I was pricing vacuum cleaners and some say they have 12 volt motors and some 6 amps. Which is the better buy?
Hmm, where to start. I am going to guess you weren't one of us geeks who took Basic and Advanced electronics in high school. :) Power [measured in watts when referring to electricity] is equal to voltage multiplied by amperage. So, just what amperage do the vacuums with the 12 volts have? And, what voltage motors are in the ones running on 6 amps? Find out those other variables respectively and do the math to figure out total power generated.
The actual measure of electrical power is called watts. Watts is simply volts times amps (VA). That is what you really want to know. The higher the wattage rating the more powerful the motor.
I knew the science, but doubted my knowledge, which was probably the marketers' goal. Searching for a stick or hand-vac, and some say volts, some say amps, none say both, and the rare one lists watts or any kind of measure of suction. They don't *want* us to be able to do the math.
Now I m confused ...There are several motors measured in amps! There are several tools that list amps and/volts and NOT both. Even electric motors will be 6.5, 10, 12, 13 Amps... 24, 40 Volts. The 2 that I looked at last I noticed the amps were corded and the volts were battery operated But I m sure if I looked at more that may not be a general rule.... there may be another corded mower that says amps... Again, I am way more confused by these posts now
Volts and amps are different things. Power is the product of volts times amps. The motor in the vacuum can be rated in watts or in horse power. 12 volts times 6 amps is 72 watts. This is about 0.1 horsepower (746 watts in one horsepower). Some vacuum cleaners rate their machines suction power in air-watts. A bigger or more powerful motor doesn't always mean better suction. The design could be poor or inefficient so you really need to know how well the machine acutally picks up dust and dirt. The air-watt rating should be a better indicator than just watts or motor size. If you want a good vacuum cleaner, check out Consumer Reports.
