I just got my power bill for the past month – it would seem that my Diabolical Device might be costing a fair bit in electricity. Either that, or running my heater so much may have been more expensive than I was expecting. Either way wouldn’t surprise me, since it was awfully cold for most of last month, especially considering how used to California temperatures I am.
Time for an experiment, turning off my heat for most of February. Hopefully that will bring costs down, as I’d hate to stop using my Diabolical Device as much. Of course, at least knowing what to expect for power costs when operating a Diabolical Device will be enough for me, so either way it will continue to be used.
#1 by Grrr on February 3, 2010 - 11:00 pm
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What are the power supplies for the Diabolical Device? I’d be surprised if it takes anywhere near as much power as heating. Also, check your billing cycle… You may not actually see the results of your February experiment until April. My power bills here are always laggy.
#2 by Grrr on February 4, 2010 - 11:47 pm
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I guess the key piece to know is how many watts it’s pulling.
For years now, I’ve longed for a little meter inside my home where I could sit and watch exactly what my KWh usage was so far this month, and what the current usage rate was. In theory, I could go out and read the power meter, but the numbers on that are gibberish.
#3 by Grrr on February 9, 2010 - 12:20 am
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Well what do you know…
http://www.theenergydetective.com/
#4 by Makoto on February 3, 2010 - 11:11 pm
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Well, it runs on a 36v main line, and a 5v secondary line for communication with its controlling computer. My November bill was higher than normal, and December was higher still – I’d definitely been running my Diabolical Device more than ever, but also running the heater quite significantly. The heater is definitely the main suspect for the higher costs right now, but you never know… a Diabolical Device (2 lines), computer, and monitor do add up when running for hours at a time…