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January 5th, 2004 |
Author: |
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LAN Party Guides : Power Primer Introduction So now you’re hosting a LAN party? Well one of the issues you will likely have to deal with is power, or the management of it. With a few basic rules and some planning, you should have little or no problems. Do note that while the numbers in this article mainly pertain to US/Canada and other areas that use 110V AC, the basic rules apply everywhere. For areas that use 220V AC service, simply divide the listed amperages in half.
Safety
First we should cover a little bit of safety. Most power utilities take the time to show videos at schools and pay the money to advertise about safety with electricity. Pay attention to those and follow them. The basic rule of thumb is if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do it.
When you first start setting up your LAN, please take note of fire extinguishers in the area. They should have their ratings marked on the side. The class of extinguisher is listed as a letter A, B, C or D. It may contain multiple letters, but the important letter for electrical fires is C. This rating will tell you it can be used on an electrical fire. You do not want to spray water on an electrical fire.
The next thing to be aware of is power ratings. Each power strip, surge protector, and extension cord is rated with a number telling you the amount of amperage it can handle. Extension cords are rated with a gauge value (ga). The ones you will most likely see are 12-16ga, with the lower number gauges being able to handle more power. The amperage limit will be marked on the package, and possibly the cable itself.
Please be aware that overloading these devices could destroy them or in extreme cases cause an electrical fire. Daisy chaining power strips will make the first one handle the load of all the others after it. When possible use the strips in parallel as opposed to daisy chained.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this review, please visit this thread in our forums.
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