Wireframe amps

[Joe Petrowski 0]

How do you find the amount of amps a wireframe takes. I mean a rope lite one not a c7 or c9. THANKS

[Guest Jeff_Womack]

5.5 watts per inch if it is incandescent ropelight.

[Joe Petrowski 0]

Thanks Jeff, but do you estimate the length of the rope on the wireframe?

[Randy 6]

Many of the current manufacturers have the energy consumption listed on their websites.

I bought a clamp-on ammeter from Sears a couple of weeks ago and have been making many of my own measurements. I think it is worth the $34.99 it cost. The only thing to remember is that you can't clamp it around the entire AC cord, only one leg. So you can either split the zip cord with a razor blade down the middle to create a gap to measure or just make a "Cheater cord" out of an extension cord that has the slit in it so you can measure different things that are plugged into it.

I hope that info helps, Randy

[Joe Petrowski 0]

The problem with websites is that i got most of the stuff at tag sales and they stuff has no labels stickers or anything, and the clamp-on ammeter is a good idea but it cost money like everything else in the world Thanks anyway

[jrock64 0]

Plug KILLAWATT into your favorite search engine.

$25 to $30 at most places.

Plug the KILLAWATT into the power and plug your lights into the KILLAWATT.

Instant readout of watts or amps or if you are brave, energy usage over time.

Limited to 15.5 amps.

Joel

[Jerry Ludy 0]

Hey Jeff,

I know that this was an oversight and you did not mean to say inch. "5.5 watts per inch if it is incandescent ropelight."

The correct average is per foot.

Rope light at 5.5 wattsper foot and string is 18 feet longhas

216 lights with a total watts of 99 with a total amps of 0.82.

Total strings of 14 per 15 amp circuit

Total strings of 19 per 20amp circuit

[Mark Ritter 0]

Thanks for the KILLAWATT info. Just ordered myself one for $19.25 from the following web site.

http://www.supermediastore.com/kilwateldet1.html

[RichardH 0]

I would recommend what others are saying and buy an Amp Tester

I just bought a cheap one off e-bay and it works great. Picked it up for $16 ($24 total including shipping).

You can meassure up to 1000 amps with this style. I use it to see how many amps certain strings are and what is really nice is you can see how many amps your entire house is pulling.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260016602462