Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mandata!jscott
From: jscott@mandata@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Scott)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: What do watt/amp/va labels tell me?
Message-ID: <1991Apr19.143335.2306@mandata@uunet.uu.net>
Date: 19 Apr 91 14:33:35 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Mandata
Lines: 22

Time for todays novice questions.

1:

On the back of my SUN SPARCSTATION the label says:

		100-240V~ 2.2A/120W/220VA 47-63HZ

I'm only getting 0.58A measured with a clamp on amp-probe.
So is the label talking about some maximum startup power draw?
Do the V, A, W and VA figures seem consistent with each other?
The computer is a model SLC and has no internal expansion slots or options. 


2:

If I was going to buy a UPS, could I just use the number I get with the 
amp-probe, multiply by 120 to get watts and buy a slightly larger 
UPS unit to handle the startup demand?

				jeff scott
				jscott%mandata@uunet.uu.net