Is there such a device that you could plug a high power usage appliance in & automatically shuts itself off if it uses too much power?

spacemissing

Your idea is patently self-defeating. If there is "too much power already going on in a room", a breaker will trip anyway. You could use a lower-rated circuit breaker (say, 5 amps), but if you did, the high-power appliance would always trip it rather than operating as designed.

M.

It's called a "circuit breaker". You can reset it, if the current limitation is exceeded. Or, You could construct an adjustable, current limiting device with a relay that would trip if your preset current limit is exceeded.

WHANKING-WILLY

Yes, a fuse or circuit breaker. Are you really 'that' dumb?

khalil

there is an adjustable CURRENT controller ... you adjust it on x amperes... when the current exceeds x amperes, its relay will switch off its power. note ... in the standard wiring, the circuit breakers of the outlets and bulbs are separate ...so on plugging a bad device, only the outlets cb will trip .

AVDADDY

What you are describing is a circuit breaker, which you will find in any professional legal installation.

Frank

Yes, and it's in every house in the US, Europe and most of the world. It's a circuit breaker that trips when the power on the circuit exceeds a specific amount of amperage. I'm not aware of a device that allows one to shut power off once a set amount of electricity is used that is less than the allowed amount of amperage than what a fuse or circuit breaker will allow. Many televisions have power settings that will turn themselves off if the TV hasn't received anything from the remote such as an increase in volume or changing the channel. Of course, you wouldn't want such a feature on a refrigerator for obvious reasons. Of course, there are electrical timers that one can plug into the wall outlet, and then plug appliances into it. The timer will allow electricity to flow for a specific time that you choose. Most of the time people use timers for lamps to make it seem like someone is in the house. It's great for vacation homes.

night_train_to_memphis

"Inline fuse" comes to mind, but I would feel better about using a 50-foot 15-amp extension cord plugged into an outlet on another breaker than I would with altering the device's power cord.

P

There's nothing like that which is plug n play for residential use. However if there was it would be expensive enough to where it would probably be cheaper just to wire your circuits so it can handle your max usage without tripping anything. The other issue is this device would have to somehow react quicker than the breaker which is a much harder problem to solve than you would think.

DeMoNsLaYeR575

that device would have to be smart enough to know your house's electrical layout and to know the currently active appliances on each breaker. you would need to have this device on every single outlet and breaker in your house costing a fortune. or just use the breaker as intended

Sam

There is no such device manufactured for retail residential use, other than the human brain that figures out you can't use your hair drying and the microwave at the same time without tripping a breaker. Have your household wiring updated to avoid causing a fire.

Richard

There are many types of surge limiters on the market. You can plug them into a wall socket and have all the other electric devices plugged into it: if the total power drawn exceeds a specified level, it will trip. Simply do an internet search for surge limiters and you will find some. Or go to an industrial electric supply company for a suitable unit.