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Thread: Electricity Monitoring at home.

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    Yes two one 50 inch and a 42 inch 25 downlights in the house not led may be part of it



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    Quote Originally Posted by gavogr View Post
    Yes two one 50 inch and a 42 inch 25 downlights in the house not led may be part of it
    There are all your problems mate.

    Replace the halogen downlights with LED as soon as possible. What you have are 50 watts.......each ! Add that up when you turn the lights on, 50 watts X 25 ! LED are about 5 watts each.

    Also replacing your TVs would save you money, Plasmas use heaps more than LCD/LED.

    Shit, you'll be loaded with what you would save doing the above.
    You might even be the cause of your states power issues

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    Don't know how good this device is, but if it works as described, and you have a smart meter, it might give you some idea of what's doing all the guzzling in the house:



    You can also get devices that monitor individual appliances:


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    Quote Originally Posted by admin View Post
    There are all your problems mate.

    Replace the halogen downlights with LED as soon as possible. What you have are 50 watts.......each ! Add that up when you turn the lights on, 50 watts X 25 ! LED are about 5 watts each.

    Also replacing your TVs would save you money, Plasmas use heaps more than LCD/LED.

    Shit, you'll be loaded with what you would save doing the above.
    You might even be the cause of your states power issues
    Just replaced 10 X GU10 50W Halogen downlights with 4.5W LED equivalent.

    On special, half price at the moment, at Bunnings $4.95 each.

    Light level is excellent....just one problem.......six of them in a quiet reading room......a low level, but nonetheless noticeable "singing" from what I assume are small integral transformers.

    Wouldn't be an issue in a family living area, but a tad annoying in a quiet space.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gavogr View Post
    Yes two one 50 inch and a 42 inch 25 downlights in the house not led may be part of it
    Others jump quick to conclusions but don't do the math.

    25x50 times lets say 5 hours per evening is actually only 6.25kWh NOT 60kWh !
    However I doubt you would even have all those 25 halos on the whole time.

    A really old 50" plasma averages 400w per hour 42" 250w, depends how your set the brightness.
    Assume 5 hours for both tellys 3.25kW.

    Lets round the tellys and lamps up to 10kWh.
    Your average fridge does 2kWh a day.
    Electric stove (if you have a wife who actually cooks daily) 3kWh + 1kWh for other kitchen appliances.
    HWS 5kWh, that is a tricky one. Some teens don't shower at all and others shower for hours, maybe research that. Should be off peak anyhow, so even if it uses 10kWh you pay for 5 or less (relatively speaking).
    Gaming puter can be over 500W with older graphic cards, 10 hours 5kWh. If you are still using plasma I assume you haven't updated the PC lately.

    Android and Apple gadgets, not even worth mentioning here. 1 halogen uses more.

    So I get 26kWh, still no where near 60.

    You can shave of 10kWh with LEDs, a couple of Aldi 4k TVs and maybe a newer graphics card for the PC that only uses 150W(Geforce 1080) but at least 4x the processing power.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 28-07-17 at 11:28 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by admin View Post
    There are all your problems mate.

    Replace the halogen downlights with LED as soon as possible. What you have are 50 watts.......each ! Add that up when you turn the lights on, 50 watts X 25 ! LED are about 5 watts each.

    Also replacing your TVs would save you money, Plasmas use heaps more than LCD/LED.

    Shit, you'll be loaded with what you would save doing the above.
    You might even be the cause of your states power issues
    I Love that last comment "Classic"
    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    Others jump quick to conclusions but don't do the math.

    25x50 times lets say 5 hours per evening is actually only 6.25kWh NOT 60kWh !
    However I doubt you would even have all those 25 halos on the whole time.

    A really old 50" plasma averages 400w per hour 42" 250w, depends how your set the brightness.
    Assume 5 hours for both tellys 3.25kW.

    Lets round the tellys and lamps up to 10kWh.
    Your average fridge does 2kWh a day.
    Electric stove (if you have a wife who actually cooks daily) 3kWh + 1kWh for other kitchen appliances.
    HWS 5kWh, that is a tricky one. Some teens don't shower at all and others shower for hours, maybe research that.
    Gaming puter can be over 500W with older graphic cards, 10 hours 5kWh. If you are still using plasma I assume you haven't updated the PC lately.

    Android and Apple gadgets, not even worth mentioning here. 1 halogen uses more.

    So I get 26kWh, still no where near 60.

    You can shave of 10kWh with LEDs, a couple of Aldi 4k TVs and maybe a newer graphics card for the PC that only uses 150W(Geforce 1080) but at least 4x the processing power.
    Cheers for the info,
    No pc's Desktops just the two laptops.
    Downlights are all Halogen they are old ones so when i put LED's in the blink so will need to swap out the transformers aswell i think.
    The Plasmas are both at least 10yrs old so yest they probably do chew through a fair bit.
    Kids do shower but we run out of hot water when they are in to long and it only heats up again during the night.
    Still think something else is using a heap.
    Best i look into a meter to test a few things.

    Thanks for all the info

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    Problem with changing your halogen lights for LED's is that the transformer supplying the 12V to the lights will not run with such a low load. The transformers are typically rated at 60W and need a minimum of approximately 20w load to run. When I changed halogens to led's I had to use one transformer per 5 to 6 lights so the transformer would function. I added up the wattage of the leds until I had a total power of 30 to 50w and connected that number in parallel.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thala Dan View Post
    Just replaced 10 X GU10 50W Halogen downlights with 4.5W LED equivalent.

    On special, half price at the moment, at Bunnings $4.95 each.

    Light level is excellent....just one problem.......six of them in a quiet reading room......a low level, but nonetheless noticeable "singing" from what I assume are small integral transformers.

    Wouldn't be an issue in a family living area, but a tad annoying in a quiet space.

    I should clarify that the 50W halogens I replaced were the 240V type.....not the low voltage ones.

    The replacement LED globes were also 240V.

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    Been doing a lot of work swapping out old style LV downlights for LED fittings lately
    Best bang for buck going.

    I'd even recommend the Bunning's Trade Pack 12W LED ($69 for 5 lights with plug sockets) for those on a budget.
    Light output is about double!
    Power usage is around 1/5th
    Last edited by ol' boy; 29-07-17 at 09:13 AM.
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Quote Originally Posted by gavogr View Post
    Yes two one 50 inch and a 42 inch
    Swap your TV's out for a couple of these, should see the power savings

    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    So I get 26kWh, still no where near 60.

    I bet you it goes down more than that if he does what I suggested. You did originally suggest it wasnt his use but a faulty meter. I have used more than 50 in a day before I got Solar. He is running a 3.5 kW solar grid system, so its predominantly night use of plasma and downlights which are killing him.

    You also havent taken in to account all the things on standby, incuding the Tvs and the power sucking transformers in the roof.

    Regardless, apart from whats pointed out, he will need to go around his house and look at everything and he will no doubt make other discoveries.

    All up, he will be saving thousands of dollars.

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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    Been doing a lot of work swapping out old style LV downlights for LED fittings lately
    When are we going to get RGB LED downlights? Everything else is going RGB!

    Wireless controller... an App on a smartphone... instant home disco!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigfella237 View Post
    When are we going to get RGB LED downlights? Everything else is going RGB!

    Wireless controller... an App on a smartphone... instant home disco!
    They been a out for a while now
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Quote Originally Posted by admin View Post
    I bet you it goes down more than that if he does what I suggested. You did originally suggest it wasnt his use but a faulty meter. I have used more than 50 in a day before I got Solar. He is running a 3.5 kW solar grid system, so its predominantly night use of plasma and downlights which are killing him.

    You also havent taken in to account all the things on standby, incuding the Tvs and the power sucking transformers in the roof.

    Regardless, apart from whats pointed out, he will need to go around his house and look at everything and he will no doubt make other discoveries.

    All up, he will be saving thousands of dollars.

    Plasma TV on standby 2W. 2 tellys around 0.1kWh a day. Irrelevant for his consumption figure.
    Downlight transformers are only on while the light is switched on, 7-10W non reactive loss(reactive is not metered). All lights for 5 hours an extra 1.25kW/h

    The point of my post was to prove that something was wrong with his meter because he can't get nowhere near that 60kWh a day, even with plasma and halos.

    Maybe his net meter(due to a fault)or billing(software error) is ADDING the generated solar energy to his consumption figures rather than subtracting it !
    28-35kWh on top of his 27kWh usage suddenly figures out.


    gavogr, please feel free to submit my estimate to your supplier to point out that something must be wrong.
    If the kids are using laptops instead of a PC for their gaming then that 5kWh is overrated, more like 2kWh for two reasonably fast laptops a day running 10 hours.

    Edit: Walking around the house as Admin says, hopefully reveals the heated spa you left on the whole season
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 29-07-17 at 06:26 PM.
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    I don't suppose the electric hot water has a leaking PTR valve? That'd give you a crazy-high hot water bill.

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    Quote Originally Posted by shred View Post
    I don't suppose the electric hot water has a leaking PTR valve? That'd give you a crazy-high hot water bill.
    Im Not sure what a PTR valve is but I don't think it is leaking?

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    After Goggling PTR valve I will check when I get home.
    This was leaking a while ago maybe its leaking again?

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by gavogr View Post
    After Goggling PTR valve I will check when I get home.
    This was leaking a while ago maybe its leaking again?

    Cheers
    It is meant to leak
    Approx 2.5litres a night for a 315L HWS.
    Depending on inlet pressure and thermo setting
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    If your HWS is connected to off-peak power, your bill should show separate consumption figures for Peak and Off-peak.

    Just compare the consumption figures for each category on this current bill with corresponding consumption figures on previous bill(s).

    If there is something wrong in the HWS department, it should be reflected in a much larger Off-Peak consumption figure.

    Alternatively, if the jump in consumption is reflected in your Peak figure, you can pretty much rule out the HWS, unless.............you don't happen to have one of those changeover switches that allow the HWS to be changed over to Peak power do you?

    I don't know if they are still used these days, but I have had installations that incorporated a three-way switch marked DAY - OFF - NIGHT.........with such a switch it was possible to switch the HWS to peak rate if hot water was all gone, instead of having to wait for the water to be reheated during the night.

    Convenient, but expensive.

    One other left-field issue.....the house we bought in NE Vic a few years back, like so many houses in this area, has in-floor electric heating.....rated at 11kw!!

    Took me a while to twig (not ever having had it before)......has its own contactor in the meter box, and a fairly inconspicuous thermostat in the family room........both of which are now well and truly disabled

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