How many Amps does a CW-80 require to operate at full capacity?
BD,
Are you asking about input from the house-current to the device?
A 1 Amp primary circuit will allow the CW-80 to put out the full 5 amps at the terminals.
But, why do you ask? If you are looking at running it on an inverter, it will not play well unless it is one of the more expensive true sine wave units.
Household duplex outlets are 15 amps minimum.
Rob
The reason I am asking is I am wiring my building. I am installing the wire that will be feeding the transformers…which will be plugged into (2) power strips with 10 outlets (that is direct wired to the fusebox breaker) (the kind that you would see on a work bench). I needed to know the amperage draw so I know what gauge wire and breaker to use in the box. It’s a 20 amp breaker using 12/2 wire feeding the power strips. That will be the only thing on that circut.
So If 1 Amp will run 1 CW 80 then hooking all 10 to the power strip would not be overloading it? Because it is a 20 Amp Breaker on 12/2 wire. Which the wire used in the power strip connecting all the outlets is 12/2 also. Dont want to burn the building down.
Man I need to sell some of the cw 80s and get a couple of Zw Transformers.
You can run up to 16 amps safely on a 20 amp breaker using 12 gauge wire. Even though you have a 20 amp breaker feeding the circuit you should only use 80% of that breakers capacity.
You say that the “power strips” are “direct wired to the fusebox breaker”. If you mean that you intend to cut off the plugs from the power-strip cords and connect those cords to the circuit-breaker terminals, I’m afraid you will run afoul of the NEC. Section 400.8 says the “flexible cords and cables shall not be used…as a substitute for the fixed wiring of a structure” The legal way to do it is to install, for example, a duplex receptacle in a properly wired box and then plug the strips into that.
I doubt that you can legally use a 20-ampere circuit breaker for this. The parallel-blade receptacles that you should be plugging your strips into are rated at 15 amperes and are allowed on a 20-ampere circuit only if it supplies “two or more receptacles or outlets”. In your case, you have only one outlet with a “multiple receptacle”. I think you need to use a 15-ampere circuit breaker, in which case you can use AWG 14 wire if you want. Each strip will be allowed to draw 12 amperes, that is, 80 percent of the receptacle rating. None of this will prevent you from running 10 CW-80s, however, since all 5 on each strip will draw less than 5 amperes.
Bob,
The power strips that I am speaking have no plugs on the ends to be removed. Although they do sell those. The ones I am speaking of at one end of the strip, it has 3 wires coming out of the end of it (Black Wire, Hot) (White Wire, Common) and a (Copper Wire, Ground). 12/2 AWG. I will also use 12/2 AWG Romex to go from the power strips to the 20 amp breaker in the fuse box. There is no (flexible cord or cable). Well Romex is flexible but isnt it considered to be more of a permanent wiring for a fixed structure?
They are 5’ long and have 10 outlets on them and they are all wired together (the outlets within the strip)
I would seriously consider selling them or most of them as you said earlier on ebay … with what you could get you could buy a pretty large or maybe even 2 transformers . 10 - 80’s wired up ! Way too much chance of failure in my opinion and wiring … just my opinion though … I may get my fingers smacked on here for that statement . After all that extra expense and wiring out the bazoo … is it really worth it ?
That’s a tough call, as the CW runs about $42 - $47 street price, delivered, when sold New In Box from set break-ups. Taking into account S&H, PayPal & eBay fees, he would only net about $28.50 or so for a new one, less for used.
I’d keep them, & upgrade the power situation as the opportunity arises.
Rob
Well,
Another thing is that they are not all going to be wired up into a chain or anything of that nature i have 10 train sets…and I may wire one or two of them together in a chain for tmcc I have two trains that are tmcc and the rest are all conventional command control…[swg] I will just have to figure out a way to hook them to the power controller to be able to address each engine on its seperate oval if u will.
That sounds better. I imagined that you were talking about the sort of thing that people use for computers and such. Romex (“nonmetallic-sheathed cable”) is suitable for permanent wiring. You need to secure (staple) it at most every 4 1/2 feet and within in 1 foot of boxes. You must do all splicing inside accessible boxes. The power strip should have a clamp where the cable enters it; and the cable should be spliced to its internal wiring inside the strip.
Bob,
Thanks for your imput. I went back and read the message I wrote it it does say (power strip plugged into). But we got it straight now so it’s all good. [swg] But back to the original question
Under those circumstances, would that be overloading the circuit. I read in your previous message it would not be. But I just want to make sure. I hate to put that kind of money into a project and it burn down the building that would be bad. [banghead]
If you’re using 12 AWG wire with a 20-ampere circuit breaker, the breaker will trip before anything you do can damage the wiring. Your transformers are rated to consume 80 watts each. That’s actually only 2/3 ampere per transformer; so your total current, with all 10 transformers simultaneously drawing their maximum, is just 6 2/3 amperes. Even if you drew all of that from just one of the 15-ampere recepticles on your power strip, you would still be well under the 80-percent (12-ampere) limit for that recepticle.
If you use Romex as mentioned you must ground the box(metal box) at any junction area. Down here in Florida, maybe a local code, you must also run a separate ground wire in the Romex in addition to the metalic sheathing on the Romex cable. To the best of my knowledge Romex is only good for indoor use. For outdoor use flexible PVC, it is blue in color.
If you have not cut Romex before, a quick tip, cut it at a 45 degree angle to the metal sheathing and cut fully thru one layer of sheathing and twist it apart and slide off the other end of the metal.
Lee F.
Lee, you’re confusing Romex (types NM, NMC, and NMS) with BX (AC or MC). Romex is nonmetallic sheathed cable.
Bob,
The term Romex as used in the trade usually refers to the metal jacket or sheathing on the cable and NM or non-metalic refers to what looks like plastic outer coating. That is what threw me off, maybe the term Romex is over used by the retail industry or maybe it is what Home Depot and other supply houses call it.
Lee F.
Precision is vastly overrated.
The Oxford English Dictionary currently lists over 500,000 words. Clearly that’s far too many. Every effort should be made to pare it all down to, say, 100.
The underlying principle of any such project should be “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.” --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I think 115. What comes from the plug.
Bob,
There is a formula for that isnt there? Amps = Watts / Volts which in this case would be 80 Watts divided by 120 V. Cause the American household is based on 120v why that is I dont know. So the total amps would be 0.66. Right?
The CW is 80VA output, figure 75-80% efficiency for the transformer windings & core, & the fan, so it may draw 100-110 watts, or .88-.90 amps from the mains. Stick with 1 amp per CW and you should be in a safe zone.
Rob