Electrical – How to test the maximum current an outlet will provide

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I want to know how much power is still available on a circuit.
I went to the electric supply store but they could not locate the device I described…
I want to plug a device into an outlet and slowly increase the draw until the breaker pops so I know how many more things I can plug into the outlet.

Best Answer

Intentionally overloading breakers isn't a good thing to do and I don't know of any device that does that. What you can do is add up the wattage on the circuit and divide by the circuit voltage. A 20 Amp breaker will handle 2400 watts at 120 volts; a 15 Amp breaker will handle 1800 watts at 120 Volts.

You can also buy an AMPROBE which is a meter to measure current. You clamp it on to a single wire in the circuit and it measures the current being drawn.