Energy saving scams

Boxman

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

Swipe

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

You can quantify that yourself if you have a smart meter with an in home display. Just plug some in on a 4 gang extension lead and watch it go up when you switch it on at the plug.

wild666

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

Any lead that is not connected to an appliance but connected to a wall socket that is turned on will use power even if the lead is connected to nothing. The electricity has to go somewhere and it seeps from the end of the lead into the atmosphere. Buy any electric usage monitor then plug in a surge protector and fill the plug sockets with charging leads and leave them on and see how much they use in a set period, be it 1 day or a week. then do the multiplication to see how much is used in 1 year. I will save over 800 kWh per year with doing this by turning everything I used to put in standby to turning it off at the wall socket. 
 
This is the type of thing I mean you will find them even cheaper on ebay.

Gerry1

wild666 said:

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

Any lead that is not connected to an appliance but connected to a wall socket that is turned on will use power even if the lead is connected to nothing. The electricity has to go somewhere and it seeps from the end of the lead into the atmosphere.

Give me strength ! 

Verdigris

Haven't heard anything like that, for about half a century, when people used to belive electricity would leak out of a light socket with no bulb in it.

FreeBear

Swipe said:

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

You can quantify that yourself if you have a smart meter with an in home display. Just plug some in on a 4 gang extension lead and watch it go up when you switch it on at the plug.

Unlikely you will see any meaningful jump in readings by plugging in a bunch of phone chargers on standby. The power consumed by a typical charger (when not charging a phone) is going to be less than 0.5W even for a badly designed one.

wild666 said:

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

Charging leads are a large drain on using power when not charging an appliance

Out of interest can you actually quantify that wild666? I've read that many times but ever seen any actual consumption figures.

Any lead that is not connected to an appliance but connected to a wall socket that is turned on will use power even if the lead is connected to nothing. The electricity has to go somewhere and it seeps from the end of the lead into the atmosphere. 

That is one way of looking at it

The reality is a little more complex - There is a bunch of electronic components inside a charger. These all draw a small amount of current (called "quiescent current"). Coupled with internal losses within the capacitors/resistors/inductors, this energy will be converted to heat. In extreme cases and with badly designed/manufactured chargers, this heat is enough to start a fire. This, above all else, is why you should be turning off and unplugging your phone charger when not in use.

Boxman

Thank you FreeBear, the info I was looking for.  We have four chargers permanently plugged in. So if they each draw 0.5w they use 1 unit every 3 weeks, 18 say £3.50 or so pa.  Some usage yes but somewhat insignificant when set against over £500 overall cost each year.

As a precaution I do feel them every now and then but have never detected any warmth.

tim_p

wild666 said:

Any lead that is not connected to an appliance but connected to a wall socket that is turned on will use power even if the lead is connected to nothing. The electricity has to go somewhere and it seeps from the end of the lead into the atmosphere.

Huh? WTAF?

tim_p

Boxman said:

As a precaution I do feel them every now and then but have never detected any warmth.

Someone’s not been keeping up. They don’t get warm simply because the electrickery leaks out quicker than it takes to heat the device. 

Boxman

tim_p said:

Boxman said:

As a precaution I do feel them every now and then but have never detected any warmth.

Someone’s not been keeping up. They don’t get warm simply because the electrickery leaks out quicker than it takes to heat the device. 

So that would mean that any fire risk when not in use is absolutely minimal then................