage



dpb wrote:
homebrewdude wrote:
...[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?

is this a very long run?

Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet
What size wire?

--

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:00:19 -0500, homebrewdude
wrote:

The breaker never tripped.

The power dropped and lights went out, pumps turned off.

But all the other lights and TV stayed on.

All on one breaker, which did not trip.

Voltage drop means the whole overall circuit will be drawing less
current , not more (due to the added resistance). If the voltage gets
too low, you might have problems with dim bulbs and a slow-to-heat
fish tank, but it sounds like you are not there yet.

If you continue to add load, you will be drawing more current and may
reach the tripping point of the breaker. (It may not be exactly 15
amps). The reason it trips can be a complex function involving time,
thermal delay, and factors like surge intensity. Residential circuits
are usually derated to 80% of the breaker rating for maximum
continuous load.

If the breaker is a GFCI breaker, it might trip for apparently no
reason at all. Usually, though it is caused by actual leakage to the
ground circuit. I've also had several trips due to nearby lightning
strikes, but the new GFCI's are supposed to be better for this.

homebrewdude wrote:
I really messed that up...

I ran 20 amp on another project.

My basement and garage were on the same breaker.
I ran wire to isolate the basement from the garage.
Now they are on their own 15 breaker.

The basement service with the fish tank is probably pulling 10 amp at
full load.
Fish tank, lights and TV


Voltage drop on a 15A circuit (#14 wire), 50 feet of Romex, is 3 volts.

--
bud--



homebrewdude wrote:
12 gage



dpb wrote:
homebrewdude wrote:
...[top posting repaired]... Nate Nagel wrote:
hombrewdude wrote:
I have one of these Kill A Watt meters.

In the socket it is showing 120volts
I put a load on it, that is about 5 amps. I would not think the
volts
should drop to 118?

Does this make sense?


is this a very long run?


Not really..

I ran 20 amp service about 50 feet

What size wire?

--

On Sep 11, 12:00?am, homebrewdude
wrote:
The breaker never tripped.

The power dropped and lights went out, pumps turned off.

But all the other lights and TV stayed on.

All on one breaker, which did not trip.

'

simple most homes are 220 volt breakers are fed from both sides of
power line.

A supply transformer up the street fried once knocking out one side of
the line, while the other side continued to work fine.

thats probably what happened to you, power company breaker on
transformner tripped knocking out that outlet and others you hadnt
noticed, then reset.......

its happened here once and can be very confusing