AVR suggestions for setting up an office workstation?
AVR suggestions for setting up an office workstation?
Good day all,
I'm wondering about the appropriate wattage of an AVR for a workstation with three users. The setup includes three laptops, six external monitors, and additional devices like a phone charger. It's important to know if it's feasible to use one AVR for all these items and, if so, which model is best suited and how much power it consumes. You can view a sample image of the workstation layout for better understanding.
The monitors have a maximum rating of 140W, while the laptop battery chargers are about 50W each. Adding three 50W chargers and roughly 50W for phone chargers brings the total to around 1040W. However, since the monitors usually operate at only 22W and not full brightness, it's reasonable to stay well below that amount.
For a bright room with high screen brightness, consider an AVR between 800W and 1kW. If you're in a dim environment and keep the monitors at lower settings, a 500 to 600W AVR would suffice.
The AC power supply in my area is stable, so I haven’t purchased an AVR myself. Instead, I’ve used a UPS for that purpose. It’s worth checking with local suppliers to see if they permit testing an AVR under approval.
Hi Misgar,
Thanks a lot for the input and the calculations too! This really clarified how much wattage from the AVR I should need per workstation in the office.
I’m still wondering if there’s a method to figure out the power consumption of the monitors. Besides using a power meter, I was thinking maybe it’s unlikely to draw 140W unless brightness is at maximum. (Just curious and for future use)
Currently, the monitors we have can also act as chargers for laptops via USB-C, drawing 65W. For instance, if I have two monitors—monitor 1 uses 22W and monitor 2 (connected to the laptop) uses 65W—would that mean the total is 87W?
I’m not sure if this second point makes sense. Still, thanks again for your help!
Power meters are relatively cheap and can be purchased for less than $15 US. Of course you'd need a meter compatible with the type of mains plugs used in your country.
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Brighter...181&sr=8-7
The only other non-destructive way I can think of to measure power is to use a clamp on ammeter to measure the AC current entering the PSU, but these are more expensive than power meters.
Although the monitor may come with USB-C ports, I doubt they have the capability to supply 65W to charge a laptop. They would have to support PD (Power Delivery) charging at 20V and 3.25A, in order to achieve 65W (20V x 3.25A = 65W).
https://www.howtogeek.com/769888/what-is...ry-usb-pd/
I cannot see anything in the T24m-20 spec sheet that describes PD charging, so it's probable the monitor only provides 5V for standard low power USB-C peripherals.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/accessori...kgo.com%2F
Don't take this as 100% correct. I could be wrong and your monitor might support PD charging.
You would of course still need the correct 65W rated USB-C cable, even if the monitor does allow PD charging. A 100W PD cable would also be OK.
https://www.amazon.com/NFHK-Type-C-Versi...r=8-5&th=1
I have never attempted to charge my USB-C laptop from the USB-C 5V output of my UGREEN GaN charger, but instead I use the correct PD output which automatically delivers 20V at 5A.
In theory you shouldn't damage your laptop if you connect its USB-C port to the Lenovo monitor for data transfer, but don't expect the T23m-20 to act as a laptop charger.
Addendum.
I've just spotted one of the Lenovo USB ports is BC1.2, but this is not the same as the new PD standard and only supports 5 to 7.5W charging.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/question...c-1-2-port
USB-BC stands for "USB Battery Charging" and it is an optional enhancement to USB ports allowing them to provide power to charge mobile devices, with or without a data connection. In a sea of multiple standards for doing this, USB-BC is probably the most widely implemented and the most simple to implement, but it is fairly modest and its maximum power level - 5 to 7.5 Watts - is low by today's standard, relegating it to a "lowest common denominator" of charging standards.