Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
On Saturday, 9 July 2022 16:46:02 BST Bob Dunlop wrote: > Ah Google threw up a French datasheet. Nightmode is <2.5W. > So I guess it's a measurment issue. I actually have an English copy of the User Manual, but I didn't think to search for Night Mode. > On a related note I've just about finished converting the house (inside > and out) to LED/CFL lighting. Can anyone think of a use for all the old > incandescent bulbs or even how they can be recycled? There used to be projects where you put an electric light bulb in an old biscuit tin with holes in it, but I can't remember why. :-) I put all of ours into the electrical bin at the Recycling Centre. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
Hi again, On Sat, Jul 09 at 02:55, Terry Coles wrote: ... > The Inverter is a Platinum 3800 or 4200 (I think) made by Diehl. There is no > mention of a standby or sleep mode. Since it was installed in 2011, I assume > that the design pre-dates that by some years and perhaps they didn't have > that > feature back then. Ah Google threw up a French datasheet. Nightmode is <2.5W. So I guess it's a measurment issue. Our inverter is a 2015 model, the original 2011 one failed after four years. The installer supplied a newer model under warantee. On a related note I've just about finished converting the house (inside and out) to LED/CFL lighting. Can anyone think of a use for all the old incandescent bulbs or even how they can be recycled? -- Bob Dunlop -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
On Saturday, 9 July 2022 14:23:13 BST Bob Dunlop wrote: > I also have solar so a lot of my daytime electric is "free" but I'd > check your solar standby consumption numbers. Overnight my solar > controller goes to sleep consuming <0.5W, it even turns the Ethernet > interface off. When it wakes in the morning as the solar voltage rises > it consumes no more than 10W for the few minutes before it fires up the > inverter. 57W sounds very wrong. Well I am measuring at the tails from the panels, using a meter designed to measure the house consumption at the incomers, so it may be inaccurate. I'm not sure how I could get a better reading; my Smart-meter In-house Display only shows metered energy consumption figures and not outgoing figures and I don't know of a convenient way to do it. The Inverter is a Platinum 3800 or 4200 (I think) made by Diehl. There is no mention of a standby or sleep mode. Since it was installed in 2011, I assume that the design pre-dates that by some years and perhaps they didn't have that feature back then. > And yeah solar has paid back the investment over the years even if SSE > has defaulted on the FITS payments this year. I guess they have > financial problems and it easy for them to stitch up the small guys. I've had no difficulty with E-On, although they were a rubbish supplier. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
On 09/07/2022 09:53, Peter Merchant wrote: Total standby power of devices in the house = 28.5 watts This is sort of invalid because the monitors on my 2 tower PC's are on a switch that turns them off when the PC is off so their standby power is less then. Also the meter seemed to register in increments of 0.5 watts. That's not a lot for a whole house, is it? At work we have a server which - from memory - used 30 or 40 watts when in standby. So just my thoughts on saving some money. A rough calculation gives a cost of £62.5 per year keeping the house on standby. I don't think it's quite that simple. That 'waste' energy will be heating the house, so in winter (or, most of the year here) it will be turning your heating off sooner. Assuming of course you have good insulation and thermostats. So it's the difference in cost of 28.5 watts of electricity vs. gas, oil, wood, penguins, coal or whatever you use to heat the house. It always amused me how many people replaced the light bulbs inside their house with the energy savering ones but would completely ignore the lights outside where all the heat was wasted. -- Andrew. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
Hi, On Sat, Jul 09 at 12:35, Terry Coles wrote: > On Saturday, 9 July 2022 09:53:31 BST Peter Merchant wrote: > > I borrowed an electricity power meter for a few days and went around the > > house measuring everything. A couple of interesting discoveries: I've been monitoring my whole house consumption with a Current Cost meter for about 12 years now. The meter spits out XML on a serial port which I capture with a script and save the number to a log file. Saved me money a couple of times detecting security lights that stayed on all night etc. Anyway over that period the whole house standby consumption (running fridges etc) has gone from about 500W down to 200W. Some has been down to newer better electronics devices with lower standby modes, an old laser printer used to be 45W in standby the new one is <1W. But the big shift was when our two fridges and the freezer were replaced due to failures. There seems to have been an order of magnitude improvment in fridge/freezer efficiency in the 20 years between the old and the new. So if you have an older device it's worth checking it out. > I have one permanently connected to the tails from my Solar Panels. > > > Total standby power of devices in the house = 28.5 watts This is sort of > > invalid because the monitors on my 2 tower PC's are on a switch that turns > > them off when the PC is off so their standby power is less then. Also the > > meter seemed to register in increments of 0.5 watts. > > When the sun has gone down, my Solar Panels show a consumption of 57 W. I > don't believe for one moment that the panels work at night (it's pretty much > always the same regardless of the level of light for street lights or the > moon), so that is consumption just to keep the inverter alive. I also have solar so a lot of my daytime electric is "free" but I'd check your solar standby consumption numbers. Overnight my solar controller goes to sleep consuming <0.5W, it even turns the Ethernet interface off. When it wakes in the morning as the solar voltage rises it consumes no more than 10W for the few minutes before it fires up the inverter. 57W sounds very wrong. And yeah solar has paid back the investment over the years even if SSE has defaulted on the FITS payments this year. I guess they have financial problems and it easy for them to stitch up the small guys. -- Bob Dunlop -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
On Saturday, 9 July 2022 09:53:31 BST Peter Merchant wrote: > I borrowed an electricity power meter for a few days and went around the > house measuring everything. A couple of interesting discoveries: I have one permanently connected to the tails from my Solar Panels. > Total standby power of devices in the house = 28.5 watts This is sort of > invalid because the monitors on my 2 tower PC's are on a switch that turns > them off when the PC is off so their standby power is less then. Also the > meter seemed to register in increments of 0.5 watts. When the sun has gone down, my Solar Panels show a consumption of 57 W. I don't believe for one moment that the panels work at night (it's pretty much always the same regardless of the level of light for street lights or the moon), so that is consumption just to keep the inverter alive. I'm not too concerned; when the sun is out (as now) I get in excess of 3.5 kW fed into the grid. My current Return on Investment is just under 190% on an investment of £12149 made just under 11 years ago! -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
Could do with smart socket system which are controlled by a central system that shut them off as a certain time at night and then turns them back on in the morning. Don't know if that sort of stuff is available but I guess the cost of the system exceed the cost of the savings?? Tim H On 09/07/2022 11:36, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: One device not on standby is my router (TalkTalk) which consumes 6 watts, so costs about $15/yr in electricity P. On 09/07/2022 09:53, Peter Merchant wrote: I borrowed an electricity power meter for a few days and went around the house measuring everything. A couple of interesting discoveries: Total standby power of devices in the house = 28.5 watts This is sort of invalid because the monitors on my 2 tower PC's are on a switch that turns them off when the PC is off so their standby power is less then. Also the meter seemed to register in increments of 0.5 watts. My new washing machine consumes 0.5 watts when not in use so have to switch it off at the plug in future. My old gas oven consumes 4 watts all the time - for a clock? My two Humax PVR's also each consume 3 watts on standby. In use the PC's consume 49 and 79 watts each, but in sleep/suspend mode about 2.5. The washing machine consumes 0.5watts when it is not in use. This means 1Kw every 2000 hours. 2000 hours is 83 days. 365/83.333 = 4.38 Kw/yr. My current rate is 28.445p/KWh, so it costs me £1.25 a year just leaving it plugged in and not using it. So just my thoughts on saving some money. A rough calculation gives a cost of £62.5 per year keeping the house on standby. Peter -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Electricity power usage
One device not on standby is my router (TalkTalk) which consumes 6 watts, so costs about $15/yr in electricity P. On 09/07/2022 09:53, Peter Merchant wrote: I borrowed an electricity power meter for a few days and went around the house measuring everything. A couple of interesting discoveries: Total standby power of devices in the house = 28.5 watts This is sort of invalid because the monitors on my 2 tower PC's are on a switch that turns them off when the PC is off so their standby power is less then. Also the meter seemed to register in increments of 0.5 watts. My new washing machine consumes 0.5 watts when not in use so have to switch it off at the plug in future. My old gas oven consumes 4 watts all the time - for a clock? My two Humax PVR's also each consume 3 watts on standby. In use the PC's consume 49 and 79 watts each, but in sleep/suspend mode about 2.5. The washing machine consumes 0.5watts when it is not in use. This means 1Kw every 2000 hours. 2000 hours is 83 days. 365/83.333 = 4.38 Kw/yr. My current rate is 28.445p/KWh, so it costs me £1.25 a year just leaving it plugged in and not using it. So just my thoughts on saving some money. A rough calculation gives a cost of £62.5 per year keeping the house on standby. Peter -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2022-08-02 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
