I'm really curious about 250v.. I understand almost all PC power supplies can take anything from 100-264v and 50-60hz frequency without no problems and adjust automatically. On my circuit breaker box (uses 1 inch square d breakers), I have 2 empty slots left (they are adjacent to each other). My AC power is normally 110-118v depending on load according to my 2 kill a watts. Is there some sort of circuit breaker I can put in to make it double the voltage (calling it 250v, but its probably less)? Right now I'm pulling 19A + an unknown amount from a 20A 115v breaker, and I'm worried that I'll trip it or burn something out. I kind of want to reliably be able to pull 4000-5000 watts without being in danger of frying any wires or breakers or anything.
Also, I noticed my cords are pretty warm/hot. I got about 1125 watts going through a 14 guage cord on a surge protector/multi outlet/whatever you call them, and it's pretty hot. Assuming the multi outlet can also accept 250v (which it probably cant, not the correct plugin) and I run the same amount of watts on 250v, would the cord be cooler to the touch? Only ask since I heard less amps going through a cord means less heat.
Will running 250v and subsequently lower amps compared to 110v mean less lost power? I know PC power supplies like to have a higher input power for efficiency, just wondering if there will be other places for power to be leaked in the form of heat, such as cords, circuit breaker, outlets, etc
Sorry if I'm talking like a noob, I don't know how to describe the situation correctly. Also sorry for asking so many questions. I just feel I need to reliably supply more (and better) power to my rigs. drawing 2100 watts from a 15A 115v sockets sure feels wrong.. even though the circuit breaker was switched with a 20A so it doesnt trip so easily.
I've got just the thing. I built myself a higher-voltage distribution system, although I spent too much on it by buying everything at retail instead of ordering it all over the internet for cheaper. It consists of the following components:Also, I noticed my cords are pretty warm/hot. I got about 1125 watts going through a 14 guage cord on a surge protector/multi outlet/whatever you call them, and it's pretty hot. Assuming the multi outlet can also accept 250v (which it probably cant, not the correct plugin) and I run the same amount of watts on 250v, would the cord be cooler to the touch? Only ask since I heard less amps going through a cord means less heat.
Will running 250v and subsequently lower amps compared to 110v mean less lost power? I know PC power supplies like to have a higher input power for efficiency, just wondering if there will be other places for power to be leaked in the form of heat, such as cords, circuit breaker, outlets, etc
Sorry if I'm talking like a noob, I don't know how to describe the situation correctly. Also sorry for asking so many questions. I just feel I need to reliably supply more (and better) power to my rigs. drawing 2100 watts from a 15A 115v sockets sure feels wrong.. even though the circuit breaker was switched with a 20A so it doesnt trip so easily.
Raco modular metal boxes - you can remove the sides and bolt them together.
P&S Legrand plugs - chop the end off of your existing cords an bolt these on. 6-15P for 15 amps at 250V.
20 amp 250V outlets - HD doesn't carry 15A versions, but that's not a problem since it will work with both 15 and 20 amp plugs.
Sectional wall plates - 2 of these, they go on each end. HD doesn't have them.
Sectional wall plates - 4 of these, they go in the middle. HD doesn't have these either.
20A 250V 3-pin twistlock connector - L6-20P P&S Legrand.
25 feet of SJOOW 12AWG 3 conductor cable - Cerrowire.
It looks like this:
You mentioned you have a Square-D panel. Likely, it is a QO type home load center, so you would need this breaker to fill those 2 spots: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbm16Z684/R-100032386/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053
In regards to why you would want to use it - yes, higher voltage means less heating of the wire because of the lower amperage. As a rule of thumb, you can double the voltage to get half the amps. In practice however, computer powre supplies tend to be a few percent more efficient at higher voltage, so you would actually be using less than half the amps at exactly double the voltage. The greater efficiency will directly result in fewer watts being used, although the actual reduction will be fairly small and may or may not be worth the switchover in terms of payback and profitability.
Generally, a little cord heating isn't a major issue, but if it feels hot to the touch, I would start to get worried. Additionally, mining is a continuous load, so you should only be using 80% of the breaker rating as per Code. 15 x 120V = 1800 watts per 15 amp breaker at full power, and 80% of that would be 1800 x 0.8 = 1440 watts continuously. If you switched to a 20 amp 240 volt breaker, the calculations would be like this: 20 x 240V = 4800 watts full power rating, and then 4800 watts x 0.8 = 3840 watts for a continuous load, as per the Code de-rating.
I don't know how close your panel is to your mining operation, but I would not recommend that you use your existing wiring with a new breaker. If it has a 15A 120V breaker on it now, it is likely 14 AWG, which is too small for an upgrade. That's one of the reasons I built my power strip with a 25 foot cable. Additionally, you could replace my 12AWG SJ cord with some 10AWG of almost any type, and switch to a 30A breaker, but this would probably be a Code violation since each of the outlets is rated for 20A max, not 30A. If you wanted to go 30A at 250V, you would probably want to start over with a commercial PDU and special 250V IEC connectors, instead of my homebrewed setup.
Anyways, I can offer this power strip to you for about half of what it cost me to build, which would be about $75. You might be able to match that by ordering all the parts on eBay or somewhere instead of buying them at Home Depot.
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