Voltage drop quick question

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bdaddycr1

Member
Location
Iowa
I know how to figure voltage drop, no problem, my question is, when figuring voltage drop for a general purpose recep what do i use for the amp. in the formula?thanks wade
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Re: Voltage drop quick question

Thats the $100 question. For commerical its 180 VA per strap. You may want to allow more loading, the ideal is if you know the connected load.
The NEC is the minimum...
 

dereckbc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Plano, TX
Re: Voltage drop quick question

Myself and other engineers have debated this subject several times, and no definitive answer has surfaced unless you have a dedicated known load. I primarily design data centers, and have collected data from thousands of dedicated circuits, and the mean value is between 10 and 12 amps on a 20-amp breaker.

As Tom said there is no good answer. If money and space is no problem you can use 80% of the breaker size, but it will probably be overkill.
 

bennie

Esteemed Member
Re: Voltage drop quick question

Calculating an unknown is impossible. I created a known fact calculation, which is simply place the loadcenter in a location that no 20 amp circuit run is over 90 feet in length, with 12 outlets.
 
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