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How much electricity do these things use when not in use?

I'd appreciate it any replies went to all three groups that this is posted to so I don't have to read all three to see all the replies. When I started in Usenet, that was considered the proper way.

How much electricity do these things use when not in use?

1) Laptop power supplies, when the laptop is not on? Is it different when the laptop is disconnected?

2) Automobile Quick Charge 3.0 ports? My car is old so I have to add one, like this one,

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Some come with a switch in them and some don't. I picked this one 'cause it has a 1.1" hole saw, not for the switch. I suppose some new cars come with QC 3.0 installed?

3) Radios, that have an on/off switch but the switch is not in the 110v. line. It's somewhere in the transistor circuitry, after the radio's power supply? Why don't they put the switch on the 110 volts?

4) Same question about TV's but since they are bigger, do they waste even more? If they have to use a relay, they could use a relay. (Yes, I agree that the remote control receiver has to be on all the time, but I don't consider that a waste. It could be the only part that is on.)

5) What have I left out? Especially something that is different in nature from the previous 4.

WRT 1, I've noticed that the black box that's part of the charging cable is not hot, not even warm afaict, when I'm not charging anything. Does that imply I'm not using much current? That I'm using no current?

WRT 2, cars, doesn't the alternator put out loads of extra electricity anyhow except that there is a regulator to stop that. If the charger I'm asking about or the lights or any accesorry (even maybe the heater fan) is using electricity, does it make the engine work harder? Is the amount significant? How many gallons an hour do all the accesories together use? Is the amount the engine would have to work to power a charger that's not charging anything even measurable with other than a galvanometer**? ** wikip doesn't say this but I was led to believe a galvanometer is an ammeter for very small currents. Was that true? Is it still? Anyhow, that's what I mean in the previous paragraph.

Reply to
micky
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micky wrote

What the battery needs charging wise.

Yes, very little power is taken with a modern very small switching power supply/charger.

Same as the laptop.

It doesn't actually switch anything, it tells the radio to turn off.

How much power it takes when off varys with the design.

Because the other switch is cheaper.

Yep, the worst designs can be quite bad.

Yes with the best designs. But some of the smart ones allow the firmware to be remotely updated so that still needs to be active to know when to do that.

Everything appliance wise except the most primitive now.

You can get power meters very cheaply.

Yes.

Nope, its never literally zero.

There always is a regulator.

Yep. But it isnt a fan heater in car.

Nope.

Bugger all.

It is measurable with a power meter.

Yes.

Nope, we do it electronically now.

Reply to
Rod Speed

Yup - and *much* preference to multiposting. Cross-posting to completely different or trophy groups was the annoyance, mostly done by trolls.

It's less than the electricity used when they are in use ;-)

However less - this depends on age, construction, type, and how much power/cost you believe is significant.

Find yourself an AC plugin power meter and measure?

There are other metering methods for non-AC classes of equipment, a clamp meter is a non-invasive measurer of current (and them hall-types that also measure DC current are pretty useful in cars).

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Adrian C
Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

Using my P4460 Kill-a-watt meter, I tried a mixed collection of laptops and power supplies. Since the laptop is charging the battery while it is turned off, and I didn't want to wait for the battery to come to full charge, I simply removed the battery where possible:

Acer Chromebook 14 PS only 0 watts PS with laptop turned off 0 watts

HP Pavilion dv8263dl PS only 0 watts PS with laptop turned off 3 watts HP Pavilion dv6-1253cl PS only 0 watts PS with laptop turned off 0 watts

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Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com 
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 01:13:16 -0400, micky posted for all of us to digest...

No, it wasn't.

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Tekkie
Reply to
Tekkie©

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