Electric Use/bill excessive?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: linr05
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 05:19:16 pm
content: Landlord quoted electric bill 1/2 of experienced useage. Entering 16th month of service from Dominion Power. 2-bedroom apt. has multiple receptacles wired improperly--as tested by plug-in wiring testers.I've noted LED bulbs glowing when turned "Off". What is happening? What about other receptacles with electronics plugged in/turned "Off"?Question: Are improperly-wired receptacles consuming occult power continuously--thus running up the electricity useage?linr05 @ground level

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 05:52:17 pm
content: Quote from: linr05 on September 16, 2016, 05:19:16 pmNo. Unless there is something in your plug that can draw current (There isn't) then there is no possible way you will be losing energy through the plug. And when you think about the law stating energy never disappears, rather it changes form, means if you were losing current through an outlet, you would see or feel something.If your sockets aren't wired properly, simply A. Know what you are doing, or get someone who does, and B. You can unscrew them and rewire them (MCBs off please) proper.My guess for the LED Bulbs is maybe a cap discharging or something. LED bulbs tend to have mini PSUs in them, which could use caps for power filtering, thus when you turn the bulb off it might glow dimly for a few minutes afterwards. Try unplugging it to see if my theory is correct.Also your English (I understand not trying to offend here) isn't the greatest, but if you mean to say that your landlord said you only used 1/2 of the expected power usage, where is the problem?

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 09:19:22 pm
content: Use a wattmeter to check what consumes power. Perhaps some PSU is consuming a lot of power. Perhaps an electrical short is consuming power. Measure every device and add them up and compare to your meter the rate at which it is running it. If the calculation is close it is fine and you are just using a lot of power. Otherwise there could be something you didnt measure using electricity.

author: fubar.gr
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 10:14:06 pm
content: Light switches that have a neon indicator (so you can find them at night) constantly pass a tiny amount of current for the neon bulb. This current can be enough to make LEDs on the same circuit glow very dimmly.This current is so small that it would amount to just a few pennies per year on the power bill.Some times LEDs glow because they are picking up energy from capacitive coupling with adjacent wires. Again the power lost is so tiny that shouldn't be of concern.

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2016, 11:41:25 pm
content: Quote from: System Error Message on September 16, 2016, 09:19:22 pmIf a short exists then it will be drawing a lot of power. Imagine the heating effects of a multi-thousand watt heater.If you think your house wiring is incorrect or dangerous, then the best line of action is to get an electrician to look at it.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 12:53:11 am
content: Quote from: AcHmed99 on September 16, 2016, 11:59:51 pmCan't tell you how many times I've had to deal with mains gremlins. I saw some once on a trip to Germany, they are a damn sight more vicious than ours in America.

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 01:57:38 am
content: QuoteGlowing? I find that a little unlikely, do you have a model circuit to show such behaviour?

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 02:13:49 am
content: Quote from: retrolefty on September 17, 2016, 01:57:38 amI've seen it on LED bulbs as well. It's a very, very, very feint glow that you can only really see in a dark room once your eyes adjust. Maybe the coating on the inside of the bulb has some sort of phosphorescent effect? Maybe it's just a very small residual charge from the main decoupling cap, or even sub-microamp leakage from a Y cap causing the LED to glow? (LEDs can be visible in a dark room with just 1uA of current.)

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 02:16:19 am
content: I've seen very low power CFL sometimes glow or flash when off when they're on an electronic time switch or dimmer, but not LEDs, are these LEDs CFLs.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 02:18:06 am
content: Quotewhy don't you ask to see the bill? they cannot fudge the readings over a long period of time.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 07:36:06 am
content: Quote from: timb on September 17, 2016, 02:13:49 amIt can be seen in in fluorescent tubes too, when the room is very dark and you have some dark adaption there is some residual glow long after the excitation has been removed. I'm not sure if its just a long fluorescence lifetime combined with the extreme flux of the tube or if there is some phosphorescent component.

author: tatus1969
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 07:44:01 am
content: Quote from: TwoOfFive on September 17, 2016, 12:53:11 amYeah I know, we always have the good stuff. Made in Germany.P.s. "Made" is also a German word meaning grub.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 07:48:28 am
content: With capacitive coupling CFLs flicker and LEDs glow.In both cases the coupling slowly (relatively, this can happen multiple times a second if it's strong enough) charges up the bulk storage electro in the SMPS. When the voltage gets high enough the lamp tries to start causing a pulse of light. On the CFL you see that as a dim flicker, but on a LED bulb there is a much higher density phosphor coating that effectively low-pass filters the emission from the led and you get a very dim glow from that.Don't mistake that from the turn-off glow. LED bulbs can take minutes for the glow to completely decay after a switch off. CFLs do too, but the decay is generally a *lot* quicker.

author: SteveyG
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 17, 2016, 08:31:51 am
content: Quote from: retrolefty on September 17, 2016, 01:57:38 amIt's very common, particularly on 2 way wiring where the strappers are next to each other in the 3C+E wires. It's also likely to happen where you've lost your earth on the twin and earth cable going to the switch.

author: linr05
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 19, 2016, 01:33:53 am
content: Quote from: BradC on September 17, 2016, 07:48:28 amThx 4 this info. Other inputs: I guess I'm just a power glutton compared to the old occupants. End of post/quandary.linr05 @ground level