- Thread starter jeanchris
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Problem with inversor + computer.
I believe OEM power supplies for gaming desktops are around 330W. This should not be a problem. If you have a custom machine, open the case and see the rating for the power supply. Be conservative and multiply the rated load by 1.4
If I recall there are also three monitors which would add another 150 watts potentially for the PC alone for a total pushing 500 W. Still well under a real problem even for a 1.5 kW inverter. Something sounds defective.
I have a device called a Kil A Watt that measures the power used by 110 volt devices. Using such a device you can accurately determine what you are consuming from your computer, refrigerator, etc. The Ceiling fans you would have to estimate via a different method, like checking your external power meter and getting the difference between when they are on and off.
didn't read the whole thread but here is my take:
you have a gaming computer, which draw's lots of current. I have a feeling you live in an area where you have frequent power shortages. You must have put your batteries to work during all those power outages. 2 batteries were enough in the beginning to juice up your high current system but now the time has come the 2 batteries can't charge up to max after 2 years of usage. The plates inside the batteries have corrosion and charge can't be built up to the max like when they were new. Maybe you have never bothered to check the water levels in the batteries all this time. when the water level goes down the batteries begin to go bad quickly. Always use battery water purchased from the store.
It seems several of you are confusing two related but different concepts: energy and power. Power (measured in Watts or a multiple like kilowatt, megawatt, etc) is energy per second, that is the rate at which you consume energy.
A simple example with water: a reservoir holds a certain volume of water, measured, for example in gallons. The rate at which you consume water from the reservoir (gallons per second) is the equivalent of Wattage in electricity.
The maximal Wattage that an inverter supports tells you how fast you can consume electrical energy, that is how many Joules in a second. But the total amount of energy available to you is determined by the batteries (this is the reservoir of electrical energy).
The overload is caused when too much power, that is energy PER SECOND, is drawn. This has nothing to do with the batteries. You could have dozens of fully-loaded batteries available to you, and STILL have an overload situation if more energy-PER-SECOND is drawn than the inverter can support.
Likewise, with a very powerful inverter you may never have an overload. BUT if too few batteries are available (the reservoir is too small) the amount of available energy will run out quickly. Thus everything will work perfectly, but for a relatively short time, after which the batteries will be dead and you will need to wait until the batteries are recharged.
So, changing batteries cannot be the solution to an overload.
If the OP doesn't want to purchase a more powerful inverter (and he says his blackouts are relatively short and infrequent) a workaround is simply to reduce load while on the inverter...replacing standard light bulbs with low-energy ones is an obvious measure (if not already done) which may also save money in the long run...so-called compact fluorescent lighting use about one quarter of power for given light output (the consumption from 5 100W incandescent bulbs can be reduced to slightly over 100W relieving the inverter from almost 400W just like that...unplugging the fridge should work for a few hours.
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Little bored at work today, I found 575W and 875W replacement power supplies for Alienware gaming PCs. A machine with a power supply this large could be the problem. PC gets dirty, runs hot and consumes more power, a few extra lights on in the house then what once worked no longer works.
Yeah basicly past few days everytime I was using my computer I would turn off/unplug everything else in the house and the inverter wouldnt turn off, so when I work I will just make sure all the bombillos and fans are off so that doesnt happen anymore.
I checked my Power supply and its 750w + 3 monitors + 1 fan and 1 light inside the room running i guess the inverter cannot take more then that.
I checked my Power supply and its 750w + 3 monitors + 1 fan and 1 light inside the room running i guess the inverter cannot take more then that.
Yeah basicly past few days everytime I was using my computer I would turn off/unplug everything else in the house and the inverter wouldnt turn off, so when I work I will just make sure all the bombillos and fans are off so that doesnt happen anymore.
I checked my Power supply and its 750w + 3 monitors + 1 fan and 1 light inside the room running i guess the inverter cannot take more then that.
Just because the power supply is capable of providing 750W it does not mean it is using that much power.
But your experiment does indicate that you need a larger inverter than the one you have.
Yeah basicly past few days everytime I was using my computer I would turn off/unplug everything else in the house and the inverter wouldnt turn off, so when I work I will just make sure all the bombillos and fans are off so that doesnt happen anymore.
I checked my Power supply and its 750w + 3 monitors + 1 fan and 1 light inside the room running i guess the inverter cannot take more then that.
Yeah, but consider also replacing some bulbs with low energy ones as discussed above...some aren't very expensive at all, and will also save energy from the street.
You may also look into the possibility of reducing the energy consumption of your PC by tweaking the settings...this is normally done for laptops when running from the battery, but you may be able to do something similar for a desktop when running from the inverter...you may create an energy profile for normal usage, and another for the inverter, so that you only need to switch profile one time for the inverter and later again when the street power comes back, just like in the case of a laptop (plugged-in profile vs battery-powered profile). The profile includes things like brightness settings, processor speed, etc. Keep in mind also that certain applications (gaming, or video playing for example) will draw much more power than others (wordprocessingg, email, etc). Also, connecting to the Internet wirelessly will draw more than connecting through a cable, and so on.