Ian Stirling wrote:

In sci.electronics.misc Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun" wrote:

I was watching the local ABC News and they had a piece on vampire
appliances. They said that an appliance could be using about 5 watts
when it's turned off, and that's about $4.00 a month. This sounded a
bit high to me. But since I don't get an electric bill, I have no way
to tell.

5 watt-hours times 730 hours a month is 3650 watt-hours or 3.65 kWh.

More than a dollar a kWh?


Maybe they are talking about all the 5W loads.
20 5W loads does not sound utterly unreasonable.

Some devices draw lots more power when "off".
My satellite reciever draws almost exactly the same power when off and
when on. Off is around 30W, on around 32.

It's the third article he (for today, Oct 6, but who knows later..)
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/features/consumer/

They mention that sat rcvrs draw almost as much power. What did you use
to measure the power with? A DMM on the AC current range? Then
multiply by the line voltage? I sure miss my Amprobe, which got stolen.
Really handy, however it required that the hot lead of the line cord
be separated from the others.


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