[Elecraft] [KPA500]KPA500 power cord question

[WILLIS COOKE]

If you have a dedicated 120V circuit for your ham shack and only run one 
transceiver and one medium power amp you will probably be OK.  The trouble comes 
from using a house circuit that already has other users and was designed for 
those users.  Many house circuits use #14 wire and are good for 15 amps max.  
You may already have the lights in the room and a few clocks and other things.  
Add on a TV set and your wife's hair dryer and you are in trouble, so you need 
to do a load analysis.  If you are going to run another circuit, it might as 
well be 220, or run two more circuits, a 110 and a 220.  But, you are never safe 
to just plug in several medium to high current loads without doing at least an 
informal load analysis.  If you have too many loads on a circuit you will soon 
lose your claim to "Never popping a breaker".
 Willis 'Cookie' Cooke 
K5EWJ 




________________________________
From: Monty Shultes <montys at mindspring.com>
To: Ron D'Eau Claire <ron at cobi.biz>
Cc: "elecraft at mailman.qth.net" <Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wed, May 4, 2011 5:49:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KPA500]KPA500 power cord question

I have been using an ALS-600, the 600-watt Ameritron solid state amp, for two 
years.  My shack is wired for 120 volts, 20 amps, 2 circuits.

The voltage from the power supply drops only slightly when transmitting, almost 
surely from internal factors, not house wiring.  The AC mains voltage does not 
drop.

I have never tripped a breaker.

The Elecraft Amp is probably more power efficient than the ALS-600 with its 
sophisticated power supply.  I'd worry about something else.

FWIW.

Monty K2DLJ




> The important point is whether the voltage to the finals at full output is
> as different when the KPA500 is supplied by 240 or 120V mains. I believe the
> answer is "no". AFAIK, the KPA500, and it's power supply, was designed and
> tested to meet all of its performance specifications with either a 120V or
> 240V mains supply. - Ron D'Eau Claire
> 
> 
> 
>> No. The KPA500 peak demand is less from your 120 volt outlet than
>> most household vacuum cleaners or window air conditioners. And,
>> unless you are running a full-carrier mode, the average demand by
>> your KPA500 is far  below the peak.  - Joe Subich

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