autoformers for dummies (me)
Hi all, I've heard folks saying autoformers "steal" power from the campground and hence from other campers. Here is my understanding of what happens. The total wattage remains the same less abou...
Forum Discussion
pianotuna wrote:
Hi accsys,
Unfortunately motors draw more and more amps as voltage drops. I do monitor wattage and have seen the roof air draw 1900 watts (partly because of lousy voltage at the campground). So your argument for lower amps at lower voltage for motors is dead wrong.
I cannot agree here. The motor may try to pull more amps but if it isn't available from the pole it will not succeed, hence the problems with running A/Cs on low voltage. How are you monitoring wattage?
If I am paying for 30 amps (3600 watts) and using 12.43 amps (1243 watts) I am not overloading or inconveniencing anyone in the campground.
What you are paying for bears no relationship with what happens to the rest of the campground
I don't understand how you are getting from 8.33 amps to 12 amps.
I explained that in my original post - perhaps you didn't read it with an open mind? Put an ammeter in line with the input power and you will see the current rise as you increase the voltage on the output of the autoformer
8.33 amps @ 120 volts would only be 999.6 watts not the 1200 that the roof air starts out at.
If you are starting out at 100V, your A/C is not starting out at 1200 watts, no matter how hard it may try
Bottom line is that an autoformer will cause higher currents drawn from the pedestal than would be drawn otherwise - the additional power has to come from somewhere.
