Can a computer filter out the excess 10 amps of power, or is the excess 10 amps going to damage the computer by giving it too much power?
The amp capacity rating of the building’s circuit breakers, the in-wall wiring, the wall socket, and the power cord all simply have to be more than the amount the power supply consumes. They could all be rated for 1000 amps and all would be well.
Amperage in a supply system is an indication of what it can supply *if *demanded. That number *doesn’t *specify an amount that it shoves down the wire whether needed or not.
Now voltage is a different story. If your power supply wanted 110-120V and you connected it to 240 or 480 or 1200 or … then that’s how much voltage would get shoved down the wire and into the computer. Which would rather promptly catch fire.
Neither: 30 Amps is the maximum draw.
Ninjaed by LSLGuy!
A 30A 120V service outlet should look like this
Unless your computer is an IBM 360, I can’t see how you would have a cable connecting your machine to 30A service.
A 20A outlet looks like this
which accepts 15A and 20A service cordsets
Actually, most modern PC’s have power supplies that can accept either 120 or 240 volts. Some have a switch on the back to set to match the input voltage, some just automatically switch to match it.
But higher than 240 volts is not accepted in any PC that I know of.
Still probably wouldn’t catch fire – more likely it would blow fuses in the power supply, or blow out some components, sending it to the repair shop.
Depending on the computer, does not matter what cord is used the computer is only going to use 1 or 2 amps.
As a example. If you have a 15 passenger van and only 2 people who want to get to the destination they can go in the van. The van will carry the number of people going on the trip.
You can safely use a cable the size of a tree trunk if you wanted. The key thing is, the power supply needs an internal fuse or circuit breaker to limit how much power it can draw, and the “tree trunk” sized cable needs a fuse or breaker that limits how much power flows down it (they make really huge fuses for this)
It’s like hooking a pipe the size of a water main to your shower head. The shower head restricts the flow to normal shower flow rates (assuming the water main pressure is the same, which it will be) and you can take a shower just fine. Only difference is that if you fed your shower with a water main sized pipe, flow would be a lot steadier.
your question is nonsense. how much current flows through a circuit is demand-based. your computer will draw (or try to draw) the current it needs. if it needs 20 amps and is plugged into a source which can supply 30 amps, it’ll still only draw 20 amps. there is no such thing as “excess current.”
What they’re all saying. Think of current (amps) as a string. The load can pull so many amps out of the source, but the source can’t push them into the load.
OK thanks. the computer is 19.5 volts and the cord is 19.5 volts.
If the cord were only, say, 12 volts, would the computer still run, albeit ineffectively?
You mean amps. Probably. 12 amps * 120 volts = 1440 watts. Very few computers use more power than this (it would have to be a multi-chip server with multiple GPUs to draw that much power)
If you used a 12 amp cord and plugged it into a 20 amp outlet, and then connected a 20 amp computer that actually draws 20 amps (it would be really hard to do, as I said), the cord would heat up and possibly melt through it’s insulation, maybe even catch fire.
So you don’t do this. This must be one reason standard computer cords are rated for 20 amps. No computer in recent memory drew that much power, but this cord format is extremely old.
Well, also, standard residential breakers are 20 amps. So, the cord has to be able to handle 20 amps in the event of a short.
You mean the power supply, which has a box on it which switches the AC from your wall to the DC your computer uses, not the “cord”. The computer runs on 19.5 and would not be able to run from a 12V power supply at all.
No. You’re confusing volts and amps.
Either he’s confusing volts & amps or he’s looking at a laptop or other portable device.
If the latter he’s seeing and relaying the specs for the low voltage input to the device and when he’s talking about a “cord” he really means the external power supply / power converter with two pigtails, one of which plugs into the wall and the other of which plugs into the device.
I think we need the OP to give us a much fuller explanation and context for us to say anything useful. Right now IMO we’re talking past him.
There’s a significant disconnect here, so let’s cut to the chase: what kind of computer do you have, Velocity?