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Is electrical overload prevented by the thing that is plugged in or the the outlet.
If it does come from the the out et how does it know, what im asking is how can it tell the differance between a 60 watt light bulb and a tv?

2007-03-07 14:53:31 · 5 answers · asked by jon 2 in Science & Mathematics Engineering

5 answers

Circuit breakers (modern), or fuses (older), protect from overloading the circuit. You can find these in your breaker box, which is in a different location in every house. Our's is in the garage. Circuit breakers just need to be reset by switching them to off, and then back on, whereas fuses need to be totally replaced because the circuit destroys the metal connecting the terminals when too much electricity goes across it (too much load, if you will).

What happens is that there is so much amperage (current), that the breaker/fuse is rated for. Say for instance, I have a 10 amp circuit breaker. That means that I can plug in devices that equal up to 10 amp/hours before the breaker will trip and turn the circuit off to prevent overload.

You mentioned a 60 watt bulb, so I will use that as an example.

If I have a lightbulb that is using 60 watts per hour (which is what that means), then I can deduce that it is using 1/2 amps per hour using a ohms law calculation (amperage = watts/volts).

So, using that, theoretically, I can plug in 20 lights on the same circuit before that breaker trips.

Additionally, say I have a television, for instance, that uses 2 amps per hours. To make the circuit trip, I can only theoretically plug in 5 televisions (sorry, I don't have exact data on that, so I cant be more precise). So while a circuit canont differentiate between the two, I hope it is clearer what actually happens in the process.

If there is a short circuit, like two bare wires touching each other, the circuit will also trip, since there is nothing preventing the amperage from rushing through it.

2007-03-07 15:09:47 · answer #1 · answered by Eric W 2 · 1 0

Although both a light bulb and TV give off light the TV is far more interesting to watch :-)

Seriously, electrical power consumption is not very distinguishable. As far as an electrical circuit is concerned 60Watts of power consumption can come from a light bulb or a 60 watt heater or a 60 watt stereo. They are all drawing 60 watts.

If you have an oscilloscope you might be able to distinguish between the devices as some switching power supplies generate electrical noise as they convert the 120AC into a lower voltage DC. But other than that you would be hard pressed to determine what type of device is connected if it is drawing exactly the same amount of power as another device.


RE: Overloads....
If you draw too much current from an oulet you will trip a circuit breaker or blow a fuse. These protection devices are placed upstream of the recepticle and are there to protect the wiring and help prevent fires from starting.

Some devices have fuses and circuit breakers buitl into them. These are designed to protect the device from further damage if there is a fault or problem. These are lower in rating than the distribution panel fuses/breakers typically. So these should blow first (if the equi is so equiped) .

2007-03-07 15:09:01 · answer #2 · answered by nullgateway 2 · 1 0

Both the outlet and appliance(s) that is/are plugged into the outlet are considerations.

Most residential outlets tend to be 15 amp capacity or a maximum load of about 1800 watts (120 volts times 15 amps). So most duplex outlets probably shouldn't have more than that total wattage running continuously on them.

A 60 watt bulb uses less current probably than a TV. Most TV's probably draw around 100 watts; it depends on factors like screen size, age (newer TV's are designed to be more energy efficient), type of screen (LED's, I think, use less energy to "light up".

2007-03-07 15:09:15 · answer #3 · answered by answerING 6 · 1 0

overload is caused by what is plugged in. A light bulb that has 60 watts printed on it pulls approx. .05 amps. As far as the TV it should tell the current rating on the TV some where.

2007-03-07 15:04:18 · answer #4 · answered by perk472002 2 · 0 1

The circuit breaker box (or fuse box in older homes) limits the power going to a group of outlets. If you place too much load on the circuit breaker, it will trip, cutting power to that group of outlets.

2007-03-07 15:02:51 · answer #5 · answered by novangelis 7 · 0 0

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