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Av rack electricity and q's bout ups's

1642 Views 10 Replies 3 Participants Last post by j2048b, Feb 17, 2010

j2048b

Discussion Starter · Feb 10, 2010

Well I bought my first rack! 5-37-26, have not built it yet, but got questions first

I have 3-4 trip lite rack mount surge protectors and I also am putting in a mac mini along with a list of other items,

Questions:

I only have 1 set of plugs on the wall where I am putiing my rack, so does this mean I need to run more electrical plugs to thy wall somehow?

I want to put a ups in the bottom for my tv, computer, and receiver to all plug into and maybe a few other items but I am not sure since I only have the two plugs to plug it all in, how would I set this all up?

Can I plug a trip lite surge into another one or is that bad?

I also have a ma conditioner I believe it is what needs to be plugged into it?

I am a total newbee to this stuff but need help in this set up because I do not want to fry anything or anything to get fried!

Any help will be appreciated!

Thank you!

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Beemer533

· #2 · Feb 10, 2010

To answer if you have enough outlets we need to know the list of equipment you intend on using. For instance, a cable box doesn't draw much, but an amp will require more.

The main issue I see is that you say you want to use an UPS for for your TV, computer, and receiver and other stuff. The problem is the amps in the receiver will require quite a bit of power and will require a large UPS, not to mention drain the batteries quickly.

Is there a specific reason you want a UPS and not just a PCU? I see you already have an MA PCU. What is its rating?

I would just connect the rack mount power strips you have into the MA PCU. Of course this also depends on the capacity of the PCU and how much equipment you have!

Hopefully this will help get you started...

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budk

· #3 · Feb 11, 2010

If you only have 2 receptacles on your UPS you likely have a relatively small UPS, which would not be able to support all of that equipment.

I went for surge suppression rather than a battery backup.... I would only use a UPS on a computer so that no data would be lost.

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j2048b

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 11, 2010

Quote:
Originally Posted by budk /forum/post/18111736

If you only have 2 receptacles on your UPS you likely have a relatively small UPS, which would not be able to support all of that equipment.

I went for surge suppression rather than a battery backup.... I would only use a UPS on a computer so that no data would be lost.

What is surge suppresion?

Mine has like 4 plug in's for the ups part

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j2048b

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 11, 2010

@beemer533,

ps3

a few trip lite surge protects

Tripp Lite PDU1215

and the MAP PD-915R a ma conditioner (not sure on the wattage or amperage allowed or given)

mac mini

wii

xbox

directv HD box

tv

netgear 16 port switch

harmony one

a few ps3 controler chargers

rack mount 6 fan shelf

fan controller

2 receivers ( onkyo nr3007 and pioneer sc27)

both for testing to see which I like better?

An possibly a few other odds and ends

plus 1-2 ups's ( for items

let me know how u think I should set it all up?

Much appreciated!

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Beemer533

· #6 · Feb 15, 2010

Looking at your equipment list, I would split everything up on 2 20A (or 15A) breakers. At max draw, both AVRs could draw up to ~8.5A each; this is unlikely to happen but I like to over plan a bit...

So assuming you have to separate circuits to use this is what I would do:

It looks like the MA power conditioner is good for 15A, so realistically you would want 2; 1 plugged into each circuit. The Tripp lite is a good power strip, but it appears that it doesn't have any surge suppression or filtering so it is kind of redundant. You should have plenty of outlets with 2 MA units. You could plug the Tripp lite into one of the MA units if more outlets were needed.

From there, each AVR should be on a separate circuit, so plug one into each of the MA.

Most of the other equipment doesn't draw too much current so you can break everything up between the two circuits.

As far as the UPS goes, do you know their capacity? Unless they are quite large you would not be able to connect the AVRs to them.

The best thing to do if you really want to use the UPS is to write down the max watt figure on the back of each peice of equipment. Once you have those numbers, add them up and divide by 115. This gives you your total max amperage.

Example - 2400W/115VAC=20.9A.

Assuming 2 UPS, you would split this figure in half (~10.5A) and each UPS would need to be rated around 1320VA, or 1.3KVA. This would be at a minimum.

Bottom line, even if you have UPS that has the capacity to support your load the amps in the AVRs would draw the batteries down very quickly and not be very useful.

Hope this makes sense! It's kind of late and I'm tired

Let me know what you think....

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j2048b

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 15, 2010

Quote:
Originally Posted by Beemer533 /forum/post/18137668

Looking at your equipment list, I would split everything up on 2 20A (or 15A) breakers. At max draw, both AVRs could draw up to ~8.5A each; this is unlikely to happen but I like to over plan a bit...

So assuming you have to separate circuits to use this is what I would do:

It looks like the MA power conditioner is good for 15A, so realistically you would want 2; 1 plugged into each circuit. The Tripp lite is a good power strip, but it appears that it doesn't have any surge suppression or filtering so it is kind of redundant. You should have plenty of outlets with 2 MA units. You could plug the Tripp lite into one of the MA units if more outlets were needed.

From there, each AVR should be on a separate circuit, so plug one into each of the MA.

Click to expand...

so get another MA, and on the back there are a lot of plug ins, so i am confused as to what you mean to plug in one avr plugged into each circuit?

if there are 8 plugs, only plug in 1 avr and leave the rest unused?

or...

1 avr for every2 plugs?as they are 2 plugs per circuit, and then plug other stuff into the remaining plugs?

thanks

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Beemer533

· #8 · Feb 15, 2010

j2048b said:
Quote:
1 avr for every2 plugs?as they are 2 plugs per circuit, and then plug other stuff into the remaining plugs?

thanks

Click to expand...

Sorry, I was a bit unclear... this is what I meant.

Like you said each circuit has 1 duplex (2 outlets), so I would plug an MA into one duplex and 1 AVR into the MA, then do the same for the other circuit.

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j2048b

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 15, 2010

Beemer533 said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by j2048b /forum/post/18138997

Sorry, I was a bit unclear... this is what I meant.

Like you said each circuit has 1 duplex (2 outlets), so I would plug an MA into one duplex and 1 AVR into the MA, then do the same for the other circuit.

Click to expand...

Ok, so if my ma power units have 8 plugs allowed, only use 1 plug on the power unit for 1 avr, then is it ok to use the other ones for other items? Or plug in one of my trip kites into the power conditioner to use for the other items?

Sorry kind of confused as both the power conditioner and trip lutes each have 8 plug ins on them?

Thanks, sorry for being a newbee

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Beemer533

· #10 · Feb 16, 2010

No problem! You are correct; you can use the remaining 7 outlets to plug in whatever other equipment you have. The main thing would be to keep the AVRs on different circuits to avoid overloading.

Of course, I imagine you won't be using both AVR at the same time.... but just in case!

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j2048b

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 17, 2010

Quote:
Originally Posted by Beemer533 /forum/post/18149060

No problem! You are correct; you can use the remaining 7 outlets to plug in whatever other equipment you have. The main thing would be to keep the AVRs on different circuits to avoid overloading.

Of course, I imagine you won't be using both AVR at the same time.... but just in case!

Thanks! very appreciated!

will do as described!!

thanks again!

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