Power Vampires are a significant problem. While each one
is (usually) not significant, altogether they can add up
to quite a bit. I have found that they can add up to
several hundred watts. "Kill-a-watt" can be quite useful
if you can guess where they all are and they are plug-in
devices. As you can see, not all plug in the wall. Here are some
idle power consumptions that I have measured:

Doorbell transformer 8 watts
cordless phones 4-9 watts
DirecTV receiver (off) 34 watts
TV (off) 17
Garage door opener 2.5
Fax machine 10
Gas furnace 20
Newer gas furnace 27
Central AC outdoor unit 20-40 watts (two different units)

Other devices to consider:
Any device with a remote control (stereo, DVD player, X-10, etc.)
Any portable device with a rechargeable battery:
(cordless phones, toothbrush, vacuum, drill, etc.;
cell phones)
Timers of any sort (irrigation, lights, etc.)
UPS for your computer.
DSL modem
motion activated lights

200 watts continuous is 144 KwH per month. That's hundreds $ per year!

Zephyr wrote:

Hey folks,

I'm curious about power consumption of things like the power supply for my
dell laptop
its and AC/DC adaptor, and when the unit is charging my laptop it gets quite
warm.
from that I infer that its using a fair amount of power.

now, if I leave it plugged into the wall, but remove the laptop, it does
not heat up, but.
there is a little light on it that indicates it is receiving power.
aside from that little light, is it using any significant amount of power?
The label on the unit says the input is 1.5a

same question goes for my cell phone chargers 0.2a

I understand that some of these things do use power constantly, but... how
much?

I found this link but it doesn't get into the Nitti gritty I was looking
for

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/c...act-181497.php

Dave