Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [amperage]

Amperage is the disfavored term for "current:": the strength of an electric current in Amperes (Sometimes shortened to Amps).

Amperage is the strength of an electric current in amperes (Sometimes shortened to Amps).

Not to be confused with Amps as a shortened form of (Amp) or some derivative terms like (Operational Amplifier), (Pre-Amplifier), or Amplification.

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Why do CPUs need so much current?

I know that a simple CPU (like Intel or AMD) can consume 45-140 W and that many CPUs operate at 1.2 V, 1.25 V, etc. So, assuming a CPU operating at 1.25 V and having TDP of 80 W... it uses 64 Amps (a lot of amps). Why does a CPU need more than 1 A…
Leonardo Bosquett
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What causes a fuse to blow, the current or the power?

Fuses and circuit breakers are often specified at a certain current they will 'blow'. Increasing the current will also increase the power. So if a fuse is rated for 12V DC and 20 A, this would be equal to 240 watts. If a different voltage is…
Jackson Harvey
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Why this small cut in Ampere meter shunt?

I have seen lot of ampere meter shunt like this. What is the reason for this small cut?
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What can I put a kilowatt into? (Or: help me save my hairdryers)

TL;DR: I need something to discharge roughly 160A at 14V into, or 2.24 kilowatts. Any comments, or answers, with either a) something I can dump a kilowatt into, b) some way I can modify a common item to take 2kW DC at 160A, or c) another way to…
Owen Versteeg
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Why can't I power everything with a 9 V DC battery?

I am a student and have a very basic knowledge of volts, ampere, watts, charges, etc. My question is fairly simple: Why can't we use 9 V DC batteries to run everything in the world? Because it's DC, and we need AC to run appliances. Answer: Use an…
Waleed
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How does a DC clamp meter measure current?

I understand that for AC clamp meters, a changing magnetic field induces a voltage/current in a wire loop and therefore it is possible to measure AC currents by induction. But how does a DC clamp meter work? In essence a DC current means a static…
S.s.
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How many amps can a car battery supply?

Googling this hasn't given me much information. I've heard numbers ranging from 30A to 300A. My question isn't how many amps a car battery does supply in normal operation, it's how many amps I would measure if a car battery is shorted across a…
Daffy
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How to calculate the maximum current a AA battery can deliver for a short period of time?

I want to measure the maximum current a AA battery (full charged) can deliver for a short period of time (let's say one second) I have in mind to do this with a multimeter : setup multimeter to measure amps, on the highest value. My current…
tigrou
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5V LDO blowing up only when testing current draw

I have a circuit to power some 5-volt logic from a +24VDC source. It has some basic reverse-polarity protection and uses a TI 5VDC LDO. It all works great during normal operation however, when I use my FLUKE multimeter in amp mode to test the…
user2434889
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Standard Volt and Ampere

A recent question on here asking about how to calculate the accuracy of a circuit got me thinking about calibration in general. In particular, as EEs we routinely use volts and amperes as a unit and yet these are both rather vague and hard things to…
Trevor_G
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12 V car battery short circuit with a wrench that has resistance of 0.5 ohms, how much current?

ANSWER/ERROR FOUND: resistance of the leads of the multi-meter is the culprit. The true resistance of the wrench cannot be measured using a basic multimeter. The resistance of the wrench is more so roughly around 0.000016 ohms. I searched quite a…
Satz T
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How to measure current to a DC motor?

I'm trying to measure current to a DC motor on an RC car I took apart. The car is powered by 3 AA batteries and seems to be made of three different boards. Two of the boards are for switches and LEDs, the other is the main one in this shot that I'm…
Kristopher Ives
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Charging devices - Voltage and Amperage

When dealing with voltages and amperage, which one can destroy your equipment when not properly matched to the proper device? Am I correct in thinking that attempting to charge a device with an adapter of the correct voltage but too low an amperage…
webworm
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Why to disconnect the negative/ground terminal, not positive?

To break off any circuit, the common way is to disconnect the negative and or ground terminal. I rarely see people disconnecting the positive and if so, they're not well educated in electrical engineering most of the times. Well, I've no…
jawo
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Why does it matter to adjust current if maximum power supply limit is not exceeded?

I found a "0-32V 0-5A Portable Adjustable DC Power Supply 110V/220V" (link available if I'm allowed to write it here) and I wonder why we should have to adjust current output (this device can also adjust current output) if the current load is not…
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