Opposite charges attract each other, whereas like charges repel.Ĭurrent is the flow of charge in a system or circuit and is measured in amperes.Īmps can be calculated if we know the voltage and resistance in a circuit, or they can be measured using an amp meter. What About Amps?īefore we can investigate the current and amperes of a circuit, we need to understand the charge.Ĭharge is the property of electrons and protons that affects how they behave when they interact with each other. So, when we use a kW to kWh calculator to figure out how much energy all the appliances in our homes are using, we’re adding time as a variable to obtain energy from power. When energy is measured in a household, we use kilowatt hours to keep the numbers relatively small. This means we can describe kWh as power over some period.

To see how much energy you’ve used, you need to know how long a specific appliance is consuming energy. When we bring kilowatt hours into the conversation, we’re now referring to energy.Ī good place to look to understand this is your monthly electric bill. So, when we deal with watts and kilowatts, we refer to power. So a kilowatt is 1000 W, which makes it easy to convert kW to watts on the fly. In metric terms, a ‘Kilo’ is equivalent to 1,000 of what that unit is measuring. The power requirements of your various appliances are generally labeled somewhere on the back and tell you both how much power you need to run them properly and what the consumption of each is over time. Watts are the common unit of measure when we talk about electrical power. Question: 600W are being sent at 120V.Whether you’re using a watt usage calculator or simply comparing the sizes of different solar systems, kilowatts and kilowatt-hours will always be a part of the equation.Īnother common place you’ll find this unit of power is on your monthly electricity bill. Let's go through some examples to help nail the conversion process. Advertisements Watts to amps conversion examples Power supplied to homes and businesses uses AC supply. In Europe, the UK, East Japan and most of Australia, South America, Africa andĪsia, the current changes direction 50 times per second, which is 50Hz. In Northern America and Western Japan, this usually happens 60 times per second, or 60Hz / hertz. A flashlight with a battery uses a direct current.ĪC stands for alternating current, when the current periodically changes direction. North American homes typically use 120V for their electrical supply, whilst 230V is common acrossĭC stands for direct current, when the current flows in one single direction. In the hose analogy, the volts would be the water pressure. They measure the force required to make the electrical current (amps) flow. It uses increased water volume and higher water pressure the same applies to the wattage if amps and volts are increased.

A water wheel would turn faster and longer, generating more energy if Multiplying amps (water volume) by volts (water pressure) gives you the wattage (the resulting power or energy). Watts represent the amount of energy produced by the amps and volts working together. In this analogy, the quantity (volume) of water would be the amps. It can be helpful to imagine electrical current as water in a hose. What are amps?Īmps are amperes, a unit which measures electrical current. To help understand the conversion of watts to amps, let's go through what each of these units represent.

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Kilowatt to ampere calculator