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Posted 2007/08/13

Moving out and blowing up the generator

On Sunday we boxed up all the IT kit ready for it to be shipped back to Uni to be stored for next year. While waiting for the Uni engineer to arrive I did some tests on the generator to see what kind of load it has been under.

We had problems all through the dig season with the petrol generator being overloaded, so I thought I try and make some vaguely scientific measurements of the load so we can make an informed decision about what to do for next years dig. The ‘idle’ load for the generator is a minimum of 4 laptops, 4 phones, 3 printers and a bunch of other chargers for various battery powered things. I tested 4 different configurations and measured the loads with a volt meter.

Generator load

The ‘idle’ load with just the normal HQ kit running.

217.9 Volts
1.13 Amps
196 Watts

‘Idle’ load plus a projector.

211.2 Volts
2.20 Amps
411 Watts

‘Idle’ load plus the 2 desktop PC in the classroom.

204.7 Volts
2.77 Amps
492 Watts

‘Idle’ load plus 2 desktop PCs in the classroom and a laminator.

197.5 Volts
4.16 Amps
798 Watts

We will use these figures when discussing our energy requirements for next year.

The rest of the day was sent packing our things into boxes and labeling them. John Gates came from Uni to take the kit owned by ITS back to Uni for packing and storing.

John packing up the HQ AP