Are you in your office and need to power up more than a single device in a single place? This means that you will need something to help you with it and a power strip is an answer. They are not extension cords which they are mostly confused withs. It has a lot of other names, such as a surge protector, portable outlet, or a computer strip. They are made with different components that are completely different from your regular extension cord. They can include many different things, such as circuit breakers, grounded power cords, noise filtering, and more. Below is a quick guide on knowing how many watts it can handle to learn more about it.
Safety guideline
The first thing you should know before anything else would be how to keep your place as safe as possible. To do this, you need to understand the safety guidelines included when you are using this device. First, you need to understand that it is for indoor use only. You need to connect it with a permanently installed branch circuit receptacle outlet. You should only use it to power devices with low power loads like peripherals, computers, and video components. It is not for high power load appliances such as microwaves, space heaters, toasters, or coffee makers. Do not route it on your walls, windows, floors, or ceilings. The power strip is not meant to be powered from an extension cord. It is not intended for construction sites or any other similar places. It is used only for ordinary locations such as your home or office.
For home and office use
When it comes to using it where it is intended, such as your home and office, the logic goes like this. Since your electrical circuit in places like those have receptacles with 15 amps and thus provides 120v, the same can be said when it comes to strips. The relationship between watts, amps, and volts goes like this: Volts x Amps = Watts. The simple explanation is that Watts is the total amount of electricity is flowing through your wires. The amps measure how fast it is flowing, and the volts are the amount of pressure that is present in your wires. Thus, your regular strip is going to be able to power up to six devices
Maximum capacity
When buying a power strip, your 120V one will come with a 15-20 amp capacity. Thus, it can be sued to power a computer, radio, monitors, lamp, and printed to draw around 1210-1660 wats. A 15-amp circuit will give about 1,800 watts, and the recommended load for this type of circuit would be 80% of that, which is 1,440 watts. Thus, you should ensure not to overload it and just determine how much load you are placing in each load so that any unnecessary accident would not occur and you can stay as safe as you can. Knowing the maximum load allows you to decide which devices you would plugin.
Heavy-Duty power strip
If you have higher requirements for the power of the power strip. you should choose to order heavy-duty ones. This is because they have a higher power in addition to stronger materials and cables. This can avoid many accidents and actually protect your property and life. After all, no one wants to touch an exposed power cord.