Calculator __top__: Lra To Amps

Sam grabbed his multimeter and headed to the roof. The AC’s nameplate read: Compressor RLA: 11 A He knew the numbers, but didn’t truly understand them—until his mentor, an old electrician named Carla, arrived.

Sam tested the compressor. On start-up, he saw a spike for 0.2 seconds, then 11 A steady—but the unit still tripped. He checked the breaker. It was a standard 15 A breaker (not HACR-rated). That 58 A surge, even for a fraction of a second, pushed the magnetic trip in the standard breaker. lra to amps calculator

Carla said, wiping sweat from her brow, “LRA means Locked Rotor Amps. That’s the sudden surge of current the motor draws the instant it tries to start, but the rotor is stuck. RLA is Running Load Amps—what it uses once it’s spinning freely.” Sam grabbed his multimeter and headed to the roof

LRA = 58 A Motor type: Single-phase AC compressor Output: Approximate RLA = 58 ÷ 5.3 ≈ 10.9 A (round to 11 A) On start-up, he saw a spike for 0

Desired running amps = 15 A Output: Expected LRA = 15 × 5.5 ≈ 82.5 A

Sam asked.