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AC Power - two circuits better than one?

Reorganizing my system starting from the wall receptacles (rewiring is not a possibility) but quickly ran into a conundrum. Is it better to source power for my audio system from several different circuits or one dedicated circuit?

More info: I have three possible options. Two 15 amp circuits (1 shared with a couple of lights the other with several wall receptacles including a pc) & one dedicated 20 amp circuit (but with only one single duplex outlet). I have mono blocks, power amp, preamps, digital & analog audio sources, & digital HT gear.

Should I distribute my system across these three circuits or try & source them all from the single dedicated 20 amp outlet? If distribute, what kind of break down makes sense?
salmonsc

Showing 8 responses by puerto

puerto
372 posts
 
Salmonsc: Thanks for this thread - I never realized this issue could arise. Without taking over your thread I would like to ask your respondents to comment on my situation - similar to yours.

I have 4 dedicated 20 amp circuits for the equipment including a pair of monos and an APC Power Conditioner for all the rest of the stuff. Circuits #1 and #3 are on one leg of the circuit breaker box and Circuits #2 and #4 are on the other leg of the circuit breaker box. The power conditioner is on Circuit #1 while the monos are on circuits #2 and #4 respectively. Have I created a potential problem for myself? Perhaps the monos should be both plugged into circuit #3?
puerto
372 posts
 
Jea48 Actually I have 4 separate circuits (not dedicated branch circuits as you described). I live in Mexico and had an electrician do the work. I would assume that circuits 1 & 3 would be on leg 1 because they are odd numbers while circuits 2 & 4 would be on leg 2. Here they use multi-strand wire, not romex so I had them pull three 12 gauge multi-strand wires from each respective breaker to the corresponding receptacle. The three lines were for hot/neutral/ground. The ground is grounded directly to the (USA) standard 200 amp panel which, in turn, is grounded to 8' of copper rod with #8 gauge wire.
puerto
372 posts
 
Jea48: We do have 120/240 servicing the house. Our A/C units use 240V with 2 pole breakers. Thank you for that input, now I can figure out how to get the pair of monos and the APC power conditioner/battery back-up on the same leg.

Weather here is chilly at night in the low 60's and gets into the mid 80's during the day! It is definitely "sweater weather" once the sun gets low in the sky.

Thanks again to Salmonsc for the informative thread. I hope others can benefit from the comments above.
puerto
372 posts
 
Jea48: As a follow-up, you are correct, I checked voltages and circuits 1 & 2 are one one leg while circuits 3 & 4 are on the other leg. The question now is what is the best configuration for plugging in. I have three power cords (pair of monos and the APC) that must be plugged in. Right now I have the monos on circuits 3 & 4 (same leg) and the APC on circuit 1 (other leg). Is there a better way? I figure that the APC is so incredibly sensitive that having it on the opposite leg would probably be OK. Each circuit is 20 amp with only one receptacle.
puerto
372 posts
 
salmonsc: FWIW, I took the advice of Jea48 and switched the wires on one pair of breakers in the main panel box and that action put all of my equipment on one leg of the incoming power. It took about 10 minutes. You only have to switch the hot leads, not the neutral or ground wires because they are secured to common bars within your box.

Thanks for your thread and thanks to Elizabeth and Jea48 for their useful input.

Just thought you should know that switching circuits is not all that difficult. Just be sure to turn the WHOLE BOX OFF before making any changes.
puerto
372 posts
 
Now you have me worried. I simply switched the hot lead from one breaker on Leg 2 to a breaker on Leg 1 ( and vice versa). The breakers only have one wire each connected to them so the "living room" circuit (formerly on leg 1) is now on leg 2 and the "stereo circuit" (formerly on leg 2) is now on leg 1 where the "living room" circuit used to be. It was a two wire operation. I left the neutral and ground wires where they were. There was no other place to move them to. Everything seems to be working just fine. So have I screwed up? These circuits have three wires each - Hot, Neutral and Ground. I am not following what you mean by two hot conductors on each circuit.
puerto
372 posts
 
Yogiboy: Whew! Thanks - I thought as much but began to doubt myself after reading Jea48s post. He is obviously much more versed in this stuff than I am. You probably are too!
puerto
372 posts
 
Yep, that's correct on all counts!
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