G4 power consumption?
Have been seriously thinking about buying a wind tunnel, but am at a loss about its power consumption. Apple's specs for the Quicksilver is 360 Watts max, whereas the wind tunnel is stated at 6.5 amps low voltage and 7.5 amps high voltage? Is Apple trying to hide something?
In addition, Apple's specs at its French site are the same eventhough the voltage is 220. Does it actually consume 1650 VA in Europe? Or 3.75 amps high voltage (i.e. poor translation)?
Not that I watch my electrical bill that closely, it's just that I live in France and run my Macs off of a UPS (Liebert PowerSure Interactive 1000). It looks as if I will need to get another UPS, but at what rating?
What does Apple have against Watts? Or Volt-Amps? Will the real power consumption please stand up?
In addition, Apple's specs at its French site are the same eventhough the voltage is 220. Does it actually consume 1650 VA in Europe? Or 3.75 amps high voltage (i.e. poor translation)?
Not that I watch my electrical bill that closely, it's just that I live in France and run my Macs off of a UPS (Liebert PowerSure Interactive 1000). It looks as if I will need to get another UPS, but at what rating?
What does Apple have against Watts? Or Volt-Amps? Will the real power consumption please stand up?
Comments
Out of the box: about 100 to 150 Watts witout ADC-Monitor.
Maximum would be about 500 Watts, because the psu can deliver 400 Watts but has to be extremely loaded
(4 hard, 2 optical drives, 4 PCI-Cards, FireWire-drives
and an 23" ADC-monitor).
The numbers on the sticker are not for multiplying and getting power ratings which make sense. They are short term peak values (switching on etc.).
Can you sleep better now?
[ 09-13-2002: Message edited by: Defiant ]</p>
Nevertheless it does not explain Apple's mysterious way of power rating; for example, in peak power load situations current increases but voltage drops.
Loss of sleep? Not yet, probably will after the purchase, but that I'm looking forward to.
If you measured without the screens, the 93W seems reasonable, so I take it you omitted that?
I measured my highly stuffed Beige G3 Tower once and it used around 80-90W without the monitors, and about 100W more for every CRT added.
Speakers should also be taken into account.
Also, remember that shutting off your computer when it's not used, or at least put it to sleep can save you a lot of money.
G-News
On the power supply under the hood it is written 400 W max. Since even the Studio Display is fed through it, max. possible consumption is reasonable.
<strong>Nevertheless it does not explain Apple's mysterious way of power rating; for example, in peak power load situations current increases but voltage drops.</strong><hr></blockquote>
that is the way it is everywhere
<strong>I'm sorry defiant, but I don't believe you measured that correctly. The 19" CRT alone is going to need something near 100W.
If you measured without the screens, the 93W seems reasonable, so I take it you omitted that?
G-News</strong><hr></blockquote>
I measured with the screens running and with sound playing. I measured directly from the socket, and my brother is an electrician, so I believe he did it right.
93W
[ 09-15-2002: Message edited by: Defiant ]</p>
Did he measure the computer alone, or did he measure the power consumption of the whole setup, ie the multiplier plug, where all the screens were plugged in? Or were the screens plugged into a different socket.
I'm sorry to be so persistent, but I just find it very hard to believe that a computer setup with 2 screens, one of them being a 19" CRT only takes 93W.
I know my 19" CRT probably uses more than that alone. Get your brother on the forums and tell him to write down exactly what he measured, please
G-News
[ 09-15-2002: Message edited by: G-News ]</p>
the G4 uses 276W with both monitors running and some music playing.
the 19" alone uses about 92W and the 15" uses about 45W.
and now you see where my 93W came from...
That makes muhc more sense, in fact it pretty much matches my experience on my G3@G4.
G-News