Welcome back to Ask Giz, the fortnightly series where we answer your questions from all over the tech, science, and health worlds.
If you’ve got a burning question you’d love us to answer, then shoot it on over on the submissions page.
Today’s question comes from Claudia in Epping. Claudia wants to know: Can you plug too many things into an outlet?
Looking left and right, I’ve got…. Oh my gosh, 13 things hooked into plug extensions, all serviced by a single extension cable running across the walls of my room (servicing my gaming computer, tablet, fan, and all of my other office electronics).
So…. How many can we realistically have plugged into an outlet? Let’s dive in.
Side note from my former electrician Dad (shout-out to him, he’s amazing), who helped me out with some of the information in this article, you should not modify the wiring of your house unless you are a licenced electrician. It’s dangerous and you could be hurt.
How many plugs can you have inserted in an outlet?
Let’s get our bearings. Having ‘too many’ things plugged into an outlet is determined by wattage and the maximum amount the outlet is capable of supplying.
In Australia, outlets are largely capable of up to at 240 volts, however, since 2000, new installations are capable of up to 230V (except in Western Australia and some parts of Queensland). These rules are dictated under AS/NZS 3000:2018.
If you’d like to know if your outlet is servicing 230 or 240 volts, you can check with a multimeter (though of course, be extremely careful and don’t touch the conductive parts of the device). It may also say on the outlet with the faceplate removed, on the building plans for your home, or you could ask an electrician to figure it out for you.
The common 240V outlet, found in most homes across Australia, delivers 10 amps, to a total serviceable power output of 2400 watts. Naturally, the now standardised 230V outlet is capable of up to 2300 watts.
Keep in mind, we’re talking about individual plugs here – so if you have an outlet with two sockets, then both of those sockets will be capable of delivering up to 2300-2400 watts.
Let’s circle back to the question – how many things can you have plugged into an outlet? Well, there’s no straight-forward answer, and provided your devices aren’t exceeding the 2300-2400 watt threshold, you should be within the serviceable limit of the outlet.
This should be both a breath of fresh air and a warning. Say you have a 2000W kettle, for example, and a 500W heater. If both plugs are connected to the same outlet, via a power board perhaps, then you will very likely trip the board – forcing you to go to your power box and reset it manually.
Let’s do the maths for an office space – I’ll calculate it right now for my own office, which is powered entirely off of a single wall socket.
There’s my desktop computer (650W), my Google Pixel Tablet connected to its dock (15W), two Google Pixel chargers (30W), my desk fan (7.5W), my multi-charger (70W), my Nanoleaf tiles (65W), and my Eero modem (7.7W). There are other things, but these are the devices most commonly used, while the others sit idly.
The total power consumption of these devices racks up to 875W – which means I’ve got plenty of watts left if I wanted to connect, say, a gaming laptop or a racing wheel to my power board (which I have in the past without any issues).
If you’d like to calculate your single outlet power use yourself, you can do so by looking under the device for their power consumption details (look for the wattage or W number, and add these together across your devices).
Additionally, be careful if you’re going to be using a power board, and ensure you’re using a board from a reputable manufacturer. A dodgy board may damage your devices. Also, of course, keep the area dust-free, don’t have blankets or a pile of clothes touching the board, and have a generous amount of space around your plugs.
All that said, this isn’t an invitation to overload a single outlet in your home with all your appliances – it’s still best practice to spread these appliances among your outlets evenly (this puts less stress on power boards you may be using). Just be cautious that, the more devices you add to a power outlet, the more watts you’re using, and the closer you get to potentially going over the 2300-2400V threshold
Plug it in
Figuring out how many things you can have plugged in comes down to basic maths, really.
Again, to reiterate – don’t be silly with your outlets. If you think the wattage of your outlet is too low, get in touch with an electrician. If you’re not an electrician, don’t try to fix it yourself.
If you’d like to submit a question to be answered in a future Ask Giz instalment, we’d love to hear it.
Ask Giz is a fortnightly series where we answer your questions, be it tech, science, gadget, health or gaming related. This is a reader-involved series where we rely on Gizmodo Australia’s audience to submit questions. If you have a question for Giz, you can submit it here. Or check out the answer to our last Ask Giz: What should you do with all your old, unused cables?