In a message dated 7/14/04 12:02:23 PM,
trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com writes:

<< Anything that operates on electricity draws "x" amps at "y" voltage,
PERIOD.
It will draw that amount of amps as long as its running. It draws "x" amps
whether it runs for 1 minute or 4 days. If it draws 5 amps and it runs for
an hour, it has used 5 AMP HOURS of power but it didn't run on 5 amps per
hour. If the same thing runs for 1/2 hour it used 2.5 amp hours but it was
still drawing 5 amps while it was on.

Point being that to say something draws 10 amps per hour is kind of
misleading since it also draws 10 amps per second or per week or per year
and on and on.

Am I nit-picking? >>

Bill,

You are not nit picking. It is important to recognize the difference between
amps and amp/hrs. My LectraSan consumes only about 4 amp/hrs per flush but
draws 50 amps while it is on. A PO tried to wire the darn thing up using 12 gauge
wire and twist nuts, and could never understand why he couldn't get it to
work properly.

Larry Z

Guys,

This is crazy making.

We are used to the term AMP-HOURS in judging battery capacity. It is really
a short cut from a power perspective, there is an implied Voltage, 12VDC, or
whatever. The "AMP-HOUR" term is a product... AMPS times Hours at the
implied voltage. 110012 = 101012

Amps per Hour is current flow PER unit time or Amps/Hour (/ = divide by) and
it doesn't describe anything useful. The closest you can come is, dQ/dt,
which is charge flow per unit time makes up the definition of Amperes.

So, use AMP-HOUR to estimate battery needs/requirements, don't use AMP/Hour
at all.