High Electricity bills

victor2

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Ultrasonic

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Why would that be?

Gerry1

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

I suspect that any small cost savings made by charging laptops on E7 will be massively outweighed by their batteries failing much earlier because of the repeated charging and discharging cycles.

victor2

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Why would that be?

Because the batteries and charger will not be 100% efficient.

Ultrasonic

victor2 said:

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Why would that be?

Because the batteries and charger will not be 100% efficient.

But does plugging a charger do anything different? I'd have thought it effectively trickle-charged the battery. 

victor2

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Why would that be?

Because the batteries and charger will not be 100% efficient.

But does plugging a charger do anything different? I'd have thought it effectively trickle-charged the battery. 

The battery will not return 100% of the energy fed into it. Presumably a charger will consume more energy when both running the computer and charging the battery than it will if the battery is full and only the computer needs powering.

Ultrasonic

victor2 said:

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

Ultrasonic said:

victor2 said:

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

If you're charging them on the cheaper night rate, that could make sense. But you will use more energy charging the batteries and then running on battery versus just running directly off the mains.

Why would that be?

Because the batteries and charger will not be 100% efficient.

But does plugging a charger do anything different? I'd have thought it effectively trickle-charged the battery. 

The battery will not return 100% of the energy fed into it. Presumably a charger will consume more energy when both running the computer and charging the battery than it will if the battery is full and only the computer needs powering.

But does using the charger bypass the battery? I'm doubtful it does and if it doesn't I don't see how the difference you're suggesting could exist.

k_man

iFunk said:

QrizB said:

iFunk said:

Right I see I have them the wrong way round for some reason on the bill the lower figure is the Day one and the higher one the Night figure, I'm still curious what is taking my electricity right now with nothing but my laptops plugged in. 

You referred to your laptops earlier as:

... my workstation ...

Workstation to me means a relatively high-powered computer. Exactly what is running?

Yes I'm a developer, so I have to new MacBook Pros and 3 monitors, I have them on all day, but usually unplug them from power and just run them on battery, as I get a full day's work out of the battery before needing to charge them, so I'd say it's Low.

Do you run the 3 monitors from battery too?
What model are they?

Does the MacBook change power profile when on battery (slow CPU dim display etc)?
If so that may save a little power.

@Ultrasonic
The internet suggests the Apple charging process does bypass the battery once charged

k_man

Internet also suggests it doesn't bypass.
Pick one...

MWT

With some you can remove the battery and just run on mains power, but it is not typical.

Net result though is that you run the battery hot and 100% charged and then kill the battery quickly.since the packs hate being hot and full.

You can reduce the risk by periodically running on battery alone so the pack gets cycled, but ultimately notebooks are not ideal for regular daily use as a static computer, but they are the corporate weapon of choice to enable hot-desking and home working so it is what it is I guess...