Keep tripping the breaker...

[xane]

I live in an apartment in a place where no one has ACs... unless you are bitcoin mining that is. I have two rigs pulling around 900w combined I think on full GPU load. I also have a 10,000btu portable AC unit cooling the room. I can't find out specifically, but I am led to believe such a unit would pull around 1000w. I'm not an electrical engineer at all, but I've done some reading and it seems a common breaker trips at 15amps or 1800watts at 120v. Is there anything I can do from an engineering standpoint to help out this situation? Obviously I am trying to avoid moving any of the devices to other rooms. All the outlets in this room seem to be on the same breaker switch. There are also radiant heaters in the floorboards which have two switches on the breaker. Could someone who knew what they were doing easily "patch into" these and turn them into outlets for me?

Thanks.

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[quattro]

I'm not an electrician ...  But I thought I'd share what I know to keep you from burning down your apartment.  You can only run 12 amps on a 15 amp circuit.  I would bet that your wiring is running pretty hot in the wall on that circuit.  Keep in mind that there are probably other plugs on that circuit outside of that room.  

Never run more than 80 percent of the circuit rating... 12 amps on a 15 amp circuit, 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit.

Make sure that you include other loads that are running on that same circuit outside of that room in your calculations.

[Reckman]

figure out which outlets are on different circuits, and run extension cords, make sure you get ones rated for the wattage you want to pull

[deslok]

one thing to keep in mind is that 1800w at 120v forgets that line voltage is nominal normally quoted at 110v which would put it at 1650w but it does vary you'll find diffrent companies quoting diffrent line voltages (the breakers in my box are rated at 115v) as far as what you can fo the engineering answer is to minimize power consumption of the pc's or find a way to run the ac at a capacity lower than it's designed for. as far as your radiant floorboards they're probably 220v you would need psu's that support it(most of them) and the proper cables but it's possible to do.

[lowlevel]

If you need another circuit, you may have 'split' recepticals in the kitchen, up near the counters. In all the apartments I've lived in, these were split off with the upper plug and bottom plug each going to separate fuses. I assume because things like toasters, waffle irons, or microwaves can demand lots of juice... I used huge contractor grade extension cords, capable of handling the full 15amps the breaker could provide. You'de be surprised how many of your outlets are on a single breaker though... so you should probably try to map out which outlets are run on which breakers/etc.

[mikeo]

You also need to watch out for the dreaded VD. Yes, VD, or Voltage Drop ;-)

The circuit I have all my hardware running off is only 15amp and I can't max out my 4xGPU system due to what I'm thinking is voltage drop. The symptom is fluctuating hashrate on all cards. An electrician suggested I run a dedicated 30amp line to that room for $500 and I laughed. But I am going to move the miner to a 20amp GFI circuit (which I'm told uses heavier gage wiring than the 15amp circuit) that's in the adjacent bathroom to test if that helps the fluctuating hashrate I've been experiencing.

[airdata]

it's tricky in an apartment...

When I had a 1 bedroom joint 4-5 years ago, we'd have to iron w\ the tv off otherwise we'd trip the breakers.
In an apartment you really don't have too much freedom in the way of electricity... unless you can convince management to throw you another breaker or something.

[BkkCoins]

My 16000 BTU air con is rated at 1600W - so that sounds about right for yours. I'm in Thailand and everything is 220V-240V. It's a lot easier for us with bigger loads. And electricity here is about $0.10 US / kWH. Not a terrible place to mine, and a much lower cost of living.

[cicada]

The circuit I have all my hardware running off is only 15amp and I can't max out my 4xGPU system due to what I'm thinking is voltage drop.

What kind of cards are in that 4x GPU system?  Is it really 8 GPUs on 4x 6990s?

If not, I don't think you should be pushing 15A unless you've got a bunch of other stuff on that circuit.

I ran two new dedicated 20A circuits for my rigs, right now I'm only using one for my miners - 4x 5830s and 4x 6950s, two AC high-velocity desk fans and a monitor, and I'm just pulling 13A at the socket.  The fans pull ~3A each I believe.

Seems like you should be coming in well under that, but again a bunch of other stuff on that circuit will reduce your available power.

[shotgun]

How about you unplug the AC unit and keep a couple of windows open? I have 16 GPUs running in closes cases in my garage on dual 30amp 240v circuits (with a lot of case fans for moving hot air) and don't run any AC at all. Sure the room gets warm but it's not like you have to have AC - you just need the cards to stay under 80C.

Second to that, go buy a Kill-a-Watt meter and see what you're actually drawing power wise. That will help you prevent overload.

[Xephan]

I live in an apartment in a place where no one has ACs... unless you are bitcoin mining that is. I have two rigs pulling around 900w combined I think on full GPU load. I also have a 10,000btu portable AC unit cooling the room. I can't find out specifically, but I am led to believe such a unit would pull around 1000w. I'm not an electrical engineer at all, but I've done some reading and it seems a common breaker trips at 15amps or 1800watts at 120v. Is there anything I can do from an engineering standpoint to help out this situation? Obviously I am trying to avoid moving any of the devices to other rooms. All the outlets in this room seem to be on the same breaker switch. There are also radiant heaters in the floorboards which have two switches on the breaker. Could someone who knew what they were doing easily "patch into" these and turn them into outlets for me?

Thanks.

I'd suggesting ducting the hotair from your rig out the window so you can live without the aircon. Help saves money in the long run, otherwise you're paying double for the mining, once to generate coins and heat, twice to remove that heat using an aircon.

[mikeo]

The circuit I have all my hardware running off is only 15amp and I can't max out my 4xGPU system due to what I'm thinking is voltage drop.

What kind of cards are in that 4x GPU system?  Is it really 8 GPUs on 4x 6990s?

If not, I don't think you should be pushing 15A unless you've got a bunch of other stuff on that circuit.

I ran two new dedicated 20A circuits for my rigs, right now I'm only using one for my miners - 4x 5830s and 4x 6950s, two AC high-velocity desk fans and a monitor, and I'm just pulling 13A at the socket.  The fans pull ~3A each I believe.

Seems like you should be coming in well under that, but again a bunch of other stuff on that circuit will reduce your available power.

you're right, I'm not pulling that much off the miner with 2x5850s + 2x5830s -- about 625W/5.5amps. But everything else, a game machine, two routers, a switch, wireless access point, laser printer, media server and box fans all come of that circuit. Voltage is down to 108 :-/

Then again, maybe a couple of the PCIe extension cables need mole connectors to stablize the motherboard. They are on order.

[bitjet]

Buy a 10gauge extension cord and run the AC from the kitchen or somewhere with a different circuit.

[film2240]

Hearing this makes me curious about something.I hope that someone who's knowledgeable can help me here.

I wonder how much amps/watts a typicalhouse and apartment wiring system can handle in the UK.

The volt is 240V in UK,in the home it's about 40A max going from the utility to the house but I wonder how many watts and amps a typical circuit in UK can handle (for Appliances,not central heating as that's on a 30A circuit) in a apartment and in a house?

[Elder III]

You only get 40 amps?  I have a 200 Amp service in my home.....  The amount of amperage you can safely draw depends on the quality and guage of the wires in your house, you don't want to draw too much and melt your house around your ears.

[shotgun]

Hearing this makes me curious about something.I hope that someone who's knowledgeable can help me here.

I wonder how much amps/watts a typicalhouse and apartment wiring system can handle in the UK.

The volt is 240V in UK,in the home it's about 40A max going from the utility to the house but I wonder how many watts and amps a typical circuit in UK can handle (for Appliances,not central heating as that's on a 30A circuit) in a apartment and in a house?

There is no "typical" here. You need to look at your breaker box where the fuses are. The fuses will say what amperage each circuit has available.