What is the power handling capacity of a controller?
Controllers come in 8 and 16 channel versions. The 16 channel version is two banks of 8 channels. In all cases, an individual channel can handle up to 8 amps. A bank of 8 channels is limited to a maximum of 20 amps (subject to additional restrictions below.) If you attempt to draw the maximum current of 8 amps from all channels in a bank, you will exceed the bank maximum of 20 amps because 8 channels times 8 amps would be 64 amps. If an 8 channel controller was wired to a 20 amp circuit, then you could draw the full 20 amps. This is not normally the case because a standard electrical plug is rated for only 15 amps. Therefore, the total current draw through the controller with a standard power cord on it must not exceed 15 amps. A 16 channel controller is a little more complicated. If each of its 8 channel banks were wired to a separate 20 amp circuit, then you could draw the full 40 amps through the controller. Meaning the total of channels 1-8 could be up to 20 amps and the total of c
