Difference between revisions of "3211: Amperage"
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | {{incomplete|This page was created by | + | {{incomplete|This page was created by an AMPED-UP BOT WHO'S ON FIRE, BABY!. Don't remove this notice too soon please.}} |
| − | [[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. | + | [[Cueball]] explains to [[Ponytail]] how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world there is a main breaker limiting the maximum current available to properties with common limits being 60A, 100A or 200A. Individual circuits afterwards will have breakers that limit the maximum current to usually something between 10-32 amperes. 15-20A is a common breaker size for circuits powering outlets in the US, 32A is the common breaker size in the UK, and 10-16A is standard in mainland Europe. Cueball however is somehow managing to draw 10,000 amps from his power company, and has also updated his breaker board to allow his wall sockets to draw 500 amps of power. Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need, and, as Cueball soon admits, enough power to cause fire hazards. |
| − | Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his circuit | + | Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his {{w|circuit breaker}}s. Circuit breakers exist to prevent more current from flowing through wires than is expected. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit down the line or by the user trying to draw too much power at once. A tripped circuit breaker is an easy fix, but it means whatever you were trying to power on that circuit has been interrupted, which is apparently too much for Cueball. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping, either by soldering wire into the {{w|fusebox}} in place of the fuses or (in Cueball's case) by placing breakers rated at excessively high amperages, defeats this safety mechanism, meaning a fault such as a short circuit is much more likely to become a house fire. The end result is that Cueball has designed an extremely dangerous system with a high level of overkill in order to enable more of his own mistakes and prevent minor nuisances from slowing him down. |
Additionally, while Cueball has stated he has changed the service he receives from the local utility company and the ratings of his breakers, he has ''not'' stated he has changed the wiring in his house to the outlets. Typical wires for outlets are between 14 and 10 gauge, rated between 15 and 30 amps. If he has appliances drawing anywhere near 500 amps, he will most likely melt the wires both inside his walls and inside his appliances and start a fire, even if there is no fault. Cueball is actually aware of this, but rather than put up with normal levels of power he's now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load. | Additionally, while Cueball has stated he has changed the service he receives from the local utility company and the ratings of his breakers, he has ''not'' stated he has changed the wiring in his house to the outlets. Typical wires for outlets are between 14 and 10 gauge, rated between 15 and 30 amps. If he has appliances drawing anywhere near 500 amps, he will most likely melt the wires both inside his walls and inside his appliances and start a fire, even if there is no fault. Cueball is actually aware of this, but rather than put up with normal levels of power he's now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load. | ||
Revision as of 09:45, 24 February 2026
| Amperage |
 Title text: Oh, and do you have any tips on how to vacuum up copper that's melted into your carpet? |
Explanation
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This is one of 68 incomplete explanations: This page was created by an AMPED-UP BOT WHO'S ON FIRE, BABY!. Don't remove this notice too soon please. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
Cueball explains to Ponytail how he has modified some parts of his house's wiring to avoid having power to his appliances interrupted on account of overcurrent conditions from running too many appliances at once. In many places around the world there is a main breaker limiting the maximum current available to properties with common limits being 60A, 100A or 200A. Individual circuits afterwards will have breakers that limit the maximum current to usually something between 10-32 amperes. 15-20A is a common breaker size for circuits powering outlets in the US, 32A is the common breaker size in the UK, and 10-16A is standard in mainland Europe. Cueball however is somehow managing to draw 10,000 amps from his power company, and has also updated his breaker board to allow his wall sockets to draw 500 amps of power. Both numbers are absurdly high — far more than any consumer appliance could need, and, as Cueball soon admits, enough power to cause fire hazards.
Cueball's reasoning for this is equally absurd: he is frustrated by his circuit breakers. Circuit breakers exist to prevent more current from flowing through wires than is expected. A tripped breaker is caused by either a short circuit down the line or by the user trying to draw too much power at once. A tripped circuit breaker is an easy fix, but it means whatever you were trying to power on that circuit has been interrupted, which is apparently too much for Cueball. Preventing a circuit breaker from tripping, either by soldering wire into the fusebox in place of the fuses or (in Cueball's case) by placing breakers rated at excessively high amperages, defeats this safety mechanism, meaning a fault such as a short circuit is much more likely to become a house fire. The end result is that Cueball has designed an extremely dangerous system with a high level of overkill in order to enable more of his own mistakes and prevent minor nuisances from slowing him down.
Additionally, while Cueball has stated he has changed the service he receives from the local utility company and the ratings of his breakers, he has not stated he has changed the wiring in his house to the outlets. Typical wires for outlets are between 14 and 10 gauge, rated between 15 and 30 amps. If he has appliances drawing anywhere near 500 amps, he will most likely melt the wires both inside his walls and inside his appliances and start a fire, even if there is no fault. Cueball is actually aware of this, but rather than put up with normal levels of power he's now trying to find more durable cords and wires that can handle the excessive load.
Transcript
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Seems like this would be at least tangentially related to the Cursed Connectors series, although it's just the outlets and cords this time. Zakator (talk) 05:51, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
I would assume that this is related to styropyro's latest video? 142.126.42.193 05:59, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
- I’ll second the comment about the new styropyro video; it seems very likely that it inspired Randall to make this comic and is probably worth a mention. 2607:FB91:829C:47BD:C826:B8DB:5A5E:913A 07:50, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
200 amps is NOT "an amount of electricity power"; The amp is a unit of electrical current, from which power can be derived by multiplying by voltage.2001:8003:7087:E602:3CBE:B25:5BFC:61BD 07:41, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
The current explanation seems to assume that Cueball is aware in advance of some of the problems his scheme is likely to cause, and is trying to forestall them. That seems unlikely - it's Cueball after all. It's far more likely that he has already melted all his wiring (and ruined his carpet), but just considers that a new engineering challenge to overcome. 82.13.184.33 09:28, 24 February 2026 (UTC) Add comment
