My Energy use Diary

thescouselander

Cardew wrote: »

Hi,
A couple of points.

I agree that the only realistic purpose of these panels is to provide tiny amounts of power where no mains electricity is available.

It was a little confusing when you posted the message amongst all the measures to save money, as it certainly won't achieve that aim!

On the point of your car, new fully charged batteries(you buy one a year!) should stay charged for weeks - even months - at a time without going completly flat.

I think it is possible you have a fault on your car that is causing a slight drain on the battery when static, or it is not charging properly when you do start the engine.

Even if the battery did go flat it should not need replacing yearly - or even every 5 years.

All true for the most part but when the battery is connected to the car it is runnnig devices such as the alarm/imobiliser, clock, radio back-up power (to keep the stations tunes) etc. Although these devices use a tiny amount of electricity it can be enough to flatten the battery in a couple of months or even less - it all depends on the equipment connected in the car.

It could well be a fault though. I once had a car that had an alarm which would drain the battery in two weeks. Might be worth looking into.

To be honest. it is probably better to take the car for a run every so often. Cars dont like being left undriven for long periods for a number of reasons apart from the battery going flat.

greenbee

setmefree2 wrote: »

I did half an hours ironing yesterday:p and consumption was .33 KwH - so 1 hour of ironing would use approx two thirds of a KwH.:D

Definitely a good reason to give up ironing :j

setmefree2

Hi:hello:,

We've been told by loads of mechanics now that we are just not driving it enough, it's an x reg scenic and has immobiliser, clock, radio, back up power, etc that drain the battery when it's not being driven. They all say that even if we bought a new car we would still have the same problem. I'm afraid we've become so green that we rarely drive it - I would rather walk and Mr SMF2 would rather cycle. However, once a week we might need it to do a short journey to take the kids to footy or something, couple of times a year a round trip of 400 miles., occasional trip around the M25.

We do need a car, so I'm still hopeful that this bigger solar pannel is going to work.... fingers crossed.;)

SMF2

Fred_Bear_2

I agree with Cardew. I am sure you must have a fault if your battery runs down so quickly and you need to buy a new battery every year. My car is five years old with the original battery and I recently left it for four weeks while I was on holiday and it started instantly. Also, suppose a car takes say 200amps for 3 seconds to start and the alternator recharges it at say 20 amps, then it will take only 30 seconds of driving to recharge the battery. I would get an auto electrician to check the alternator and the rate of discharge of the battery.

setmefree2

Hi

We bought a new battery for our scenic a week last Saturday. Mr SMF2 has done 2 15 minute round trips. This morning the brand new battery only had 25% of its charge. So put the mains trickle charger on it and brought it back to 100%.....

....any thoughts?

thescouselander

setmefree2 wrote: »

Hi

We bought a new battery for our scenic a week last Saturday. Mr SMF2 has done 2 15 minute round trips. This morning the brand new battery only had 25% of its charge. So put the mains trickle charger on it and brought it back to 100%.....

....any thoughts?

That definitely sounds like its discharging too fast - better get it checked out. One easy thing to check is to make sure none of the interior lights are staying on when they shouldn't - especially check the lights in the boot and the glove box.

Another thing to check (if you have a multimeter to hand) is that the alternator is charging properly. Measure the voltage across the battery when the engine is running. You should get about 14 volts, if you have less then the alternator could be suspect.

setmefree2

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/15/healthscience/15ecohomes.php?page=1

Britons shine a light on energy use at home



Aww - Makes you proud to be a Brit doesn't it:D

thescouselander

setmefree2 wrote: »

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/15/healthscience/15ecohomes.php?page=1

Britons shine a light on energy use at home



Aww - Makes you proud to be a Brit doesn't it:D

From the article:

"Turn on a computer and the reading on the smart meter goes from 300 to 400 watts per hour. Turn off the light and it goes from 299 to 215."

I've never heard the concept of "Watts per hour" - what is the nonsense? Do they mean Watt hours?

geordie_joe

thescouselander wrote: »

"Turn off the light and it goes from 299 to 215."

Does this mean the the light they turned off has an 84 watt bulb?

setmefree2

We will defo get someone to look at the car battery again. We recently found a new garage so maybe they will be able to help us. We are going away soon so will get it done after hols.

All The Best

SMF2