Question AVR recommendations for Office Workstation setup ?

[Jonskie]

Good day all,

I would just like to ask a question on how much wattage of AVR do I need to provide on a single workstation/table that has three users with:

• 3 Laptop (1 per user - Lenovo ThinkPad X13 and T14)
• 6 external monitors (Lenovo ThinkVision T24m-20 with 2 monitors per user)
• Other devices: charger used for phone and other devices

Is it recommended or possible to use one AVR for all these devices? If yes, what AVR can you recommend and how many watts?

You may find the link of sample photo of the workstation for visualization.
Workstation layout

 

[Misgar]

The monitors are rated at 140W maximum and the battery chargers for the laptops are around 50W each, so that's 6 x 140W + 3 x 50W plus, say 50W for phone chargers, making a grand total of 1040W.

Since the monitors are unlikely to pull 140W (unless set to maximum brightness) and instead typically use only 22W, you'd be safe with something much lower than 1040W.
https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/pd500520-thinkvision-t24m-20-monitor-overview

6 x 22W + 3 x 50W + 50W = 332W.

If you're going to be using the monitors in a bright sunlit room with the screen brightness set high, get a more powerful AVR, e.g. 800W to 1kW. If your room is dark and the monitors will be set low, get a 500 to 600W AVR.

The AC mains supply is very stable in my location, so I've neverbought an AVR, relying instead for the same function in a UPS.

Check your local suppliers and see if they will allow you to try out an AVR on approval.

 

[Jonskie]

The monitors are rated at 140W maximum and the battery chargers for the laptops are around 50W each, so that's 6 x 140W + 3 x 50W plus, say 50W for phone chargers, making a grand total of 1040W.

Since the monitors are unlikely to pull 140W (unless set to maximum brightness) and instead typically use only 22W, you'd be safe with something much lower than 1040W.
https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/pd500520-thinkvision-t24m-20-monitor-overview

6 x 22W + 3 x 50W + 50W = 332W.

If you're going to be using the monitors in a bright sunlit room with the screen brightness set high, get a more powerful AVR, e.g. 800W to 1kW. If your room is dark and the monitors will be set low, get a 500 to 600W AVR.

The AC mains supply is very stable in my location, so I've neverbought an AVR, relying instead for the same function in a UPS.

Check your local suppliers and see if they will allow you to try out an AVR on approval.

Hi Misgar,

Thanks a lot for the input and the computation as well! This really helped me to identify how much wattage of AVR do I need per workstation in the office.

With this, I hope I can still ask a few more questions:

• Do you know a way to identify how much power does the monitors consume? Aside from using a power meter. Although based from your answer that it is less likely to pull 140W unless set to maximum brightness. (Just out of curiosity and for future reference as well)
• Right now, the monitors that we're using has the capability to be used as a charger for the laptop (via USB-C) that is using 65W. So for example, I have two monitors, monitor 1 = 22W; monitor 2 (connected to laptop via USB-C) = 22W for display + 65W used to charge the laptop?

I don't know if the second question makes any sense. Anyways, thanks again for the inputs!

 

[Misgar]

Power meters are relatively cheap and can be purchased for less than $15 US. Of course you'd need a meter compatible with the type of mains plugs used in your country.
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Brighter-Consumption-Electricity-Protection/dp/B08DG5YSTD/ref=sr_1_7?crid=316E4Z8205LGK&keywords=power+meter&qid=1697097523&sprefix=power+meter,aps,181&sr=8-7

The only other non-destructive way I can think of to measure power is to use a clamp on ammeter to measure the AC current entering the PSU, but these are more expensive than power meters.

Although the monitor may come with USB-C ports, I doubt they have the capability to supply 65W to charge a laptop. They would have to support PD (Power Delivery) charging at 20V and 3.25A, in order to achieve 65W (20V x 3.25A = 65W).
https://www.howtogeek.com/769888/what-is-usb-power-delivery-usb-pd/

I cannot see anything in the T24m-20 spec sheet that describes PD charging, so it's probable the monitor only provides 5V for standard low power USB-C peripherals.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/accessories-and-software/monitors/office/62d9gat6uk?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F

Don't take this as 100% correct. I could be wrong and your monitor might support PD charging.

You would of course still need the correct 65W rated USB-C cable, even if the monitor does allow PD charging. A 100W PD cable would also be OK.
https://www.amazon.com/NFHK-Type-C-Version-Support-Laptop/dp/B0B56RPS51/ref=sr_1_5?crid=22WX31I6XPWLM&keywords=65w+pd+cable&qid=1697098844&sprefix=65w+pd+cabl,aps,291&sr=8-5&th=1

I have never attempted to charge my USB-C laptop from the USB-C 5V output of my UGREEN GaN charger, but instead I use the correct PD output which automatically delivers 20V at 5A.

In theory you shouldn't damage your laptop if you connect its USB-C port to the Lenovo monitor for data transfer, but don't expect the T23m-20 to act as a laptop charger.

Addendum.

I've just spotted one of the Lenovo USB ports is BC1.2, but this is not the same as the new PD standard and only supports 5 to 7.5W charging.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/306290/what-is-bc-1-2-port

USB-BC stands for "USB Battery Charging" and it is an optional enhancement to USB ports allowing them to provide power to charge mobile devices, with or without a data connection. In a sea of multiple standards for doing this, USB-BC is probably the most widely implemented and the most simple to implement, but it is fairly modest and its maximum power level - 5 to 7.5 Watts - is low by today's standard, relegating it to a "lowest common denominator" of charging standards.