Author

Topic: Safe to plug in two PSUs into one outlet? (Read 1395 times)

legendary
Activity: 4256
Merit: 8551
'The right to privacy matters'
October 09, 2015, 10:34:31 AM
#21
If you have a night-light or lamp, you can kill a breaker and then use it to find every outlet that has no power. Which breakers handle your ceiling fans and lights should be apparent without additional tools.

But even a basic DMM is a very handy tool to have around. Test indoor electric, test batteries, test your car, check miners and PSUs and all sorts of stuff.

basic DMM


http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Digital-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Ohmmeter/dp/B00B7CS3UY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444404854&sr=8-1&keywords=dmm


basic outlet tester

http://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Outlet-Tester/dp/B000RUL2UU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1444405048&sr=8-3&keywords=circuit+tester



A plug in radio is helpful power  off  a circuit and radio turns off.

A lamp is helpful.

a wife and or girlfriend that sits by the light  is helpful.

legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
October 09, 2015, 10:33:05 AM
#20
If you have a night-light or lamp, you can kill a breaker and then use it to find every outlet that has no power. Which breakers handle your ceiling fans and lights should be apparent without additional tools.

But even a basic DMM is a very handy tool to have around. Test indoor electric, test batteries, test your car, check miners and PSUs and all sorts of stuff.
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
October 09, 2015, 10:15:39 AM
#19
Very helpful advice everyone, thanks.  You were right.  Not a good idea to run them both on the same outlet.  Going to run each miner on different circuits.  It is a subpanel btw for those who asked. What is the meter called that I need to test the circuits and map them out? How much do they cost?  Thanks!

link is to give you a idea, check out ebay or  Amazon you might find  more for the money there on meters.

Digital Multimeter

http://www.sears.com/tools-electricians-tools-multi-meters/b-1219254101?sid=ISx20140609xNonBrandBing&psid=21x3816779&knshCrid=2371165891&k_clickID=_kenshoo_clickid_&s_kwcid=AL!4531!10!2371165891!26451604850&ef_id=VhfaAAAABI2ZCInE:20151009151512:s
hero member
Activity: 546
Merit: 501
October 09, 2015, 09:49:21 AM
#18
Very helpful advice everyone, thanks.  You were right.  Not a good idea to run them both on the same outlet.  Going to run each miner on different circuits.  It is a subpanel btw for those who asked. What is the meter called that I need to test the circuits and map them out? How much do they cost?  Thanks!
legendary
Activity: 4256
Merit: 8551
'The right to privacy matters'
October 09, 2015, 09:03:34 AM
#17
I will toss in more on this.  To the op looks like it is borderline too much by 200 watts.

When you run your gear you could downclock it a bit. 

 say an s-5 at 1000gh not 1155gh 3 of them would be 1530 watts not 1770 watts.

Also when you run near top of power there is a longtime effect that can take 20 or 30 days to show up.

The heat from max run can stay in the house. Slowly warming all the powerlines.

I ran 22  gpus from Sept 2012 to april 2013  my home got warm everywhere as I was pulling 6 to 7kwatts.  My heating bill was zero.  But when April came around the heat was too much and I reduced to 5kwatts via under clock.  I then sold off all the gpus. and got asics.

So if you run this gear for about a month near the limits stuff may happen I suggest downclock of the miners to play it safe.
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
October 09, 2015, 05:13:35 AM
#16
 @ OP

1. it may be ok to run 1750 watts off one non decated 110 15 amp if you don't push it, try not to . spend it out
2. map  out your Electricital system not just for mining know what you have
3. no one line is safer over the other they all can kick you on your but, be carefull 110 or 220
4.  surge protector can help but in some cases do nothing
5. i think this was missed  what is the 1000 psu  is it a server PSU  atx etc it may only do 900 or less on a 110 line look in to that to .
6.above all be safe don't burn down were you live at .
 
I guess they all mean and  are saying .

hope you can plug it in some how were you live and  feel safe and have some mining fun.


GL  
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1030
October 09, 2015, 04:07:17 AM
#15
I have a 1000watt PSU and a 750 W PSU I want to start running.  Is it safe to plug them both into the same one wall outlet?  Is there any danger of overheating or fire and should I use a surge protector?  Thanks.

 If it is a 110VAC outlet and you are running those PS at or very close to full capasity, NO.

 Most electric outlets in the US are rated for 15 amps TOTAL (not per outlet, total for the entire socket), and the circuit they are on is usually has wiring sized for a 15 amp max load.

 If those are 90% efficiency at full load, you are pulling over 1900 watts and over 17 amps from the wall with them at full load.

 A surge protector does NOTHING for that issue.

 *IF* you aren't running them anywhere near full capasity, or if it is a 220vac outlet, it should be OK.


  Keep in mind that server and ATX power supply "power rating" is on the OUTPUT of the supply, NOT the input.


 Another thing to keep in mind is that a power company does not guarenttee a constant voltage - your wall voltage WILL change over time, depending on the load other folks are putting on the power company and how that load is distributed. It's best to stay within NEC specified limits as those limits take that factor (and many others) into account.

 Do NOT assume 120 volts, that's a higher-than-normal voltage on a power circuit - 117vac is the "nominal" but 110 is COMMON and sometimes as low as 100vac in a mild "brownout" condition.

 Electric circuits, if you stay within the RATED capasity on amperage, CAN be run safely 100% 24/7 - that's part of what the NEC takes into account - but you do get higher i2r losses when you do so, better to run them a bit under capasity when you can.

 That 50 amp breaker is probably the "mains" input breaker for the whole panel, if you're in an apartment or your in an older mobile home park, and will be your TOTAL limit of power the whole panal has comming into it.
 The wide 15 amp breaker will be for a 220 circuit probably intended for an electric water heater, electric clothes drier, HIGH capasity A/C outlet, or some such.


 The only time I've seen 20 amp circuits in US houses were for circuits leading to a clothes washer or to the kitchen (kitchen appliances can often soak 8-10 amps each and most recent kitchens are assumed to have a few such appliances, like toasters and microwaves and coffee pots etc), or if the house was custom-wired at some point. 15 amp circuits are the norm.


Quote
In the US there should never be any 110 lines allowed for safely reason

 220 isn't any safer than 110. Both will electrocute you - in fact, 220 is a hair LESS safe but the difference isn't enough to matter on practical terms.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1000
October 09, 2015, 03:55:57 AM
#14
i am not an expert on power outlets but to me it sounds a little bit like a fire hazard

I do not see a big breaker at the top.  So I'm hoping this is a subpanel.   It's common in some apartments if they don't give them a lot of power.   The main is somewhere else.    

I have 2 mains and 1 subpanal myself.   One for mining area on main, other main is for house, and subpanal is where I mined before new area.  

But if it's a subpanal we can hope the main looks much cleaner, and is up to code.   The main could trip and turn off entire subpanal.  But guess we will have to wait till op comes back to know.
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 501
2local[IEO] - https://2local.io/
October 09, 2015, 03:49:38 AM
#13
i am not an expert on power outlets but to me it sounds a little bit like a fire hazard
full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
October 09, 2015, 03:42:00 AM
#12
Hi, this is probably safe, but please do this:

-Figure out how many Amps/Volts you have available on that circuit/outlet.

To figure out how much power draw a circuit can handle you use this formula: Watt = Amper*Voltage

Example: You got a 15A circut, on 120V. - 15*120=1800
It can handle 1800W at 100% load.

You should not run a circut on 100% load 24/7, it's a fire hazard. The magic number is 70% load when running 24/7 (I don't know where I got this number from, but I'm going with it)

If this is an old house you should check that the electricity cables installed in the house are up to par. In Norway you are required to have 2,5mm3 cables, for anything above 16A. But we're running on 230V, so I'm not quite sure how this translates.

I guess the outlets are connected to each other in series, these connection points are generally weak points when drawing a lot of power. If it's a bad/lose connection in one of these outlets, this could happend:

legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1000
October 09, 2015, 03:09:03 AM
#11
That's a good point, make sure it's not a 15A circuit. I tend to forget those even exist, but most of the places I've lived were either built or renovated by me or my family so everything was 12AWG 20A circuits minimum. The only circuits I've ever run heavy mining on I ran myself, even in the house before everything moved to the shop. If you're on a 120V 15A circuit I'd suggest running only one of those PSUs on it and find another circuit for the other one.

I also ran an S4 on an extension cord not long ago - well, an S4+. But it was an extension cord I made myself from some nice 12AWG, and it was plugged into a 208V outlet, so...

Thanks.  I took a picture of my circuit breakers.  Do the numbers on them mean anything to you?  One of them says 15 on the handle.  If that is a 15A circuit how do I safely turn my miners off and then test the circuits to see which one that is?



Do you live in a apartment?   I'm wondering if that is a subpanal it's possibly looking like.     When looking I don't see a major switch for entire thing a main normally has.   Unless I'm missing it from the dust.

If you are in a apartment go to landlord show that picture.  I suspect it's just as dusty behind, I'm almost afraid what's behind.   But if it is an apartment asking landlord to send a electrician to look at it and clean it up is needed.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1068
October 09, 2015, 12:58:22 AM
#10
The first thing I did when I moved into my last house was go around with a meter and test every outlet and light fixture in basically the way described above. I ended up drawing a map of both floors with everything labeled based on the breaker. The house had been built in at least two parts separated by multiple decades and had seen some renovations on both floors, so the wiring was fairly labyrinthine. I ended up taking a full two days rewiring in the basement because nothing made sense and looked like a drunken spiderweb.

If you do test outlets and such, make sure to write down what you find out because the layouts may not be intuitive and it's likely you or someone else will someday want to know that information.

Yes, the number on the handle is the circuit's current rating. It's best to not run more than 80% continuous load.

And i forget to point out what seemed obvious at the time; You will most likely have multiple outlets per breaker. You have very few breakers so it stand to reason, unless you only have 2 outlets in your whole place, that many of them will be linked to the same breaker.

Hence lights. If you have a multimeter you could also check plugs one by one and also take note of voltage. If your voltage is not 120v but lower to 110v, your limit per breaker is even lower.
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
October 09, 2015, 12:52:40 AM
#9
The first thing I did when I moved into my last house was go around with a meter and test every outlet and light fixture in basically the way described above. I ended up drawing a map of both floors with everything labeled based on the breaker. The house had been built in at least two parts separated by multiple decades and had seen some renovations on both floors, so the wiring was fairly labyrinthine. I ended up taking a full two days rewiring in the basement because nothing made sense and looked like a drunken spiderweb.

If you do test outlets and such, make sure to write down what you find out because the layouts may not be intuitive and it's likely you or someone else will someday want to know that information.

Yes, the number on the handle is the circuit's current rating. It's best to not run more than 80% continuous load.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1068
October 09, 2015, 12:43:30 AM
#8
That's a good point, make sure it's not a 15A circuit. I tend to forget those even exist, but most of the places I've lived were either built or renovated by me or my family so everything was 12AWG 20A circuits minimum. The only circuits I've ever run heavy mining on I ran myself, even in the house before everything moved to the shop. If you're on a 120V 15A circuit I'd suggest running only one of those PSUs on it and find another circuit for the other one.

I also ran an S4 on an extension cord not long ago - well, an S4+. But it was an extension cord I made myself from some nice 12AWG, and it was plugged into a 208V outlet, so...

Thanks.  I took a picture of my circuit breakers.  Do the numbers on them mean anything to you?  One of them says 15 on the handle.  If that is a 15A circuit how do I safely turn my miners off and then test the circuits to see which one that is?



Well turn off your mining rig and all the stuff that doesn't like getting killed out of nowhere. Leave a light on every outlets. Then switch them off one by one, go figure out what turned off.

I think i see a 50 one in there? Wow, well i'd leave that one alone. Thats probably heating/oven/water tank or such.

Anyways i can't read that but read the writting, it should say what breaker is what.

Also... use air pressure or vacuum to remove some dust, geez xD
hero member
Activity: 546
Merit: 501
October 09, 2015, 12:40:36 AM
#7
That's a good point, make sure it's not a 15A circuit. I tend to forget those even exist, but most of the places I've lived were either built or renovated by me or my family so everything was 12AWG 20A circuits minimum. The only circuits I've ever run heavy mining on I ran myself, even in the house before everything moved to the shop. If you're on a 120V 15A circuit I'd suggest running only one of those PSUs on it and find another circuit for the other one.

I also ran an S4 on an extension cord not long ago - well, an S4+. But it was an extension cord I made myself from some nice 12AWG, and it was plugged into a 208V outlet, so...

Thanks.  I took a picture of my circuit breakers.  Do the numbers on them mean anything to you?  One of them says 15 on the handle.  If that is a 15A circuit how do I safely turn my miners off and then test the circuits to see which one that is?

legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
October 09, 2015, 12:25:34 AM
#6
That's a good point, make sure it's not a 15A circuit. I tend to forget those even exist, but most of the places I've lived were either built or renovated by me or my family so everything was 12AWG 20A circuits minimum. The only circuits I've ever run heavy mining on I ran myself, even in the house before everything moved to the shop. If you're on a 120V 15A circuit I'd suggest running only one of those PSUs on it and find another circuit for the other one.

I also ran an S4 on an extension cord not long ago - well, an S4+. But it was an extension cord I made myself from some nice 12AWG, and it was plugged into a 208V outlet, so...
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1000
October 09, 2015, 12:16:25 AM
#5
The outlet is probably rated for 15A. Whether that's 15A total or per socket I'm not sure. But 1000W and 750W on a 120V circuit is 14.6A. If you assume 90% efficiency it's 16.2A. Mind you that's at full output power. If you're not running them close to rated load, your AC draw is substantially less.

If you trust the wiring and you're not pushing the PSUs, probably okay. If it's an old crusty socket and you want to run full-tilt, not so much.

Trusting the wiring is something important.  If you have crap wiring that is a lot of power to put through it.   Wire can get hot if not right gauge.   I only made this mistake once in my "newbie" day's used a extension cord with a S4.  Seemed like decent quality never had a issue with it the wire got so warm it was hot to the touch and much longer it would have melted.  Ever since I check wire.

Do you have access to the circuit breaker to see amps on breaker?  Also do you know quality of job of wiring?  
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1068
October 09, 2015, 12:06:03 AM
#4
The outlet is probably rated for 15A. Whether that's 15A total or per socket I'm not sure. But 1000W and 750W on a 120V circuit is 14.6A. If you assume 90% efficiency it's 16.2A. Mind you that's at full output power. If you're not running them close to rated load, your AC draw is substantially less.

If you trust the wiring and you're not pushing the PSUs, probably okay. If it's an old crusty socket and you want to run full-tilt, not so much.

Thank you! 

Mind you at over 12A at the wall proper power bars (That you should be using) will notify you that the circuit is overloaded. If you're on 120v 15a breaker, you should stay at 1440w at the wall max.

If you're on 220v+ you will have absolutely no problem running both of these full tilt.

If they are 120v 15A, from experience mine usually trip after a while if they are running 14-15A.
hero member
Activity: 546
Merit: 501
October 08, 2015, 11:08:08 PM
#3
The outlet is probably rated for 15A. Whether that's 15A total or per socket I'm not sure. But 1000W and 750W on a 120V circuit is 14.6A. If you assume 90% efficiency it's 16.2A. Mind you that's at full output power. If you're not running them close to rated load, your AC draw is substantially less.

If you trust the wiring and you're not pushing the PSUs, probably okay. If it's an old crusty socket and you want to run full-tilt, not so much.

Thank you! 
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
October 08, 2015, 11:02:03 PM
#2
The outlet is probably rated for 15A. Whether that's 15A total or per socket I'm not sure. But 1000W and 750W on a 120V circuit is 14.6A. If you assume 90% efficiency it's 16.2A. Mind you that's at full output power. If you're not running them close to rated load, your AC draw is substantially less.

If you trust the wiring and you're not pushing the PSUs, probably okay. If it's an old crusty socket and you want to run full-tilt, not so much.
hero member
Activity: 546
Merit: 501
October 08, 2015, 10:55:34 PM
#1
I have a 1000watt PSU and a 750 W PSU I want to start running.  Is it safe to plug them both into the same one wall outlet?  Is there any danger of overheating or fire and should I use a surge protector?  Thanks.
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