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What does VA rating of a wall receptacle means ? Just started using Revit for Electrical Design (120V/208V) and came across wall receptacle rated as 180 VA. Just trying to wrap my head around that 180VA rating as I understand the maximum load that can be connected to a receptacle would be 120*15=1800 VA.. So what does 180 VA means ?

user2966713
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    Was it in a bathroom? It most probably has an 80 VA transformer in series, which limits your output. – winny Jul 08 '17 at 06:04
  • Hotels in 220-240 countries sometimes have a low-power outlet in the bathroom so that North American tourists can plug in their 120V electric shavers and toothbrushes and whatnot. – user57037 Jul 08 '17 at 16:34
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    It was rated 180 VA, I had a typo in the question which I have corrected. On doing a lil bit digging I was able to find the solution. It is described as General-Purpose Receptacle Loads.http://www.tpub.com/celec/34.htm – user2966713 Jul 09 '17 at 06:46
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    Possible duplicate of [What is the practical difference between watts and VA (volt-amps)?](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/12831/what-is-the-practical-difference-between-watts-and-va-volt-amps) – Dmitry Grigoryev Jul 18 '19 at 07:00

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The link below explains the default rated (180VA) receptacles.

http://www.tpub.com/celec/34.htm

All receptacles used in industrial areas have to be computed at 180 VA per outlet. One exception to this rule involves the use of multioutlet assemblies (prefabricated, wall-mounted outlet strips). The load for outlet strips is to be computed at 180 VA for every 5 feet of assembly. If the outlet strip will be heavily loaded with portable tools, such as bench grinders, drill presses, soldering irons, and so forth, a load of 180 VA per foot is to be computed.

clabacchio
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user2966713
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    Very little in the way of explanation at that link. Also, answers which are just a link often go out of date if the link expires somehow (which happens fairly often). – user57037 Jul 14 '17 at 15:45