Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer / gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks

"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please


As simple as possible ... compared to heating or air-conditioning, it can be
ignored.

only pennies .... less than a night lite.
- - - - - - - - - -



"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:21:31 +0000, gastec
wrote:


Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks

Short answer: plug it all into a power strip and measure the current
it consumes then multiply that by the line voltage and you have the
number of watts. Multiply the watts by the time its turned on per
day. Power is billed per kilowatt hour of consumption. You need to
know what you pay for power per kilowatt hour and how many KWH the
stuff you're concerned with uses.

It takes very little electricity to work that stuff, if you look at
each piece individually, it is not worth worrying about. Collectively,
it may be another matter.

I found all the stuff that never turns completely off TV with a
remote, my electronic typewriter, VCR, wall wart chargers etc. were
costing me about $4 a month. Soon to be $5.5 with the new rate hikes.

Spend a day with an ammeter and go around the house - then plug your
findings into a spreadsheet program to calculate usage for an hour,
day, month - its enlightening.

Someone is marketing this gizmo called a "Kill A Watt." You program
it with the cost of energy and then plug an appliance in and tells you
what it would cost to run that appliance. I think its around $30-50,
Learn to read your meter. It's easy enough - and the power company
will usually mail you instructions if you have trouble. Tie what you
do to what you use on a daily basis. For instance I take a shower it
costs me about 37 cents, bake bread 22 cents, wash dishes: about 5-15
cents, brew two cases of beer 40 cents.

You can save more by managing your consumption. Use less hot water
(changing the shower head may help - putting the water heater on a
timer - switching it off when you'll be away etc..)

If you're still using incandescent lamps - it really pays to switch to
compact fluorescent. Particularly in the fixtures that stay on for
hours at a time.

I cut my power bill from about $45 a month to about $23 a month (I
live alone) by worrying about the little stuff. Hot water is was a
big part of my cost.

Dishwashers eat lots of money - use sparingly or don't use at all.

Air conditioning is costly, but not nearly as costly as using high
heat dissipating appliances or humidity raising appliances while using
air conditioning. You pay once to make the heat and humidity, and
again to remove it from the house . . . double whammy.
--

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I'm sure it is much cheaper than buying alkalines.. : )

"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

gastec wrote:
Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks




Get an old utility company watt-hour meter and wire it up to a power
strip or extension cord. Record the reading on the meter, use the stuff
for a night and record the reading again.

Just run an extension cord over to the neighbors house if your that worried
about how much it costs.

"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

Assuming your domestic power consumption meter either has a rotating dial or
a neon/LED that flashes to show electricity consumption and also stated on
the meter what 1 rev or 1 flash means in terms of power consumption.
Turn off everything electrical and count flashes or revs in one minute when
you've plugged in your kit and multiply.
If you don't wish to turn off stuff with clocks then time with this base
load and then re-time with your offending kit plugged in , take difference
and multiply.
As a rough rule compare the heat given off by each with a 15 watt mains
bulb, and even more general the ones giving off the most heat are likely the
biggest consumers of juice.

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

Negotiate with your employer for the time you spend, much more financially
beneficial. Of course be ready to negotiate whether you get to keep your job
;-)

--
Regards ......... Rheilly Phoull

"default" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:21:31 +0000, gastec
wrote:


Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks

Short answer: plug it all into a power strip and measure the current
it consumes then multiply that by the line voltage and you have the
number of watts. Multiply the watts by the time its turned on per
day. Power is billed per kilowatt hour of consumption. You need to
know what you pay for power per kilowatt hour and how many KWH the
stuff you're concerned with uses.

It takes very little electricity to work that stuff, if you look at
each piece individually, it is not worth worrying about. Collectively,
it may be another matter.

I found all the stuff that never turns completely off TV with a
remote, my electronic typewriter, VCR, wall wart chargers etc. were
costing me about $4 a month. Soon to be $5.5 with the new rate hikes.

Spend a day with an ammeter and go around the house - then plug your
findings into a spreadsheet program to calculate usage for an hour,
day, month - its enlightening.

Someone is marketing this gizmo called a "Kill A Watt." You program
it with the cost of energy and then plug an appliance in and tells you
what it would cost to run that appliance. I think its around $30-50,
Learn to read your meter. It's easy enough - and the power company
will usually mail you instructions if you have trouble. Tie what you
do to what you use on a daily basis. For instance I take a shower it
costs me about 37 cents, bake bread 22 cents, wash dishes: about 5-15
cents, brew two cases of beer 40 cents.

snip


Sage advice, to be sure. But the Kill-A-Watt doesn't give you the cost of
the energy you use... it only gives you the quantity of energy units, such
as watts and V-A.
A word of caution about calculating energy... battery chargers are
notoriously reactive. IOW, the standard DC formula for power doesn't
necessarily fly when you're using AC devices.
That's where the Kill-A-Watt shines. It will calculate the energy in true
watts, volt-amps, or KWH. It will also give the power factor of the load,
as well as line voltage, current and line frequency.
Most likely all your chargers together would take several days or weeks to
register one KWH. Not much you can do about it anyway, unless you want to
hack the chargers to add power factor correction. A ton more trouble than
it's worth.
See a description of the Kill-A Watt at
http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html. You
can usually find them on EBay for $20 - $30 US.

As an alternative, use a clamp-on current meter to measure the line current
being drawn by the chargers and, as stated, calculate the V-A by multiplying
line voltage by Amps. remember that you are calculating volt-amperes, not
true watts. You need to measure power factor (or voltage vs. current phase)
to be able to calculate true watts.

Cheers!!!!
--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in
the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!

The guy is complaining about having to plug the stuff in to charge being a
pain. Do you really think he will take the time shut everything off in his
house to see how much electricity these devices are consuming? Don't get me
wrong your method would work but he sounds like he wanted a quick answer
like.. It uses about $10 a year.. Even though I have no way to actually know
how much power it uses and I wouldn't be supprised if it used less.



"N Cook" wrote in message
...
"gastec" wrote in message
...

Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks


--
gastec

Assuming your domestic power consumption meter either has a rotating dial
or
a neon/LED that flashes to show electricity consumption and also stated on
the meter what 1 rev or 1 flash means in terms of power consumption.
Turn off everything electrical and count flashes or revs in one minute
when
you've plugged in your kit and multiply.
If you don't wish to turn off stuff with clocks then time with this base
load and then re-time with your offending kit plugged in , take difference
and multiply.
As a rough rule compare the heat given off by each with a 15 watt mains
bulb, and even more general the ones giving off the most heat are likely
the
biggest consumers of juice.

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

DaveM wrote:

"default" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:21:31 +0000, gastec
wrote:


Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks

Short answer: plug it all into a power strip and measure the current
it consumes then multiply that by the line voltage and you have the
number of watts. Multiply the watts by the time its turned on per
day. Power is billed per kilowatt hour of consumption. You need to
know what you pay for power per kilowatt hour and how many KWH the
stuff you're concerned with uses.

It takes very little electricity to work that stuff, if you look at
each piece individually, it is not worth worrying about. Collectively,
it may be another matter.

I found all the stuff that never turns completely off TV with a
remote, my electronic typewriter, VCR, wall wart chargers etc. were
costing me about $4 a month. Soon to be $5.5 with the new rate hikes.

Spend a day with an ammeter and go around the house - then plug your
findings into a spreadsheet program to calculate usage for an hour,
day, month - its enlightening.

Someone is marketing this gizmo called a "Kill A Watt." You program
it with the cost of energy and then plug an appliance in and tells you
what it would cost to run that appliance. I think its around $30-50,
Learn to read your meter. It's easy enough - and the power company
will usually mail you instructions if you have trouble. Tie what you
do to what you use on a daily basis. For instance I take a shower it
costs me about 37 cents, bake bread 22 cents, wash dishes: about 5-15
cents, brew two cases of beer 40 cents.

snip


Sage advice, to be sure. But the Kill-A-Watt doesn't give you the cost of
the energy you use... it only gives you the quantity of energy units,
such as watts and V-A.
A word of caution about calculating energy... battery chargers are
notoriously reactive. IOW, the standard DC formula for power doesn't
necessarily fly when you're using AC devices.
That's where the Kill-A-Watt shines. It will calculate the energy in true
watts, volt-amps, or KWH. It will also give the power factor of the load,
as well as line voltage, current and line frequency.
Most likely all your chargers together would take several days or weeks to
register one KWH. Not much you can do about it anyway, unless you want
to
hack the chargers to add power factor correction. A ton more trouble
than it's worth.
See a description of the Kill-A Watt at
http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html. You
can usually find them on EBay for $20 - $30 US.

As an alternative, use a clamp-on current meter to measure the line
current being drawn by the chargers and, as stated, calculate the V-A by
multiplying
line voltage by Amps. remember that you are calculating volt-amperes, not
true watts. You need to measure power factor (or voltage vs. current
phase) to be able to calculate true watts.

Cheers!!!!

Two things:
Power factor correction won't really affect the reading of your electricity
meter. It will keep the power consumption (Watts) about the same, but it
will reduce the reactive current so that there will be less Amperes of
current. The electricity meter will read watts, not current, so the
reading will be pretty much unaffected. The power company will be
grateful, however, because although they receive the same amount of money
from you, the losses im their wires and transformers will be slightly less
because the power lost in the wiring is proportional to the current squared
times the wiring resistance.

The second point: a clamp-on meter probably won't make things easier when
measuring the consumption of ordinary appliances, because you have to
separate the line and neutral conductors and clamp the meter around only
one of these if you want it to read the current. Also most clamp meters
don't work so well below about an amp, so this would be no good for a
charger.

Probable the best option is to either buy a power meter, or read the label
on the appliance which should state the power consumption. Watt meters are
really useful for looking at the standby consumption of TVs etc. however,
because the label on the TV probably doesn't even mention the standby
consumption.

Chris

gastec wrote:


Every night I need to charge up my works mobile phone / laptop /printer
/ gas detection equipment.......Its a pain.....I was wondering if
anyone knows how i could measure the cost of charging all this
equipment????

keep it simple as poss please

Thanks



The main thing is to not leave the charger plugged in when the phone isn't
connected. They still use nearly as much power even when the phone isn't
connected. So if you charge it for 6 hours and then unplug it at the wall
socket, this might use about 20 times less power than leaving the charger
plugged in for a week with the phone disconnected.

Also, disconnect the laptop and printer power supplies from the socket when
you aren't using the lapton and printer. Just switching off at the printer
or laptop doesn't cut the power consumption to zero, and sometimes doesn't
reduce it much at all.

Chris

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 23:01:52 +0000, Chris Jones
wrote:

The power company will be
grateful, however, because although they receive the same amount of money
from you, the losses im their wires and transformers will be slightly less
because the power lost in the wiring is proportional to the current squared
times the wiring resistance.

Are you sure about that?

Seems to me if the current is higher for the same actual power
consumed (which it is when the power factor isn't unity) the
distribution costs are higher - the IR losses still take a toll and
are wasted as heat in the distribution network.

Any saving with a reactive load would be in the effort required to
spin the generators.
--

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