watts and VA

[Unregistered]

Whats The Difference Between Watts And Va.
What Does It Mean , Is Watts The Power Consumed And Va The Power Available

 

[TonyM58]

In a simplistic view, then yes.

If you want the more technical answer, the VA is purely a product of the Voltage produced by the supply and the current drawn from the supply.

Watts is a product of the voltage dropped accross the resistive element of the load and the current drawn from the supply.

Volts Amps Reactive (VAR) is a product of the voltage dropped accross the reactive elements of the load and the current drawn from the supply.


the difference between these values is the Power Factor (ie Watts / VA)

With a power factor of 1, with a purely resistive load (although in practice all loads have some reactive elements) then Watts would equal VA. A generator rated at 10KVa would supply 8Kw at a power factor of 0.8., and 10Kw at unity power factor

VA is quite often refered to as "apparent power", Watts are "true power" and VAR is "reactive power"

All off the top of my head, but I hope this helps!