1600 watts magnetizing current?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner-at-optosci-dot-com> 

 >The 1600 watts isnt going to heat, it is magnetizing the core.

The word "watts" should only be used when you're talking about real power.
For reactive power (like the power associated with magnetizing current) use
VA.

If you want to be really pedantic, use "VA" for apparent power and VAr for
reactive power.

If we denote real power by "P", reactive power by "Q", apparent power by
"S", and power factor by cos(phi) (phi is the phase shift between voltage
and current) then the following relations hold:

P=Vrms*Irms*cos(phi)
Q=Vrms*Irms*sin(phi)
S=Vrms*Irms
S^2=P^2+Q^2

These assume sine waves. When we start to deal with seriously non-sinusoidal
currents, as in SSTC rectifier/filter power supplies, there are two power
factors- the original "displacement" power factor plus a "harmonic" one.

You probably couldn't care less about this stuff, but at least try to
remember that when you measure line current, and multiply it by 120, the
answer you get is the apparent power S (whereas in most cases you actually
want to know P)

Steve C.