Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling
Fishtank pump
network stuff, Switches, routers etc. 7 I think
a desktop PC asleep
2 printers, a TV in standby a couple of cd/radios on standby- bugger
all, one printer is about 2W, the others 1W I think
Radio/Alarm clock
DECT phones and maybe the mobiles etc. on charge
Maybe laptops charging or sitting asleep

There are other things such as the fishtank heater and the fridge and
freezer which come on and off. But this is with these off I imagine as
it never goes lower. than 250W



--
Chris French

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts.

Is that with or without active people?

Night time, everyone asleep is about 250 W.
Day time, people active is about 1 kW.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 03/02/2015 10:51, Chris French wrote:
Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling
Fishtank pump
network stuff, Switches, routers etc. 7 I think
a desktop PC asleep
2 printers, a TV in standby a couple of cd/radios on standby- bugger
all, one printer is about 2W, the others 1W I think
Radio/Alarm clock
DECT phones and maybe the mobiles etc. on charge
Maybe laptops charging or sitting asleep

There are other things such as the fishtank heater and the fridge and
freezer which come on and off. But this is with these off I imagine as
it never goes lower. than 250W

That is quite high, my baseload is 100W with everything off or in
standby and 50W higher if the main PC is on but idle (screen sleeping).

Unavoidable power use by cooker, microwave and freezer displays, alarm
and emergency lighting. Most of the rest are 1W each on standby. Those
which aren't are plugged into smart sockets that isolate them when not
needed. Router at 12W represents the single largest base load now.

Worth checking what your TV(s) draw(s) when on standby some have
insanely high default standby power consumption by default. Badly
designed PC sound kit can also draw as much when "off" as "on"!

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Chris French wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

According to MiData my annual consumption is 1760kWh, so an average rate
of 200W, when I glance at my smart meter display, it's rarely below 130W.

We have running AFAICR:

No doubt the F/F is my biggest background draw.

Don't tend to leave "server" PC running unattended these days, one or
two laptops, one telly and one DAB radio either on or on standby,
phone/tablet/ereader chargers eat bugger all unless actually charging.

No incandescent lighting, higher occupied rooms are LED, CFLs or linear
fluorescent elsewhere.

Printers (colour laser and an inkjet) are rarely used, so off unless
required, TV loft amp, router+switch, DECT basestation, more line-drying
than tumble-dryer use last year for a change.

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts.

Is that with or without active people?

Night time, everyone asleep is about 250 W.
Day time, people active is about 1 kW.

Overnight, when everyone is in bed and hopefully asleep. Daytime (2-4
people in the house) we have a similar useage of around 1kW.




--
Chris French

In message , Martin Brown
writes
On 03/02/2015 10:51, Chris French wrote:
Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling
Fishtank pump
network stuff, Switches, routers etc. 7 I think
a desktop PC asleep
2 printers, a TV in standby a couple of cd/radios on standby- bugger
all, one printer is about 2W, the others 1W I think
Radio/Alarm clock
DECT phones and maybe the mobiles etc. on charge
Maybe laptops charging or sitting asleep

There are other things such as the fishtank heater and the fridge and
freezer which come on and off. But this is with these off I imagine as
it never goes lower. than 250W

That is quite high, my baseload is 100W with everything off or in
standby and 50W higher if the main PC is on but idle (screen sleeping).

Unavoidable power use by cooker, microwave and freezer displays, alarm
and emergency lighting. Most of the rest are 1W each on standby. Those
which aren't are plugged into smart sockets that isolate them when not
needed. Router at 12W represents the single largest base load now.

We have a few things on smart sockets (sound system on the PC, DVD and
Wii with the TV) The various networky bits consume getting on for about
30W I think. For various historical and practical reasons (bit of
rambling victorian house with solid walls) we've got a Openreach FTTC
modem, router, wireless AP, Samknows monitoring box and 8 port switch,
which draw 22W with a couple of switches and a pair of powerline
adpaters


Worth checking what your TV(s) draw(s) when on standby some have
insanely high default standby power consumption by default. Badly
designed PC sound kit can also draw as much when "off" as "on"!

TV is pretty new Samsung plasma (July 2012). In standby it draws 1W (in
fact you can't actually turn it off as such on the set)

PC speakers are indeed quite a dra doing nothing (10W) so that is on a
smartplug switching with the PC
--
Chris French

On 03/02/2015 10:51, Chris French wrote:
Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling
Fishtank pump
network stuff, Switches, routers etc. 7 I think
a desktop PC asleep
2 printers, a TV in standby a couple of cd/radios on standby- bugger
all, one printer is about 2W, the others 1W I think
Radio/Alarm clock
DECT phones and maybe the mobiles etc. on charge
Maybe laptops charging or sitting asleep

There are other things such as the fishtank heater and the fridge and
freezer which come on and off. But this is with these off I imagine as
it never goes lower. than 250W



I'm not sure how useful "snapshot" readings are, and prefer to look at
the average over (say) a 24 hour period - to allow for freezers, etc.
which are essentially on all the time but actually cycling on and off on
their thermostats.

When my holiday flat is not occupied, it uses 1.5kWh per day pretty
consistently - which represents an average load of 60-odd watts. Most of
this will be the fridge/freezer (probably something like 250 watts on a
25% duty cycle) with the other stuff - time displays on oven and
microwave, Teasemade clock (yes, I know), broadband router, etc. -
taking next to damn all.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

In message , Andy
Burns writes
Chris French wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

According to MiData my annual consumption is 1760kWh, so an average
rate of 200W, when I glance at my smart meter display, it's rarely
below 130W.

Total consumption here is a lot more :-) but this is just a general
musing post really, I know where most of our leccy goes I think.

We have running AFAICR:

No doubt the F/F is my biggest background draw.

Probably ours is freezer, closely the tropical fish tank - primarily the
100W heater on a 30-50% cycle,

Don't tend to leave "server" PC running unattended these days,

I tried to workout how to have it turned off some of the time, but with
people in the house most of the day and it running local and online
backups, email, media server etc. and it being in the cellar it was not
worth it/too much palaver.

Printers (colour laser and an inkjet) are rarely used, so off unless
required,

Both ours are very low power when in standby and in different rooms, and
not necessarily anywhere near where the person printing is, so being
turned off was just a pain. - was ok when we just had a desktop pc and
printer near each other.


--
Chris French

On 03/02/2015 14:15, Roger Mills wrote:
On 03/02/2015 10:51, Chris French wrote:
Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

I'm not sure how useful "snapshot" readings are, and prefer to look at
the average over (say) a 24 hour period - to allow for freezers, etc.
which are essentially on all the time but actually cycling on and off on
their thermostats.

A snapshot of your minimum base load is worthwhile since it is there
using power 24/7 and if you can shave 10% off it an immediate saving.

Most modern kit is frugal enough but some early digital TVs can be
taking nearly 40W in standby if you have manufacturers defaults.

I found a couple of ancient wall warts lurking down the back of my
office desk when I first started monitoring my power usage. They powered
a long defunct external 56k modems and had been sat there for a few
years doing nothing at all useful apart from wasting power.

When my holiday flat is not occupied, it uses 1.5kWh per day pretty
consistently - which represents an average load of 60-odd watts. Most of
this will be the fridge/freezer (probably something like 250 watts on a
25% duty cycle) with the other stuff - time displays on oven and
microwave, Teasemade clock (yes, I know), broadband router, etc. -
taking next to damn all.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 03/02/2015 14:32, Martin Brown wrote:

I found a couple of ancient wall warts lurking down the back of my
office desk when I first started monitoring my power usage. They powered
a long defunct external 56k modems and had been sat there for a few
years doing nothing at all useful apart from wasting power.

Background heating?

--
F

www.vulcantothesky.org - keep the last remaining Vulcan flying

In message , Martin Brown
writes
On 03/02/2015 14:15, Roger Mills wrote:
On 03/02/2015 10:51, Chris French wrote:
Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

I'm not sure how useful "snapshot" readings are, and prefer to look at
the average over (say) a 24 hour period - to allow for freezers, etc.
which are essentially on all the time but actually cycling on and off on
their thermostats.

A snapshot of your minimum base load is worthwhile since it is there
using power 24/7 and if you can shave 10% off it an immediate saving.

Most modern kit is frugal enough but some early digital TVs can be
taking nearly 40W in standby if you have manufacturers defaults.


Yup. My I know how much the fridge and freezer etc. use on average over
a day so the snapshot points out what else is running.

250W is 6kWh/day and with the fish tank (about 1.2kwh/day), fridge and
freezer (about another 1.2 kWh/day) and we are talking 8.5 ish kWh/day
before anything else is turned on.
--
Chris French

In message , Chris French
writes
In message , Andy
Burns writes
Chris French wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?


Don't tend to leave "server" PC running unattended these days,

I tried to workout how to have it turned off some of the time, but with
people in the house most of the day and it running local and online
backups, email, media server etc. and it being in the cellar it was not
worth it/too much palaver.


Actually, I will try setting it to turn itself on and off between say 1
am and 7 am and see how that goes, the local backups are over usb 3 and
the remote one now over a 18 mbit FTTC rather than the old ADSL so a lot
quicker. 6 hours/day would save 25% of the leccy
--
Chris French

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French
wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

Out of interest, what do you use to monitor your consumption?

I has one of those first generation wireless monitors a few years ago,
which used a current clamp on the meter tails, but it only showed
instant usage with no ability to record. Also the batteries didn't
last long, and only measuring current meant that it had to assume
voltage and power factor. Basically it wasn't good enough.

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling

A dedicated NAS like a QNAP will use much less. I used to use an HP
microserver, which used about 50w with a couple of disks in it. I
changed to a 4-bay QNAP which uses about 10w when idle with the disks
spun down.

In message , Caecilius
writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French
wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

Out of interest, what do you use to monitor your consumption?

I has one of those first generation wireless monitors a few years ago,
which used a current clamp on the meter tails, but it only showed
instant usage with no ability to record. Also the batteries didn't
last long, and only measuring current meant that it had to assume
voltage and power factor. Basically it wasn't good enough.

For whole house consumption monitoring I've got an clamp on type Owl
monitor(free from the council a few years back). Something like this,
but an earlier model I think

http://www.theowl.com/index.php/ener...-monitors/owl-
micro/

I have a usb doobrie from Ebay attached to the server, which records the
data as well. The software with it was pretty clunky, I've got some 3rd
party stuff which is a bit less so. When I have enough roundtuits I
might roll my own

It seems reasonably accurate for such a device, compared to the
consumption measured with my plug in monitor.

For measuring consumption of individual plug in devices I have a version
of the Kill-a-watt meter, which seems to pretty good and can take into
account power factors.

This one I think:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000Q7PJGW/


We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling

A dedicated NAS like a QNAP will use much less. I used to use an HP
microserver, which used about 50w with a couple of disks in it. I
changed to a 4-bay QNAP which uses about 10w when idle with the disks
spun down.

Though about it, but server runs various things that probably won't on
the QNAP

More round tuits
--
Chris French

On 03/02/2015 16:37, Caecilius wrote:
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French
wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

Out of interest, what do you use to monitor your consumption?

I has one of those first generation wireless monitors a few years ago,
which used a current clamp on the meter tails, but it only showed
instant usage with no ability to record. Also the batteries didn't
last long, and only measuring current meant that it had to assume
voltage and power factor. Basically it wasn't good enough.

We have running AFAICR:

HP microserver and external disk - about 40W idling

A dedicated NAS like a QNAP will use much less. I used to use an HP
microserver, which used about 50w with a couple of disks in it. I
changed to a 4-bay QNAP which uses about 10w when idle with the disks
spun down.


ISTR the HP N36L uses about 15W idle, with 2 disks.

--
Cheers, Rob

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:22:16 +0000, Chris French
wrote:
For whole house consumption monitoring I've got an clamp on type Owl
monitor(free from the council a few years back). Something like this,
but an earlier model I think

http://www.theowl.com/index.php/ener...-monitors/owl-
micro/

That looks like an updated version of what I used to use. Mine didn't
have any recording capability though, and didn't last 14 months on a
set of batteries like that one claims to.

I have a usb doobrie from Ebay attached to the server, which records the
data as well. The software with it was pretty clunky, I've got some 3rd
party stuff which is a bit less so. When I have enough roundtuits I
might roll my own

I had considered counting the flashes from the meter, which are
guaranteed to corelate with what you're being charged. I think it
would be fairly simple to do with a phototransistor and arduino, but
I've not got any further than the concept stage.

I wonder if these smart meters that I've heard about will be open
enough to allow the user to query them over some sort of radio
protocol (zigbee, zwave or something). That would be nice.

On 03/02/15 13:18, Chris French wrote:

Worth checking what your TV(s) draw(s) when on standby some have
insanely high default standby power consumption by default. Badly
designed PC sound kit can also draw as much when "off" as "on"!

TV is pretty new Samsung plasma (July 2012). In standby it draws 1W (in
fact you can't actually turn it off as such on the set)

That's in true standby mode. How often does it wake itself up, and for
how long, to check for updates? Do you update it OTA or through a
broadband connection? If the latter, I assume you have to keep router
and modem on too.

--

Jeff

In message , Jeff Layman
writes
On 03/02/15 13:18, Chris French wrote:

Worth checking what your TV(s) draw(s) when on standby some have
insanely high default standby power consumption by default. Badly
designed PC sound kit can also draw as much when "off" as "on"!

TV is pretty new Samsung plasma (July 2012). In standby it draws 1W (in
fact you can't actually turn it off as such on the set)

That's in true standby mode. How often does it wake itself up, and for
how long, to check for updates?

AFAIK never. I think there was one firmware update to the TV at one
point, can't remember if it flagged it up as available, or I just did a
check at some point. I think it was over the net, but might have been
OTA. I certainly don't remember anything in the manual about ti waking
up to do this.

The 'Smart TV' bit and apps sometimes has updates, that pops an alert
up when you open the Smart TV interface or the individual app.This of
course is over the net connection.

Do you update it OTA or through a broadband connection? If the latter,
I assume you have to keep router and modem on too.

There would be no need for a permanent Internet connection, though ours
is always on anyway
--
Chris French

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:22:16 +0000, Chris French wrote:

Out of interest, what do you use to monitor your consumption?

For whole house consumption monitoring I've got an clamp on type Owl
monitor ...

I've got a Current Cost http://www.currentcost.com

Current only but seems fairly accurate. At least it's not obviously
out, 3kW immersion shows as a 3 kW increase ... The low end might be
less accurate of course. Getting the clamp well positioned and stable
around the tails is critical to getting good readings.

I have logs from the Current Cost going back to 14th Jan 2013 and
meter readings back to 17th July 2000. One day I might compare the
two.

I think I've replaced the batteries in the sender once. I've had it
for a lot longer than Jan 13. It used to be connected via RS232 to a
different server. More data might be on that old machine.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 19:33:11 +0000, Chris French wrote:

That's in true standby mode. How often does it wake itself up, and
for
how long, to check for updates?

AFAIK never. I think there was one firmware update to the TV at one
point, can't remember if it flagged it up as available, or I just did a
check at some point. I think it was over the net, but might have been
OTA. I certainly don't remember anything in the manual about ti waking
up to do this.

There is nothing in the manual of our Panasonic but it powers up
aound 0300 every morning. It's only the electronics not the (power
hungry) display panel. How do I know? Used to have a Pi powered from
one of the USB ports as a media player, USB would come, so would the
Pi, HDMI connection would then turn the telly fully on...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:22:16 +0000, Chris French
wrote:

In message , Caecilius
writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 10:51:07 +0000, Chris French
wrote:

Been idly looking at the graphs from our electricity monitor, Our
baseline consumption seems to be about 250 Watts. Out of interest what
is other peoples?

Out of interest, what do you use to monitor your consumption?

I has one of those first generation wireless monitors a few years ago,
which used a current clamp on the meter tails, but it only showed
instant usage with no ability to record. Also the batteries didn't
last long, and only measuring current meant that it had to assume
voltage and power factor. Basically it wasn't good enough.

For whole house consumption monitoring I've got an clamp on type Owl
monitor(free from the council a few years back). Something like this,
but an earlier model I think

http://www.theowl.com/index.php/ener...-monitors/owl-
micro/

I have a usb doobrie from Ebay attached to the server, which records the
data as well. The software with it was pretty clunky, I've got some 3rd
party stuff which is a bit less so. When I have enough roundtuits I
might roll my own

It seems reasonably accurate for such a device, compared to the
consumption measured with my plug in monitor.

For measuring consumption of individual plug in devices I have a version
of the Kill-a-watt meter, which seems to pretty good and can take into
account power factors.

This one I think:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000Q7PJGW/


Interesting. That's a dead ringer for the 2000MU-UK sold by Maplin
under the catalogue number L61AQ and is in fact the Euro version of
the famous Kill-A-Watt meter sold in North America.

You can check out its specs at the Maplin site but it's worth noting
that the consumption figure is actually VA (20 in this case, otherwise
10 for the American version). The actual power used is just under half
a watt. The very low PF is simply down to the use of a simple voltage
dropping capacitor to provide the 5 to 10v DC required to power the
electronics and display.

Whilst you're on maplin's website, take a swift look at the N67FU.
This is only £9.99 and is just as good, assuming you're not
overloading the socket with anything that'll be drawing more than 13A
max.

Both meters have equally good accuracy, agreeing within a percent or
three of my trusty Metrawatt analogue wattmeter.
--
J B Good

In message , Johny B Good
writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:22:16 +0000, Chris French
wrote:
.

For measuring consumption of individual plug in devices I have a version
of the Kill-a-watt meter, which seems to pretty good and can take into
account power factors.

This one I think:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000Q7PJGW/


Interesting. That's a dead ringer for the 2000MU-UK sold by Maplin
under the catalogue number L61AQ and is in fact the Euro version of
the famous Kill-A-Watt meter sold in North America.


In fact, having had a look at mine, that is exactly what it is.

The manufacturers name is Prodigit Electronics, but there is also a
small Maplin WEEE sticker on the back. But as in the Amazon link, I've
seen it sold under other brand names (and none).

Bought from Ebay though as it was cheaper, because a I knew it was a
version of the Kill-a-watt and that had a good reputation.
--
Chris French

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 19:33:11 +0000, Chris French wrote:

That's in true standby mode. How often does it wake itself up, and
for
how long, to check for updates?

AFAIK never. I think there was one firmware update to the TV at one
point, can't remember if it flagged it up as available, or I just did a
check at some point. I think it was over the net, but might have been
OTA. I certainly don't remember anything in the manual about ti waking
up to do this.

There is nothing in the manual of our Panasonic but it powers up
aound 0300 every morning. It's only the electronics not the (power
hungry) display panel. How do I know? Used to have a Pi powered from
one of the USB ports as a media player, USB would come, so would the
Pi, HDMI connection would then turn the telly fully on...

Ah, well, maybe it does then. Not that it bothers me.
--
Chris French

In message , Caecilius
writes
On Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:22:16 +0000, Chris French
wrote:
For whole house consumption monitoring I've got an clamp on type Owl
monitor(free from the council a few years back). Something like this,
but an earlier model I think

http://www.theowl.com/index.php/ener...-monitors/owl-
micro/

That looks like an updated version of what I used to use. Mine didn't
have any recording capability though, and didn't last 14 months on a
set of batteries like that one claims to.

I'm not actually sure where the actual display bit of the monitor is
right now - it got put in box during a sort out and rearrange of things
here.. But I log it all on a computer.

I have a usb doobrie from Ebay attached to the server, which records the
data as well. The software with it was pretty clunky, I've got some 3rd
party stuff which is a bit less so. When I have enough roundtuits I
might roll my own

I had considered counting the flashes from the meter, which are
guaranteed to corelate with what you're being charged. I think it
would be fairly simple to do with a phototransistor and arduino, but
I've not got any further than the concept stage.

Some people have been doing that I think.

There is an open source energy monitor project.

http://openenergymonitor.org/

A page on pulse counting.

http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/bu...ion-to-pulse-c
ounting





--
Chris French