Pro audio equipment versus household equipment - power consumption?

I was told once that audio equipment does not take up much power and would like to know how much so I can compare it with a home electricity bill.

In relative terms, how much power would you say proaudio equipment use as compared to household goods.

Would you say 10 preamps/eqs, computer with 3 hard drives is equivalent to a refrigerator running?

Which type of proaudio equipment would take up the most power consumption and how much. eg. 2 valve compressors would be equivalent to running a portable heater fan?

Your studio PC and the audio monitors are probably the most power consuming pieces of gear.

A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply), two audio monitors the same.

Most outboard gear needs around 10-30W / piece even when it has tubes in it.

In comparison, your fridge probably needs 150W when its running.

Majestic12 said:

Your studio PC and the audio monitors are probably the most power consuming pieces of gear.

A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply), two audio monitors the same.

Most outboard gear needs around 10-30W / piece even when it has tubes in it.

In comparison, your fridge probably needs 150W when its running.

Click to expand...

OIC. So when it it sais 400 watts in the power supply, that means 400 watts continuously.

How is that in relation to amps? How many amps does 500 watts need to run?

canidoit said:

Majestic12 said:

Your studio PC and the audio monitors are probably the most power consuming pieces of gear.

A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply), two audio monitors the same.

Most outboard gear needs around 10-30W / piece even when it has tubes in it.

In comparison, your fridge probably needs 150W when its running.

Click to expand...

OIC. So when it it sais 400 watts in the power supply, that means 400 watts continuously.

How is that in relation to amps? How many amps does 500 watts need to run?

Click to expand...

500VA / 230V = 2,17A or 4,34A when you have 110V mains.

Majestic12 said:

canidoit said:

Majestic12 said:

Your studio PC and the audio monitors are probably the most power consuming pieces of gear.

A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply), two audio monitors the same.

Most outboard gear needs around 10-30W / piece even when it has tubes in it.

In comparison, your fridge probably needs 150W when its running.

Click to expand...

OIC. So when it it sais 400 watts in the power supply, that means 400 watts continuously.

How is that in relation to amps? How many amps does 500 watts need to run?

Click to expand...

500VA / 230V = 2,17A or 4,34A when you have 110V mains.

Click to expand...

Does that mean if you have 20 pieces of equipment at that wattage on, the circuit breaker requires 40amps?

canidoit said:

Majestic12 said:

Your studio PC and the audio monitors are probably the most power consuming pieces of gear.

A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply), two audio monitors the same.

Most outboard gear needs around 10-30W / piece even when it has tubes in it.

In comparison, your fridge probably needs 150W when its running.

Click to expand...

OIC. So when it it sais 400 watts in the power supply, that means 400 watts continuously.

How is that in relation to amps? How many amps does 500 watts need to run?

Click to expand...

400W means it can provide that much power if necessary. Computers are normally designed with a PSU that will just about cope with the components power requirement (why would you overcompensate, it's expensive). Idle, it won't draw anywhere near that 400 W but at max processing/HD activity/everything doing everything it'll do 400W (or blow the PSU).

> audio equipment does not take up much power and would like to know how much so I can compare it with a home electricity bill.

Buy a Kill A Watt:
http://www.p3international.com/products/special/p4400/p4400-ce.html

That one is for US market, but someone's gotta be making the same thing for UK-type electric.

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> A PC needs probably around 400W (just look on whats written on the power supply)

The number on the power supply is a Maximum and often optimistic.

> Computers are normally designed with a PSU that will just about cope with the components power requirement (why would you overcompensate, it's expensive).

In My Experience, PCs almost never draw anything like their supply's rating.

I'm sitting here in summer heat. If the PC next to me really ate 400 Watts of power, giving 0.1 Watts of light and whine and 399.9 Watts of HEAT, I would shut it off.

This PC is never shut off. If it drew 400 Watts it would cost me $43 on the monthly electric bill. I pay $120/month including lights, huge TV, refrigerator, freezer, dehumidifier... I'm sure it is not eating 400W or $43/month.

The very worst-case load is usually Start-Up, dragging all the caps and the hard-drives up to cruising condition.

I have run a full PC with large (5.25") hard-drive from a 65 Watt (linear) supply for years.

I once HAD to know computer power consumption: computer lab. You can plug early 12 Macs (similar to early PCs) but the 13th will blow a 15 Amp fuse on 115V line. More like 140 Watts each. I really think that better technology (especially LCD monitors!!) leaves modern PCs under that figure.

> at max processing/HD activity/everything doing everything it'll do 400W (or blow the PSU).

I've run number-crunchers and servers idle and jammed-busy. Yes, I can tell a difference. I quit running SETI because I was not comfortable with the mildly increased heat 23/7. But audio sweetening, even on older CPUs which could take 23 minutes to reverberate a 5 minute track, I never noticed any real heat (even the summer the A/C was shut-off).

Put a 400 Watt lamp inside an old PC case. Even with a fan it will get HOT, much hotter than a PC. I have a 500W work-light, and I think it would blister the paint off the case.

OEM system PCs rarely have 400 Watt supplies. 150W-220W are common unless it is intended to be really-expandable.

PC is 100-200 Watts.

> why would you overcompensate, it's expensive

It is a Selling Feature for Geeks. My PS has more Watts than yours. In a world of plain boxes, it is about the only way to differentiate the higher-price junk from the cheap junk.

Fiercely arguing to agree with my points, appreciated.

I am using an I7 quad core with A 550 watt power supply. The front fan has never come on even in A heavy mix. So there is NO way it is using most of that power. Good thing computers aren't Class A! lol!

John

Indeed, the computer only uses the power it needs at the time. Tax it (gaming with one or two pro video cards does that) and it can consume a lot more than at idle. 400, 500W are no problem for a maxed out gaming machine running at full capacity.

My computer doesn't consume nearly as much energy as the studio gear. When everything is running (including tape machine, consoles, all the synths/samplers and the tube gear) room temperature goes up a few degrees with the windows closed. Modern energy efficient fridges don't consume anything near that either (in fact it's a good idea to buy a new one every five years or so because of innovations at our energy prices over here). Vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, stoves etc. are a different matter, but they are only used for short periods.

Most of our commercial Gyraf units consume some 20-28W.

Lately the EU has decided that industry must work harder to conserve power consumption in electronics - so we have developed the G21 AudioShaver which consumes just around zero Watts. Which means that we also saved the IEC power input connector, and can have one single model for both EU and US markets.

;D

Jakob E.

PRR said:

>
I'm sitting here in summer heat. If the PC next to me really ate 400 Watts of power, giving 0.1 Watts of light and whine and 399.9 Watts of HEAT, I would shut it off.

This PC is never shut off. If it drew 400 Watts it would cost me $43 on the monthly electric bill. I pay $120/month including lights, huge TV, refrigerator, freezer, dehumidifier... I'm sure it is not eating 400W or $43/month.

The very worst-case load is usually Start-Up, dragging all the caps and the hard-drives up to cruising condition.

I have run a full PC with large (5.25") hard-drive from a 65 Watt (linear) supply for years.

Click to expand...

A laptop as "control unit" with an external expansion chassis as Daw cards "home"
(200watt supply can be much more than needed)

PRR said:

I once HAD to know computer power consumption: computer lab. You can plug early 12 Macs (similar to early PCs) but the 13th will blow a 15 Amp fuse on 115V line. More like 140 Watts each. I really think that better technology (especially LCD monitors!!) leaves modern PCs under that figure.

I've run number-crunchers and servers idle and jammed-busy. Yes, I can tell a difference. I quit running SETI because I was not comfortable with the mildly increased heat 23/7. But audio sweetening, even on older CPUs which could take 23 minutes to reverberate a 5 minute track, I never noticed any real heat (even the summer the A/C was shut-off).

PRR said:

Put a 400 Watt lamp inside an old PC case. Even with a fan it will get HOT, much hotter than a PC. I have a 500W work-light, and I think it would blister the paint off the case.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

some led lamp with 5watt power each
can do much light than lamps with 100 watt power

peace
r2d2

I remember the XT Power supply being something like 63 watts. I think you needed to go a little bit higher if you had a big winchester disk.....

> some led lamp with 5watt power each

You completely miss my point.

Test the idea of a "400 Watt PC" by putting a 400 Watt heater inside. _Incandescent_ light bulbs are 99.9% efficient heaters, and 100W even 400W lamps _incandescent_ are still available.

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> I remember the XT Power supply being something like 63 watts.

5150 PC (no HD) was 63.5 Watts.

The XT had hard drive and 130W (135W?) power. This would supply one crude full(3.5")-height drive or two of the later 1.75"-tall drives. All at 5.25" diameter of course. Power went way down with the early 3.5" half-high hard-drives, though a few of the mega-swift server drives could pull a bunch of power in heavy seeking (realtime ticketing).

I had an AT-class (286) mobo and a full-tall 5" drive running on a Diablo printer linear supply. Heavy iron and fourteen inches of finned extrusion. 70 Watts and no slack. Ran the 286 and HD comfortably.

I see some of the later CPUs must be designed for over 100W alone, though when I left work I had a slick Intel quad-core only pulled 65W nominal and IMHO much less most of the time. My other PC was some AMD 3-core rated 65W, plus spiffy video, in a tight case, and I beat it hard with audio processing. Did get pretty warm inside from lack of air-space, but no 200W, certainly not 400W (I think the original cheese-box PS did get replaced with a 350W PS just for overkill).

I had to know all these loads because I used to have six or eight PCs in use or being torture-tested, plus monitors, soldering-iron, printer, coffee-pot, all on a 200 foot 20A line shared with the office next door. (Good thing those gals rarely came in.)

iirc design engineers factor each pc at 80W to 100W when designing new buildings.