07-02-2009, 08:12 PM
It depends on what you're concerned with. Amps is the load and you can add them up. You can buy an ammeter but I've never seen a watt-meter (maybe on the outside of the house!).
The load on your circuit is constant in watts (allowing for losses). Toy train transformers are rated in watts; Lionel used to rate loads in watts (so many for loco, lighted car, coal loader), possibly on the assumption that trans would be run full out.
In Britain, wire is rated by amps. A given wire will carry n amps no matter what the voltage. (Applies also to fuses.) 5 amps at 12 V is 60 watts which is 1/2 amp at 120 volts (and 1/4 amp at 240V).
Have I confused myself enough already?
The load on your circuit is constant in watts (allowing for losses). Toy train transformers are rated in watts; Lionel used to rate loads in watts (so many for loco, lighted car, coal loader), possibly on the assumption that trans would be run full out.
In Britain, wire is rated by amps. A given wire will carry n amps no matter what the voltage. (Applies also to fuses.) 5 amps at 12 V is 60 watts which is 1/2 amp at 120 volts (and 1/4 amp at 240V).
Have I confused myself enough already?
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.