> Slightly off topic (but its to do with my pm's):
>
> (1) Can someone remind me how to convert from amps and volts to Watts.
Multiply amps times volts and you usually get Watts. However, in AC, the
two can be out of phase and some of those watts are "imaginary".
> (2) Also Power Dissipation is reffering to heat not electricity used,
> correct?
Well, all the electricity that gets used turns into heat, unless it turns
into sound or light, which becomes heat later.
> (3) What is a VA (Volt-Amp)?
It's the product of the voltage and the amperage. It's the same as wattage
when the voltage and amperage are in-phase, but if you have a slightly
capacitave or inductive load, it is larger than the wattage because some of
the VA bounces back out the wire without doing any work or turning into heat.
> (4) How many watts does a average computer use (bloody computer manuals
> don't have anything in them!) ?
What's an average computer?
> I ask this as I'm wanting to buy some UPS's for my pm's and a couple of
> computers, and in the PM's manual there is only Voltage and Current. (oh
> and power dissipation)
Buy an 850 and a 450 (or something close), see how long each runs each of
your systems with power fail. When you totally drain one (in an exhaustive
test), recharge for 24 hours. Then buy appropriately sized UPSs by guessing.
--
Bob Forsman thoth@gainesville.fl.us
http://www.gainesville.fl.us/~thoth/