I need some advice on circuits and the amount of load I can put on a 20 amp circuit.

It is my understanding (of course my knowledge is questionable at best ;) ) that a 20 amp circuit can safetly handle about 1900 watts. With that said, if I run a projector (AX100U) on a 20 amp circuit, can I run a receiver, Comcast cable box and a dvd player on the same circuit? Or should I just run a separate circuit for the projector?

I'm probably pushing it if I want to plug my 1100 watt popcorn machine on the same circuit. :D

Thanks.

Well, your math is good. 1920 watts is the maximum design load for a 20A circuit. Here is what I did in my AV cabinet:

Ignore the periods, I couldn't get the verticle thing off the left side when I posted...grrr I like excel and hate word processors...


Circuit #1:
.................................................|-----Switch---------PJ
20A breaker-------Brick Wall-----|
.................................................|------Always on outlets (8)

Circuit #2

20A breaker--------Brick Wall-----Switch-------Switched outlets (16)



Always on outlets: Dish receiver


Switched outlets: Audio receiver, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 HD add on, Oppo dvd player, transformer for in cabinet l.e.d. lighting, future space for amps, buttkickers etc....

In case you are not aware, the brick wall is probably the best consumer level surge suppressor money can buy, IMHO. We live on a ridge in the low hills of southern IN and have MEGA lighting problems. I just lost my driveway alarm last week! GRRRR. We loose at least one thing every spring. Slowly I'm getting my circuits protected and then things no longer die! APC---shunts the lightning onto ground which, if hooked to a phone or network cable...ouch! Since I've kicked APC away from protecting phone/network lines, no more problems with my telecom equipment. My APC shunted enough to the phone line to blow the telephone faceplate off of the wall!!! (the PC was ok though minus about the third fax modem)

You are probably wondering, what doof puts switches in a circuit like this?? Well, American consumers are impatient and would rather pay to keep circuits warm so they start up 2 seconds quicker than if they are cold. So, when no one is in my theater for a couple of days, there are no wasted electrons keeping circuits warm when I don't care if it takes 2 extra seconds to start up an amp.... I figure the extra $5 for the swich, box and wire will pay for itself in my mind since I'm not wasting a couple of watts per piece month after month after year....

Good luck!

Oh, #12 wire of course. This is the LAST house I will be gutting and I've always used #12 with 20A for all outlets and #14 with 15A for most lighting circuits.

joe

look at the back of each device, read its wattage, do the math. its that easy.


I need some advice on circuits and the amount of load I can put on a 20 amp circuit.

It is my understanding (of course my knowledge is questionable at best ;) ) that a 20 amp circuit can safetly handle about 1900 watts. With that said, if I run a projector (AX100U) on a 20 amp circuit, can I run a receiver, Comcast cable box and a dvd player on the same circuit? Or should I just run a separate circuit for the projector?

I'm probably pushing it if I want to plug my 1100 watt popcorn machine on the same circuit. :D

Thanks.

I have a RPTV (57 inch, tube), a five channel amp, a two channel amp, a single channel digital amp, a single channel tube amp, a preamp, a cable box, a replay, a squeezebox, a DVD/CD transport, a charging system for a digital-to-analog converter, and some other stuff (or is that it?), all on a single 20 amp circuit. I think the 1100 watt popcorn machine is what's going to kill you, because it probably draws 1100 watts while on. Meanwhile, I'm only currently using two channels of my five channel amp. Though the "rated wattage" of this amp is around 1100 watts, as I'm only using two channels of the amp, the actual wattage is much less.