Electricity cost of using a cordless phone

loulou41

I gave my daughter a new cordless phone for her new flat. She is a bit reluctant to use it as she says whether it is expensive to run. I told it should cost very little. Am I right, I know she is on a budget but surely this cannot make a lot of difference in her electricity bill? Thanks

1carminestocky

Not tested mine but I genuinely can't see it burning up a crazy amount of leccy as it's surely a very low-powered electrical item?

Magentasue

I think it only uses a few watts, bit like an electric clock.

LittleJo

Hi,
Look at manual, it will tell you power consumption.
This is given in watts.
The lower the better.
I thik it will be so small as to not matter.
Jo

[Deleted User]

A cordless phone is another thing I gave up in order te save on energy. I have an os plug in phone. The pennies add up ie bedside clock switched off, radio now mainly wind up and the phone etc. Lots of other little things have enabled me to keep my quarterly bill<£96 for the last 2 quarters. I don`t scrimp on creature comforts but every little helps

economiser

Mine is just under 7 watts. I think that adds up to about £6 a year in electrical costs assuming it is left on 24/7.

bockster

i've been around the house today with my multimeter measuring everything electrical.

i was surprised.

i reckon all the standby's, oven, m/wave, house alarm, pc (even when off!!), boiler, fridge, etc, etc. add up to approx 150w = approx 4 kwh per day before you turn on a light, tv, iron, shower, oven etc.

by my meter readings, this is approx half of our daily usage!!

investigations will continue.

i'm going to check my meter before going to bed and then in the morning before anything is used for a few days to see if this backs up my findings

Premier_2

My base unit is rated as 6W and the secondary charging unit at 3W, but I suspect they may use less when not in use or re-charging the batteries.

Afterall, the base unit also has a backup PP3 battery it runs off in the event of a power cut.

Cardew

LittleJo wrote: »

Hi,
Look at manual, it will tell you power consumption.
This is given in watts.
Jo

The manual will give the rating, but that doesn't mean it will draw anything like that power.

Most of the very few watts these devices use is the heat from the power supply unit that converts mains electricity to DC power(the black box)

If anyone is bothered about the couple of watts they consume you can unplug the phone for long periods and the batteries will remain charged for days if you don't use the phone a great deal. Just charge the phone for an hour or two occasionally.