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rugercpl
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 12:21pm - Edited by: rugercpl
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Anyone using a "kill-a-watt" to meter their phantom power use/loss? I have several gadgets that use power even when turned off such as a 50" LED flatscreen, a Roku 3, BluRay disc player, and Duracell powerpack that is plugged into a wall outlet always in float mode. I think the biggest loss might be from my true sine wave 1500/3000 watt inverter when its left on. There might even be some loss from things that I dont even know about such as my indoor and outdoor LED lights, and power running to the panel and outlets, I'm not sure even if my shur-flo pumps monitor line pressure using phantom power or not. My solar charge controller claims it controls electricity from bleeding back to the solar panels at night but its a cheap Chinese unit (about $20 on Ebay). I dont think that I losing an unacceptable amount of juice from these things, but I'd just like to know. I like to leave things plugged in on stand-by, otherwise I'd be moving couches and furniture to unplug them. I suppose I could just go shut off breakers in the panel box but the few I have are shared mostly with the things that I'd like to leave on stand-by.
I assume I can plug the Kill-a-watt into the inverter to see just how much phantom power is being used?
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Malamute
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 12:33pm
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A couple things come to mind. If its not too late, make the top half of all your outlets switched, that way you can control the phantom use without effort. A remote switch that goes between the cord and outlet may work also. The ones I've used look like an extension cord with a small switch on the end of them.
When I built a solar system, the biggest issue I had was the power sources for the little things you don't think of. Those little boxes that you plug in the wall for your answering machine, caller ID, etc all take power all the time.
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creeky
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# Posted: 23 Aug 2014 02:13pm
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i have a kill-a-watt. it will surprise you. some things take nothing. and others ... ouch.
but as malamute points out. each of those wall warts/devices is eating power. and even 1 or 2w/hr adds up to 24 to 50 watts in a day and now multiply by number of wall warts. so you mention 4 devices. the powerpack is probably much higher ... that's at least 200 or more watts a day. groingo can tell you all about that.
i know from my second inverter ... i thought it was a 25 watt/hr idle draw (25x24=600 watts) but after replacing it with a better inverter I'm thinking it was more like 35w/hr average.
simple solution tho. plug your devices into some power bars and turn 'em off.
and turn off your inverter overnight. or buy a low draw one. like the morningstar (recommended for small loads for sure) someone mentioned. or the tbs. or ...
on the happy side: don't worry about your system bleeding back into the panels. it's a simple diode and every panel has one.
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groingo
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# Posted: 24 Aug 2014 11:33pm - Edited by: groingo
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The information regarding ready state is on most appliances and my two kill a watts don't measure lower than a whole number but often times that is enough.
My power inverter though only 410 watts had a ready state rating of 1/4 of a watt but in reality was actually 2 watts, doesn't sound like much but it does ad up so I look the on off switch and wired it up right next to my bed so the last thing I do before going to sleep is shut off all power which in my case saves an easy 15% on a days power use or 1 day added between recharges.
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2014 11:34pm
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Yep, all those bits and pieces (including phone chargers, computer chargers, etc. even without a led light) plugged into the wall consume small amounts of standby power, so best thing is to use switched outlets or a switched power bar.
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