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HELP - where am I "leaking" electricity?

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  • MWT
    MWT Posts: 10,205 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 6 September 2022 at 10:03AM
    FreeBear said:
    At what voltage were these figures you found quoted at ?
    For LCD keypad operating at 5-12V, 40mA is quite reasonable. At 240Vac. I would consider it to be excessive. Care to post some links to the hardware in question ?

    That is the right question to ask, nothing in my alarm system runs at 240V...
    ... except the 12V transformer...

  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,709 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    FreeBear said:
    Doing a quick google search I came across the following:

    Current consumption

    Panel 110 mA (normal) 190 mA (alarm)
    LCD keypad 40 mA (normal) 50 mA (alarm)
    On normal (standby), it all adds up to 150mA (110+40), which at 240V is 36Watts.

    At what voltage were these figures you found quoted at ?
    For LCD keypad operating at 5-12V, 40mA is quite reasonable. At 240Vac. I would consider it to be excessive. Care to post some links to the hardware in question ?

    I had that thought. My alarm has a rechargeable back up battery which would only be delivering 12v so the loads quoted seemed excessive - obviously would draw more current when the alarm actually triggers but even when set wouldn't consume the power above.
  • chris_n
    chris_n Posts: 633 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 6 September 2022 at 11:59AM
    MWT said:
    FreeBear said:
    At what voltage were these figures you found quoted at ?
    For LCD keypad operating at 5-12V, 40mA is quite reasonable. At 240Vac. I would consider it to be excessive. Care to post some links to the hardware in question ?

    That is the right question to ask, nothing in my alarm system runs at 240V...
    ... except the 12V transformer...

    I expect there are a lot of installed alarms with a 12v transformer that will consume much more power than a switch mode power supply, although very unlikely to be 30 - 50W worth.
    Living the dream in the Austrian Alps.
  • merchcon55
    merchcon55 Posts: 305 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 6 September 2022 at 2:15PM
    I will try and find the link for the alarm figures I quoted earlier - to be fair, my first thought was that about 1KW a day for alarm  seems very excessive. But I am really not all that knowledgeable on these matters.


    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5690189/how-much-elecricty-do-house-alarms-use


  • tux900
    tux900 Posts: 412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 6 September 2022 at 3:24PM
    Doing a quick google search I came across the following:

    Current consumption

    Panel 110 mA (normal) 190 mA (alarm)
    LCD keypad 40 mA (normal) 50 mA (alarm)
    On normal (standby), it all adds up to 150mA (110+40), which at 240V is 36Watts.

    But when alarmed it adds up to 240mA (190+50), which at 240V is 58Watts.

    So something I have never ever thought about: How much power does my alarm system use?
    I wouldn't have thought it runs off 240V internally. More likely to be 12v so conversion inefficiencies notwithstanding you can divide your figures by 20.

    Edit: Oops - I see that several have already pointed this out! Apologies for the repetition! 
  • JohnB47
    JohnB47 Posts: 2,668 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just for comparison - we had a 7 day holiday late last May. Usual stuff left on standby (TV, HDR, Router, HiFi, Fridge Freezer, clocks on oven, microwave etc.) central heating and Alexa off.

    Consumption was 1.4 Kwh per day during that period.
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