@williewonka @ditusa -- Thank you for your info.
confused about 20 amp power cables
I've recently acquired a pre-owned T+A PA 3100 HV integrated and this is my first exposure to a 20 amp power cable. The supplied cable has what I think is a C19 IEC connector (20 A) on the amp end, but the connector on the wall side has parallel hot and neutral blades as opposed to the 20 amp T blades. Is that end really rated at 20A?
I have a dedicated 110V 20 amp circuit with 20 A receptacles, but is about 10 ft from my equipment. I am currently plugging the amp's supplied cable into an Oyaide OCB-1 SX V2 power conditioner which is plugged into the 20A wall receptical. The wall plug on the Oyaide appears to be a 15A plug and the 4 distributed receptacles are not 20A and I assume they are rated for 15A. Is this dangerous to have this 15A section between wall and amp?
Would I be better off, or safer to find a 20A extension cable so I could plug the amp directly into the wall? I've recently started building my own PCs and could make a 10 ft one with C19 on one end and 20A wall plug on the wall side ( ouch for wire cost for 10ft). I know that its unlikely the amp will ever draw more than 15A.
Any suggestions would be helpful!
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Food for thought. . Dynamic Headroom. @almarg Said:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dynamic-headroom . kijanki Said:
It's not just the ampere rating size of the AC power fuse used in a power amp that determines the wire size needed for branch circuit wiring and the size of the wire used in a power cord. The power supply of a power amplifier likes/needs a steady state AC mains voltage. . |
Thanks @jea48 -- I read the recent thread you participated in (AC Power in misc-audio), lots of good info in that thread. I may end up putting in a Furman P-2400 at some point. |
@mintakax Said
I don’t know enough about P-2400 to recommend it one way or the other. Especially if you would be plugging the T+A PA 3100 HV integrated amp into it. The T+A PA 3100 HV integrated amp has a very robust power supply. "1000VA toroidal transformer with 120,000µF of filter capacitance." Jmho the amp should be plugged directly into the 20A dedicated branch circuit wall outlet. Available power at the wall outlet for this,
is pretty much unrestricted. A 20A circuit will easily pass very short time (millisecond pulse) s many times the 20 amp breaker’s handle rating. (Same for the 10A slow blow fuse in the PA 3100 amp. Limiting factor? VD, (Voltage Drop) on the AC mains caused by the load of the power supply on the branch circuit wiring. Therein the connected load of the amplifier playing high dynamic music at a high volume level. (Not a steady continuous load... This load, "very short time (millisecond pulse) at the peak of full wave rectified sinewave." What determines VD on the branch circuit wiring? Connected load in amperes, length of the branch circuit wiring X two, and wire gauge size. (Remember the 20A breaker will pass short pules of current well over its’ handle rating, all day long.) Question. What AWG wire size did the electrician install for the 20A dedicated branch circuit? #12AWG? #10AWG? Guesstimate length of the wiring from the electrical panel to the wall receptacle outlet? Try to include up, down, over and around lengths to the total length of the branch circuit wiring. . https://www.stereophile.com/content/ta-pa3100-hv-integrated-amplifier-measurements
Just a guess measurement were taken with an RMS multimeter. What was the base line for the AC VD measurements? What did the current, in amperes, measure on the branch circuit wiring? What determines VD on the branch circuit wiring? Connected load in amperes, length of the branch circuit wiring X two, and wire gauge size. . |
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