Re: Motion Sensor Light for Front Entrance

["Robert Green" <robert_green1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Art Todesco" <actodesco@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:i7qn1n$dvs$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On 9/27/2010 10:33 AM, Robert Green wrote:
> >
> > P.S. to Art.  Glad you asked this question, nothing at all's changed but
I
> > feel alot better that X-10's not eating 400 watts just "being there."  I
> > feel a lot worse though, about where all those extra watts are going.  A
> > while back someone suggested that the older the house wiring, the more
> > likely substantial amount of juice are going up in heat in the wires.
That
> > would not be good. )-:
> >
> > --
> > Bobby G.
> >
> Just to set it straight, I did an
> instantaneous reading on the Kill-A-Watt
> ... I didn't even know there was a long
> term read .... engineers never read the
> manuals ... I'm not even sure where it
> is.

It's the last button on the right that reads kWh.

>As to "heat in the wires", what do
> you mean?  And, how did you measure the
> 400 watts?   400 watts is just under 4
> amps and that's a lot.  My guess would
> be that you have something connected and
> using power that is "hidden".

It's not really a lot consider I have about 6 PCs and a whole 16 camera CCTV
setup with active monitors in many of the rooms in the house going along
with all the X-10 gear and at least 10 UPS's protecting various gear as well
as an alarm system.

I measured it by shutting off the fridge, the lights and any other large
loads and watching the meter outside go round and round.  I don't know about
your house, but with all the wall warts I have plugged in, along with all
the AV gear that never really shuts off (so they can be IR controlled) a
400W standby load is embarrassingly quite possible.

Since the house is over 70 years old with the original cloth insulated
wiring, I am sure at least some of those watts are "wire heat" ones but I am
not curious enough to unplug everything in the house to determine that.
Simply shutting off the breakers won't give a true read of the loss caused
by the old wiring.  If I remember when I move, I'll try to check the meter
once the house is empty.  That should give me a read on the wiring loss.

After reviewing Dave's data, it's clear it's not the X-10 gear that's
drawing all those amps, but in looking around, I realized that there was
more than enough "always on" equipment to account for a large standby power
consumption level.

Sadly a lot of electronic gear can't be turned off completely without having
to reprogram, reset it or otherwise fuss with it.  That's why so I have so
many UPSs scattered around the house (each sucking watts).  The biggest
savings I achieved recently was in retiring all the desktop PC's and
replacing them with used laptops that draw a maximum of 17 watts each,
compared to the old units that ranged from 50 watts to over 200.  The power
company quickly raised my rates to compensate.  (-:

--
Bobby G.