I didn't know whether this should go under networking or hardware, so I put it here, because it's probably a little bit more of an electronics question. I have a network. I need my network to function around the house. It doesn't have to be done in the same way, just the same functions that it's doing. I have a lot of work to bring it back to fully functional, so my routines have a chance of working.

The other day, I smelled a burning smell. No fire or anything, just a smell. That tells me, I have to do everything I can to reduce the draw from the surge protectors. If I have done everything I can, and there's still and issue, the next steps will be taken. But whatever I do, I need the same "function". So my first thought was how about replacing 2 4 port switches with 1 8 port switch? I would think that 1 power brick would draw less power than 2 4 port switches, with 2 bricks. At least from the surge protector, which is it's problem.

---
Here, I'm simply asking if the I'm right or not. Will one 8 port switch, draw less current than 2 4 port switches wired together?

better to read the documentation.

Buy a amp meter and use it to total load used. Then see what upc is rated at. Then amperage rating on wall ckt < breaker or fuse rating >

PS. If it is hot anywhere on the upc. Check batteries I guess.

I suspect switch power draw is relatively little affected by how many ports are in use, most power going into "fixed" cost and waste heat. Similarly I would expect the provided wall wart to be nominally different between two similarly designed 5 & 8-port models, if different at all. If using 2 4-port switches, you're probably wired for no more than 6 devices not counting your router. Switching to an 8-port would get you 7. FWIW, the low-cost Trendnet 8-port I'm currently using is on a 1.0 amp 5.0V brick.

How do you know it is a surge protector problem? Did you lose a port in one of the switches? Depends on what technology but your particular surge protectors uses but they do have a limited life and can only take so many surge events. Your not supposed to plug in high current devices like laser printers. Someone in my work group made the mistake of plugging in a laser printer into a UPS. Is this really a XY problem?

Without some other context there is no correlation between a burning smell and the need to reduce power consumption. Burning smell from electronics, food, possibly hair or from some outside source like wood or trash or hot asphalt all differ.

Not enough information to say one way or the other but I would guess the difference would be minimal especially if they are from the same manufacture. I do have some "green" switches which are supposed to reduce power by about 70% but never really check it out.

A died NIC may cause this. A long time ago I found exactly this after an "electrically" burning smell in a room.

I don't think the two issues are related. A burning smell can be from any source, even your power strip (many have burned up.)

Yep. Like a case fan I had that decided to stop working and let out the smell/smoke. Sees like I've had a power supply go bad too. Problem is our nose doesn't work real well to point you to the problem sometimes unless your right on top of it!

Thanks for responding. I dont know how to use amp measuring devices. I finally got to make a textual map of where everything is plugged in, and i unplugged what im not needing. I didnt need a bunch of extra computers that were off for now hogging power. There ARE parts that stay on. I have one switch with one dead port. I probably will just buy an 8 port switch.

By the way, i only smelled it once that strong.

The smell was definately electric. I jumped from a 12 port surge protector and an 8 port, to another 12 port. On the same circut is amother 12 port surge protector with extension cords. The first 2, are in the same wall socket. The second is on the same circut, at least.

Replaced switch with bigger switch. No more problems so far. I'm closing this. It may not be what I thought, but it's good enough.