Watt's Up Test

Here is some data and feedback we collected on A/V equipment with the Watts Up meter: APC Surge protector, Sony ES Receiver, CD Player, Cassette Deck, VCR and JVC 31" Television.

There was a 10 watt phantom load with all of these components plugged in.
Heres the Breakdown:
Receiver: 1 watt
CD: 4 watts (suprising)
TV: 1 watt
VCR: 4 watts (LCD clock)

Operating waterless:
Receiver + CD player on 0 volume: 53 watts
on 2: 60 watts
on 4: 100 watts
Full power: surges to 290 watts (this mode was probably not too popular with my neighbors) average of 200 watts.
VCR: power on: 10 watts, playing 23 watts
TV: 90-130 watts, fluctuates with picture.

So here is the breakdown. The 10 watt phantom load x 24 hrs a day=240 watt hours. This is 6% of my household consumption. Take that figure and multiply by all of wasteful American homes and the figure is staggering. 240 watt hours x 50 million homes= 12,000,000 kWH per day! Then add in all of the other phantom loads common in American homes: Cordless phones, security systems, night lights and excessive outdoor lighting, clocks on microwaves and ranges, dustbusters, rechargeable lanterns, and my personal favorite, plug-in air fresheners.

My advice: Don't buy a cordless phone or most of the above items, check for phantom loads and eliminate them, and turn off the power strips to your electronic equipment when not in use. Surge protectors still provide protection when the switch is off. Your payback? Better views and minty-fresh air.
 
One customer told us:
"The Watts Up? meter (your stock #MT3531) is useless on an inverter-powered system (except as an instantaneous wattmeter). Its time base (as in many timed appliances including clocks) runs up to twice as fast as the actual elapsed time when on inverter power, even from the Trace SW series. This is usually because they count "zero crossings" for the clock, and inverters commonly have four or more "zero crossings" per cycle instead of the two in generator-supplied AC. Because of this, the elapsed time and kilowatt-hour readings are way off. Furthermore, it resets to zero if you interrupt the supply for a second or more - it lacks any kind of memory backup."

Please e-mail comments or questions to technical@thesustainablevillage.com.