The calculator below is used to convert watts to amps or amps to watts. You can choose from alternating currents (AC) or direct currents (DC).

At a fixed voltage, the formula for converting amps to watts is: amps = watts/volts.

For example:

1500 watts / 120 volts = 12.5 amps
3000 watts / 120 volts = 25 amps

If you’re working with larger units, like the ones you may find within a data center, it’s important to remember that 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.

The same formulas can be applied, but must be converted into watts. So if you use 10kw, you must use 10,000w.

How Amps and Watts Apply to the Data Center

Many colocation and data center providers will provide clients with power statistics in the form of amps & volts, which can then be converted to watts using the same formula listed above.

Additionally, most data center providers operate under 80 percent utilization, which means those 10kw are actually 8kw or 8,000w.

Be sure you know your data center provider’s power utilization rules before running your calculations.

What are the Differences Between Watts, Amps, and Volts?

Amps

Amps, or amperes, are a unit which measures electrical current. A good way to remember is to imagine ‘electrical current’ as toothpaste in its tube. The amps of this analogy would be the volume, or quantity, of toothpaste.

Volts

Volts are used to measure the force required to make amps, the electrical current, flow. In our toothpaste analogy, Volts would be the amount of pressure you apply to squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube.

In a typical (United States) household, 120V is typical for an electrical supply, whereas 230V is commonly used elsewhere around the globe.

Watts

Watts serve as the total amount of energy generated by the amps and volts. Multiplying your amps and volts gives you wattage.

AC/DC

DC, or direct current, occurs when an electrical current flows in a single direction. A battery-operated remote control is an example of a direct current.

AC, or alternating currents, occur when an electrical current changes direction periodically. An example of an alternating current is the wall-charger of your electronic devices.

There are many ways to calculate amps to watts or watts to amps, but save yourself some time (and your brain from short-circuiting) and use our calculator above.

For any further assistance you might need, or to ask how much power you might need for your server-project, please give us a call or reach out to [email protected].