IT guy here – I have a device called a WattBox in one of my networks so I can remotely cycle power on an outlet. It also provides me with alerts when something falls outside set parameters.
I've been getting amperage spike warnings from it – normal draw is ~3.2A, and it'll spike up to 20.6A for ~10s, and I'm not sure why.
All of the equipment plugged into it is configured to alert me if something goes wrong; I've confirmed that nothing's power cycling or otherwise functioning abnormally. The WattBox doesn't give me per-outlet power consumption readings.
The WattBox is fed by an APC UPS rated for 1000W/1500VA load and 12A input. At any given time we're sitting around 40% load on the UPS.
The WattBox support rep suggested I get the outlet tested by an electrician and also that the power spikes are 'coming from the UPS,' which seems unlikely to me.
My understanding is that you can mess with voltage all you want on the source and that might mess things up, but that amperage is based on draw, on the side of the receiver. In other words, you can't "send" more power than something draws; there has to be a vacuum to fill. So, an amperage spike would represent a device pulling more power. The exception being if you hike up the voltage enough, it would "push" so hard that something breaks, and then yes, you've got an open gate for energy to flow through.
Is my understanding incorrect, and is it possible that the UPS is actually at fault here?
My concern is that the issue is the WattBox itself. All of the most critical network gear is plugged in to it, so it represents a single point of failure.
Part of why I don't think it's any of my network gear is because these amperage spikes happen during off-hours when everything should be as idle as possible, and also because I'm not seeing any alerts, errors, or odd behaviour showing up in logs at the times I'm receiving the amperage notifications.
And, with something that's difficult to reproduce like this issue, how would one go about isolating it down to a specific WattBox outlet if it is my network gear?
Best Answer
20.6 A would be a major overload for the UPS. If the UPS isn't reporting anything unusual -- and circuit breakers aren't tripping -- you have to entertain the notion that the reports you're getting from the WattBox are simply wrong.
20 A is almost 2500 W, so yes, something would be getting hot in that amount of time! Also, I'm assuming that the whole setup is plugged into a wall outlet that's only rated at 15A.