Power/Energy Monitor

After watching the highlights of Dragons Den last night on TV, I just had to go out and buy one of these today from Maplins : –

I plugged it into my TV,Video/DVD Recorder & Sky Box combo to register they consume a massive 30 watts just by being ‘on standby’. 😯

My Hi Fi draws 4 watts on standby, so too my TV/Sky Box in the dining room. In my office, my computer, Monitor, Printer, External Hard Drive Back-up, Modem and Digital Phone Base Unit combined (all plugged in on stand-by) draw an incredible 60 watts!!!!!

Then there’s the many low volt transformers around the house including : – the water softener, extension phone handset charger, cellphone charger, LCD TV in bedroom, Burglar alarm. Individually they draw around 200 milliwatts so overall adds to the list but only by around another 1 watt I reckon?

Nevertherless collectively, in my case, a total of approx 95 watts for all the gadgets just being plugged in and on stand-by 😯 Flippin’ eck!!!! 😯

Still, looking on the bright side, I can use this little gadget I’ve bought to see when the heater comes on during my day to day tests on washing machines and dishwashers. It will save me the fag of dragging a dishwasher out just to know if the heater fires up or not?…very handy! 🙂