More: power consumption of household devices

If you actually care about how much electricity you use, you want to know much electricity each device draws. Most civilians just look at the "rating plate" that says what the device, in theory, draws. But not all devices have a rating, and rating plates on some devices are at best an approximation, or a maximum. So, since I have the tools, I measured.

This is a follow-on from the Jan 22 post. I have measured more household devices.

My household "almost always on" total now runs up to:
0.12W neon night light
1W: cell phone charger
3W: motorized lamp timer
4W: weather station
4W: night light
5W: two laptop-computer charger units (while not connected)
5W: three strings of LED christmas lights (OK, it's seasonal)
8W: CFL 10-watt drawing 16W at 50% usage
10W: phone answering machine
12W: alarm system control box
25W: Comcast/Motorola cable box (digital, no DVR, no HD)
77W total thus far.

More Measurements:

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• Device: tiny orange-neon night light.
• Current: measured about 1.02 mA AC.
• Power: 0.12 W.
• Usage: This typically is plugged in 24/7/365.

For old-timers, look up the NE-2 bulb with series resistor that lets it run directly off the wall voltage. Still a very efficient and long-lived device.

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• Device: Motorola Cable TV Box (Comcast) circa 2005. Model DCT2524/1612. Rating plate: 125V 35W. This is measured, of course, with nothing pluged into the accessory outlet on the back. It receives digital cable, but has no digital video recorder, and is not HDTV-capable.
• Current: With the box starting up cold from power-on, I measured 173 mA AC to 192 mA AC as the device initializes. This is the draw while the "power" switch is off, and the device still runs.
  After the device is powered on and running: 198 mA AC with the TV turned off, and 207 mA when the TV gets turned on and presents a load.
• Power: 23.5W off, 23.8W on with TV off, 24.8W on with TVon.
• Usage: This is plugged in 24/7/365, so call it 25 W.

Note: When I get a meter with more than 2A range, I'll measure a newer Motorola box with DVR and a nameplate rating of 450 watts. Ouch!

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• Device: Night light, 4W incandescent bulb candelabra base, GE.
• Current: 34.7 mA AC, with a high inrush of 150mA for less than a second.
• Power: Gee, no surprise: 4.2 W. At least this runs at the rated wattage: but look at the CFLs below.
• Usage: This is plugged in 24/7/365.

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• Device: Compact Fluorescent "10 W" GE Helical, FLE10HLX/2/SW. Rating 120VAC 140mA.
• Current: 132 mA AC, with a high inrush of 520mA for less than a second. (This appeared to be a stable reading over a half hour "warm-up." Some CFLs seem to drop current during the first few minutes.)
• Power: At 122V line, this is 16.1W, not 10W claimed in bold letters on the package, but in-line with the rating that appears in fine print on the base of the bulb.
• Usage: This is just used at night, sometimes left on all night.

This is interesting. How can this be "advertised" prominently on the package a 10 watt bulb rating, when the product's real consumption is 160% of the advertised rate? Even on the bulb itself, in fine print, there is a rating that says it will draw 16.8 watts (120V x .14A); yet the bold print on the package says it draws much less.

I've looked at a couple other screw-in CFLs and they have similar "deflated" rating properties, promising to save energy when in fact the savings are much less than claimed. Sounds like a letter to a consumer organization is in order.

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