Hi Thorin. There is always a load, if anything is connected to the actual transformer itself, at all. An on light, a capacitor, resistor, diode, etc. But, it only draws enough power to supply the load. As the load increases or decreases, it draws more or less electricity. An easy way to think about it is this. We hear warnings from the electric company in the summer time to reduce our use of air conditioners, etc, because of the high load on the generating stations (transformer). You usually don't hear those in the winter time. Air conditioners use a lot of power, furnace motors don't. Different loads. But, the electric company transformers are sitting there working away, winter and summer, 24-7. Just like yours. They only draw enough power to supply whatever load is occurring at the time. Here is another way to look at it. Stand in front of the electric meter at your house, and watch the wheel go around. Then have someone inside start turning on lights, appliances, etc. Watch what the wheel does. The more power you draw, the faster the wheel goes. In my business, one of the ways we can tell if a house is occupied or not, is look at the electric meter. If it is at a dead stop, then generally the house isn't lived in. On the other hand, if it is moving, even very slowly, something is drawing power. I've seen some pretty decrepit houses that people were living in. Hope it helps. Barry.
-----Original Message----- From: Marty.Thorin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [S-Scale Modeling] RE: How much power am I using? Continuing this question, how many watts is the transformer drawing when there isn't a load? You can't tell me nothing. I can hear it humming! The poll results are in....... To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL, to reply to the sender, use REPLY. I do NOT know if this works on all e-mail software, but it works on some of the most common ones. Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
