Think I know the answer to this - but would like a little reassurance!
Owing to a new local phenomenon known as "Recurrent Load Shedding" (like - no mains supply) I need to set up alternative power supplies for computers in Chez Feline (aka the Cathouse).
First thought was to buy a generator - but have now decided that I don't need no noisy gas-guzzling machine outside the backdoor, so have now embarked on the route of DC-AC inverters powered by deep discharge lead acid batteries.
When trying to do a power budget (in watts), I am faced with the fact that most of the equipment that will be hooked to the inverter have a label to the effect that the power requirements are: " 100v - 240v AC - 1.2A"
So on the face of it - this equipment could take between 120 watts and 288 watts. Hmmm!
Would I be right to assume that the label indicates that the equipment will take a
maximum of 1.2 amps (ie. 120 watts), and this would (presumably) be at the lower input voltage (100v), so at 240 volts I could expect it to still take only 120 watts (which would mean only 0.5 amps current drain)?
Also - if anyone has any knowledge of average power consumption of a computer system as opposed to quoted panel sticker consumption - and would be prepared to share this information, I would be most grateful (what I'm getting at here is that a computer where the CPU is thrashing away at 100% is going to take more power that a CPU running at, say, 30% utilisation - so how much power does a lightly used computer actually consume?).
I also have to observe that this whole exercise has made me painfully aware of just how fragile our personal ecosystem becomes when you can't expect reliable house current from the wall socket - think computers, printers, and the myriad of rechargeable battery powered devices we rely on, all of which depend on house current! A lot of local businesses just have to close down without power (no backup power supplies on their telephone systems) and there are all sorts of downstream consequences (like traffic congestion owing to no traffic lights, and even the cellular network is taking strain because the duration of power outages exceed that planned for when installing power backup in local cells).
