Oh Goody! Another Outside Lighting Thread! Yay!!

[Diggin It]

I'm on a mission to reduce monthly electrical consumption as much as possible. I got it down from 15- 18 KwHrs most days to about 12-14. Higher in Summer with the window A/C running, and a bit less high in Winter when the furnace runs. Burning wood has reduced that part most days.

I have light all around the house and shed. Most of them are either 110V or 12V LEDs. There is one 26W CFL that will be replaced with LED when it dies. Can't see spending money to replace it as long as it works.

Front of the house and the driveway are LV LEDS one standard yard light wire. Transformer is rated at 88 watts and there are 6 2watt LEDS spread out over about 150' of 14 AWG landscape light wire. Gate Opener battery charging circuit is also tied in to that at the far end.

Last night I turned off all outside lighting all the way around. Today's meter reading is about 2KwHrs less than yesterday's and the furnace has been running a bit since I've been away and not stoking the fire.

How much am I losing on that loop? Is the transformer burning 88 watts, 12-15 watts, or somewhere in between? I tried a Kill-a-Watt on it that showed 20 something, but I'm not sure about the accuracy when the main load is a 12V transformer or if they pick up line loss.

 

[CobyRupert]

The load should be 12 watts plus any line losses and losses in the transformer.
Could transformer only be 60% efficient? (Need 20W for 12W load) Could be. Especially if converting to dc. You should be able to feel the warmth of 5-8 watts leaving it.
Is 20 watt measured accurate?
I assume you were measure a 120V AC leg?
Meter accuracy may depends if meter reads true RMS current, or if it does calculation assuming a sine wave.
Most AC to DC converters (“transformers”) chop up the AC, and takes current in steps, basically not in a neat sine wave.
If meter reads true RMS, then I’d believe it. Otherwise it might be a little off, but probably not too much of you’re in the 20W range.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I'm on a mission to reduce monthly electrical consumption as much as possible. I got it down from 15- 18 KwHrs most days to about 12-14. Higher in Summer with the window A/C running, and a bit less high in Winter when the furnace runs. Burning wood has reduced that part most days.

I have light all around the house and shed. Most of them are either 110V or 12V LEDs. There is one 26W CFL that will be replaced with LED when it dies. Can't see spending money to replace it as long as it works.

Front of the house and the driveway are LV LEDS one standard yard light wire. Transformer is rated at 88 watts and there are 6 2watt LEDS spread out over about 150' of 14 AWG landscape light wire. Gate Opener battery charging circuit is also tied in to that at the far end.

Last night I turned off all outside lighting all the way around. Today's meter reading is about 2KwHrs less than yesterday's and the furnace has been running a bit since I've been away and not stoking the fire.

How much am I losing on that loop? Is the transformer burning 88 watts, 12-15 watts, or somewhere in between? I tried a Kill-a-Watt on it that showed 20 something, but I'm not sure about the accuracy when the main load is a 12V transformer or if they pick up line loss.

Is the perimeter lighting on motion detectors or dusk to dawn or ?? Battery charger is also on the loop, what does it consume? A neighbor have a cord plugged in somewhere? Dont laugh if mot sure. My buddy bought a house and with everything turned off the meter was spinning. We finally tracked it to an outside outlet and in the outlet was an extra set of wires. Those wires went straight to the neighbors shed/workshop.

Electricity Monitors & Energy Savers | P3

 

[Diggin It]

D to D

Little to nothing for the charger.

No cords. No neighbors.

 

[grsthegreat]

youd have to clamp a meter on the 120 volt positive wire to find total draw. who knows what the transformer draws. im also always trying to drop my electrical usage ...but seems useless. Ive been swapping to LED's as time goes on. Yet the power bills hardly ever drop. This last month was highest ever.

I find its not the lighting its all the other stuff. I have a new heated water trough i placed in front pasture for the deer and moose over winter (wifes idea) and added 250 feet of self regulating heat tape over rear patio roof to eliminate ice dam issues. That and the wifes new potting shed that is kept at 45F all winter. All adds up. I dont think i can drop my bills any more just with lighting. My landscape lights are all on timers that turn on at dusk and off at 10 PM.

 

[shaeff]

I keep finding that the more efficient I make my home, the lower my usage gets but the delivery charge to get the electricity to me keeps going up. It’s ridiculous.

 

[3Ts]

Is the perimeter lighting on motion detectors or dusk to dawn or ?? Battery charger is also on the loop, what does it consume? A neighbor have a cord plugged in somewhere? Dont laugh if mot sure. My buddy bought a house and with everything turned off the meter was spinning. We finally tracked it to an outside outlet and in the outlet was an extra set of wires. Those wires went straight to the neighbors shed/workshop.

Electricity Monitors & Energy Savers | P3

I agree - don't laugh. A friend of mine had that problem with water usage. Turns out his neighbor would connect a garden hose to my friends house after he left for work to water his lawn.

 

[CobyRupert]

youd have to clamp a meter on the 120 volt positive wire to find total draw. who knows what the transformer draws. im also always trying to drop my electrical usage ...but seems useless. Ive been swapping to LED's as time goes on. Yet the power bills hardly ever drop. This last month was highest ever.

I find its not the lighting its all the other stuff. I have a new heated water trough i placed in front pasture for the deer and moose over winter (wifes idea) and added 250 feet of self regulating heat tape over rear patio roof to eliminate ice dam issues. That and the wifes new potting shed that is kept at 45F all winter. All adds up. I dont think i can drop my bills any more just with lighting. My landscape lights are all on timers that turn on at dusk and off at 10 PM.

Keep a potting shed 45F all winter in Idaho??!! Yeah, changing out a 60 Watt bulb for a 13 Watt LED won't help much when you have a 1600Watt (?) heater blasting 24/7. What's the wattage on a water heater for the dear and moose. 1000W? 2500W?
And does the heat tape run all season even when there's no snow or ice on the roof? I bet that tape is 3-8 Watts per foot. How many feet?

 

[grsthegreat]

1,000 watt trough heater, but thermostatically controlled. The potting shed is insulated...even the roof doesn稚 shed till much later.the wife winters over plants in the shed. The heat tape is self regulating meaning it only runs when frozen. 6 watts per foot x 250 feet. I turn it off anyways once ice dam clears.

Then there are the horse water heaters....but they are only 250 watt units. Winter is an electric hog up here that痴 for sure. I went out and looked at water trough in front pasture and there were hoof prints all over the place. I guess the deer like it.

 

[ovrszd]

It's my assumption that my lighting is the smallest part of my electrical usage. For that reason I can't justify replacing incandescent bulbs with LED until they die. Even then, if details are important, some time needs to be spent mathematically to figure the payout. The light bulb manufacturers have made a LOT of money playing on the consumer's desire to "use less electricity".