Ive just installed mine, got it from Tesco. What a fab little gadget and with real world usefulness.
It seems my TV uses no more power than charging my laptop or our beroom fan. Gotta love low energy TVs :-)
Its the electric cooker thats the killer, so I wont be leaving that on any longer than I have to. Even the fridge isnt too bad.
Certainly recommend these things to anyone. Very simple to install aswell.
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Stu
Forgive the ignorance - does the OWL show the total power consumption of your house at any given time? So you can see how much power you are using, and by process of elimination (switching things on and off) where it is going?
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Will investigate. I'd like to know what's responsible for my electricity bill. Which OWL do you have? I think there's more than one?
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I got mine free from Southern Elec, obviously the oven & kettle are power hungry,
but even sitting here on this thing is consuming 200w, so I don't just leave the fing running!
The 32" LCD consumes less than my old CVT, just cost £850 to buy :)
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>> The 32" LCD consumes less than my old CVT
Presumably cos it's a 5-speed manual... ;-)
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>>> Presumably cos it's a 5-speed manual <<<
least its not a blimmin DSG!
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Pah. Absolute waste of time.
Your appliances will have a little plate attached athat actually states their power consumption.
I'll *guess* that your appliances use:
TV: 40W
Laptop charger 40W
Fan: 40W
Cooker: 250W - 9KW (depending on usage, when in use).
Fridge: 50W (when running).
Further:
Electric fire: 1KW, 2KW.
Kettle: 2-3KW
100W light bulb: 100W
20WW Low Energy light: 20W
Etc., etc., etc.
"Am I right, sir?"
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True enough, FT. But it would take a lot of crawling on the floor and arithmatic to figure out how much power our computer centre uses (desktop, laptop, workstations, monitors, router, back-up drives, wireless this and that etc etc etc. And how much on stand-by?
But I could see an OWL starting an episode of OCD-like switching off, until we are sitting in darkness and silence....
Last edited by: Dieselfitter on Wed 7 Apr 10 at 14:23
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>> it would take a lot of crawling on the floor and arithmatic to figure out how much
>> power our computer centre uses
Correct. There's also the power factor to consider. However, I (fortunately) don't live in a "computer centre"!
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My 32 incher consumes 140w according to the plate, but its not a cheapo job + its 100Hz
My Desktop is quite hungry IMO @ 200w, and I have it on for yonks!
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how much better is 100hz over 50hz?
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Twice as good, obviously! :-)
Actually, we have a 100Hz tv (still on CRT, will change eventually) but comparing it with it's predecessor was hardly fair as the instruction manual was hand written by John Logie himself and there were several technical advances over and above the refresh rate. Cracking picture. I believe 100Hz is fairly common now. These new fangled 3D tvs need a high refresh rate because you effectively halve the rate by supplying one picture to left eye, next to the right.
JH
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>>> how much better is 100hz over 50hz? <<<
Well mate ... I watched Quatermass on my 5 year old Sharp 17" Desktop monitor & it was ok.
I also have a 19" Panasonic 50Hz portable LCD with a good picture.
The 100Hz jobbie is very clear n' sharp etc., etc. but so was my old Sony 28" CVT which was also 100Hz.
'They' say that fast motion like say footie doesn't blurr or something with 100Hz.
Some Plasma jobbies are 600Hz :-D
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It depends on how big your TV is, amongst other things.
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>> I have it on for yonks!
That's where a thing with a "small" power consumption can use more overall than a thing with a "large" one.
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>>> That's where a thing with a "small" power consumption can use more overall than a thing with a "large" one. <<<
I had to think about that one (hehe!) = kettle v computer!
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>> I'll *guess* that your appliances use:
>>
>> TV: 40W
Standby or in use? variable by volume and contrast and brightness.
>> Laptop charger 40W
Up to - thats its maximum consumption of full charge rate
>> Fan: 40W
cooker hood, cooling or heating?
>> Cooker: 250W - 9KW (depending on usage when in use).
9kw? 38 AMPS? NOOOOOOOO
>> "Am I right sir?"
No.
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>> >> I'll *guess* that your appliances use:
>> >> TV: 40
>> Standby or in use? variable by volume and contrast and brightness.
In use, silly. If it used 40W in standby, I'd be quite shocked.
>> >> Laptop charger 40W
>> Up to - thats its maximum consumption of full charge rate
Yup.
>> >> Fan: 40W
>> cooker hood cooling or heating?
Bedroom, as stated in the OP's psot.
>> >> Cooker: 250W - 9KW (depending on usage when in use).
>> 9kw? 38 AMPS? NOOOOOOOO
OK. "Rapid" large hotplate 2.5KW, normal large hp 2.0KW, "rapid"small 2.0KW, normal small 1.5KW, fan oven 0.9KW, grill 1.7KW.
>> >> "Am I right sir?"
>> No.
Oh, really.
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>> >> Cooker: 250W - 9KW (depending on usage when in use).
>> 9kw? 38 AMPS? NOOOOOOOO
>> >> "Am I right sir?"
>> No.
Oh, really.
Yes Really. Why do you think you have a 30 amp cooker spur, not a 40 amp one?
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for anyone who went into the real world after he left school and had to rent a flat they will know that in the winter and you put the old 2 bar electric fire on that was 2kw and 10 bob lasted 2 hours at landlords rates
i for one dont need a gizmo to tell me to turn off appliances i aint using :-)
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>>> i for one dont need a gizmo to tell me to turn off appliances i aint using <<<
Good point BelleBuoy but - I got mine for nowt & it reminds me that I'm still on this thing consuming 200w so ...
Haste luego!
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>> Why do you think you have a 30 amp cooker spur not a 40 amp one?
I don't have a 30A one, I have a 45A one.
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clearly you live in an industrial kitchen and need an owl monitor.
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>> clearly you live in an industrial kitchen and need an owl monitor.
>>
>>>>>>>. a check up from the neck up i would have said
( ;-) )
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I have an OWL Micro.
I stand by the concept as while its all very well saying that you can work it out, I can glance at my monitor from my sofa and know instantly rather than sitting down with a calculator and a list of what everything uses and working it out - lifes too short.
Its not just the practical issues, its also a reminder of what you are using, like a fuel gauge. Its a good way to change behaviour or at the very least, have an easy and tangible measurement of your energy usage.
It also means that if I leave the cooker on, which I have done before now, I will be able to see that from the sofa :-)
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Slashed our elec bill after using one of these. All sorts of things left running that I was not aware of including plinth heaters in the kitchen 40w!s when static & a water treatment unit + all the kids stuff etc etc & the 42" plasma TV running at 450w !!!
Now have 55 LCD and 100w so much better & the biggest difference was the sky box. 40w on standby so turn it off at night all together now.
saved over £80 in the first quarter.
I agree totally with Stunorthants29 it changes behaviour
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sorry mean't LED TV not LCD
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Owl uses 200w just sitting there???? Yoicks!!! Our house uses 20watts in what we call "pub mode"! - all that is running is router/ansaphone, fishtank pump, bedroom clock and power to combi. fridge/freezer cycles in as needed and uses 200w. tv and skybox - on 150w (skybox uses 40w standby 60w on). Over the last 19months that we`ve had it, our monitor has saved us £££££`s thanks mainly to inspiring that slight paranoia mentioned on here!! after all, if i`m going to get paranoid i might as well get paid for it!!
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>> sorry mean't LED TV not LCD
You have an edit button that works for 5 mins or until someone replies to your post (whichever comes sooner)
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OWL Electricity Monitors - Dieselfitter
