Interesting results of power use audit when dry camping.

[John___Angela]

So we have been dry camping for about a week in fairly lousy and cold weather (read below freezing every night. So as we have to be here for a few more days I decided to see what sucks the most power on a daily basis in these kind of conditions. eg stuck inside most of the day, TV on all day, Computer on all day and of course 2 X furnace loads, cell charging, residential fridge, microwave, toaster, beverage water heater, lights (mostly LED) etc etc. (Man we are power hogs) Using the Samlex remote watt usage meter and a clamp on ammeter I figured out the following.

Surprizing the biggest sucker upper of power is the 32 inch Vizio TV. Draws between 90 and 105 watts and its on of course all day. Next is the computer I am typing on, (ASUS all in one with about 20 inch screen). It is a close second at around 70-80 watts and of course its on all day as well. Third was the residential 22 cubic foot fridge which also draws around 100 watts but is on about 20 minutes per hour (but all day and night of course). After that the cooking appliances etc draw big current but for a short time so after a little calculation I'll put the two furnaces next. After that its all little stuff.

Anyway, today we have sun so the solar system is cracking out 25 -30 amps so genny run time is minimal. (Hour in the morning at breakfast and the same at supper}. Other wise it has been more than double that run time on the cloudy (and colder) days.

And this is what you do when you are bored and waiting to go south. 🙂 (as soon as we get a couple of minor business things sorted out)

[John___Angela]

Almot wrote:
Your rig is not optimized for boondocking. And so is lifestyle - this is individual, but there are things that you just can't do in the boons without either a good solar or substantial genset run.

Big rig, two furnaces - both can be replaced with cat heaters. Older inefficient TV, and many hours. PC instead of a laptop, and again many hours, and this is simultaneously with TV because you're a student and your partner has to kill the time somehow. Huge - by boondock standards - 120V fridge, you think it's drawing 80W @30% cycle, but there is a high startup current. And microwave, and toaster, and all this with inverter losses.

Yepir. There are so many things we could change not to mention how we do things but we are full timers and this is our home so we lean towards the comfort side rather than the power conservation side. Overtime it will get better as we replace the TV's. This year we went with all warm white LED's which I'm sure helped somewhat. It would be hard to give up the big fridge. We still love to dry camp and do a fair amount of it depending on the year. When the weather is sunny we are stand alone and need no generator run time but any shade and the genny is coming on for an hour or two per day. Really not to bad in the big scheme of things.

[Almot]

Your rig is not optimized for boondocking. And so is lifestyle - this is individual, but there are things that you just can't do in the boons without either a good solar or substantial genset run.

Big rig, 2 furnaces, maybe you do need 2, but then there are cat heaters for better efficiency. Older inefficient TV, and many hours. PC instead of a laptop, and again many hours, and this is simultaneously with TV because you're a student and your partner has to kill the time somehow. Huge - by RV standards - 120V fridge, you think it's drawing 100W @30% cycle, but there is a high startup current every 20 minutes. And microwave, and toaster, and all this with inverter losses.

[John___Angela]

Almot wrote:
Replace TV with LED. Also, 17" laptop will draw half of what the desktop draws.

Now, TV on all day - with 2 people I can understand this, sort of. But desktop all day - is there any reason?

Yah. Kinda. I am a student and tend to do lots of distance learning with the computer. It's nice to have the big monitor but yah I know a 17 inch laptop would suck up a lot less power.
Having said all this, when the weather is nice both the TV and computer get a lot less use. Kinda sucks if you think about it, when the weather is nice and sunny I don't need the power, when the weather Is crappy is when we tend to be inside more and need the power. So is life. :).

[Almot]

Replace TV with LED. Also, 17" laptop will draw half of what the desktop draws.

Now, TV on all day - with 2 people I can understand this, sort of. But desktop all day - is there any reason?

[MrWizard]

i think those are 12vdc amp readings "inverter power"
NOT 120v readings

[Bill_Satellite]

5. Rear Entertainment System
a. Standby – 1.64A
b. On – 3.88A
6. Front Entertainment System
a. Standby – 1.95A
b. On – 13.6A
7. Front TV – 6.18A

There may be some issues with these numbers. Your front TV is drawing 741 watts and your front entertainment center nearly caps out your 15amp breaker drawing 1632 watts?

[MrWizard]

westend wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
our Vizo 32" LED lit TV will be 2yrs old next month
it doesn't spend very many hours on
daily news during dinner time plus only 5 or 6 hrs for regular TV 'per week', we have only a few shows we watch
any more time will be a DVD movie

my laptop does get about 4 hours a day, other 'online' stuff is done with the tablet

A/C and MW are done with the genset running

our very low TV usage is the reason for the lower than avg power usage

we don't watch reality TV or the so called 'talent' shows
we don't need the background noise of just having it on

How in the world can you get by without watching "Duck Dynasty"?:B

I'll still need a couple of shakedown cruises before posting any real world numbers for my smallish solar system. It's really cool to see usage amounts from some experienced people. Thanks for posting.

[mena661]

Here's my list. All numbers are in amps DC:

AC Devices (Inverter) – Disconnect Switch Off
1. Inverter No Load Cord Unplugged - .36A
2. Inverter Breakers Off - .3A
3. Appl and Light Breakers On – 1.25A
4. Bed Unplugged – 1A
5. Rear Entertainment System
a. Standby – 1.64A
b. On – 3.88A
6. Front Entertainment System
a. Standby – 1.95A
b. On – 13.6A
7. Front TV – 6.18A

DC Devices – Disconnect Switch On (.8A continuous draw)
1. Step Switch On - .33A
2. Radio (Standby or On) - .13A
3. Antenna Amp On - .1A
4. Water Pump On – 7A
5. Fantastic Fan
a. Low – 1.26A
b. Med – 1.86A
c. Hi – 2.75A
6. Sat Dish
a. On/Standby – 2.28A
b. Seek – 2.68A
7. Fridge Gas - .55A (Pos 5)
8. Awning Wind Sensor - .06A
9. CO Detector - .05A
10. Furnace – 9A
11. Main Ceiling lights – 1.76A per fixture
12. Small Ceiling lights – 1A per fixture
13. Bath Vanity – .6A (six 921)
14. Bedroom and Couch lights – 1.85A each (four 1076)
15. Dinette lights – 1.98A
16. Basement lights – 12.9A (six 921 & two 1141)

[John___Angela]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Here! This'll have to do ya until you can switch off that danged heater and television. Turn the battery switch OFF, let them charge, grab a chair, go sit under the palms and see if you can spot a passing cruising sailboat with nekked wimmens on deck with your binoculars (Just make sure she doesn't have a set).

Now that just ain't fair Mex....but thanks for the picture anyway. We should be in the land of Palm Trees in a week or so. Gotta hit Vegas first. Annual contribution, you know. 🙂

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Here! This'll have to do ya until you can switch off that danged heater and television. Turn the battery switch OFF, let them charge, grab a chair, go sit under the palms and see if you can spot a passing cruising sailboat with nekked wimmens on deck with your binoculars (Just make sure she doesn't have a set).

[John___Angela]

ken white wrote:

KJINTF wrote:
Get rid of that CCFL LCD TV and get a LED/LCD TV or a OLED TV you will save 70% in power consumption.

Please do not toss it in the trash

Yep, my Samsung 32" LED TV uses about 60 Watts, which really helps if I want to use it while remote camping.

Well you never know. Maybe Santa will bring a 36 inch LED this year. :). Probably not till next year though. I figure it's probably easier to justify at the 5 or 6 year point. :).

Thanks to Ninerbikes for the cool data. Kudos.

John

[ken_white]

KJINTF wrote:
Get rid of that CCFL LCD TV and get a LED/LCD TV or a OLED TV you will save 70% in power consumption.

Please do not toss it in the trash

Yep, my Samsung 32" LED TV uses about 60 Watts, which really helps if I want to use it while remote camping.

[NinerBikes]

I realize that with only 21 foot of travel trailer, I am on the small side... but I decided to pull some numbers off my Honda EU2000i with everything going through a Kill a Watt meter at 128.2 volts from the new genny set.

Here is what I got:

Parasitic, with everything turned off. (Radio, microwave and CO detector? ) .33 Amp.

Plug in 22" TV, turned off .46 Amp

Water pump, at peak draw, with all the above. 1.88 Amp

Refrigerator (Dometic 6 sq feet) with para and TV off. 3.22 Amp

3 incandescent fixtures 6 bulbs+parasitic+ TV off 2.17 Amp

Water heater with TV and parasitic 14.76 Amp.

Refridge, water heater and TV are all 120V.

My big 12v hogs are the few incandescent bulbs I have left and the water pump. I need to still get a reading for the antenna amplifier, also my 12v to 120 convertor with google chromebook plugged in.

I figure that since these are numbers without the battery hooked up, and around 120V, to convert to amps at 12V, I can multiply the amperage drawn by a factor of about 10 , maybe a bit less, since 128 volts are showing on the genny.

No cable TV, no Satellite here, yet. Kind of a KISS camper so far. Next step, either a group 27 battery at 120AH, or a pair of golf cart batteries at 225AH.

[MrWizard]

No cable TV , No satellite TV..

i do miss discovery ch, history ch, and the syfy network

[westend]

MrWizard wrote:
our Vizo 32" LED lit TV will be 2yrs old next month
it doesn't spend very many hours on
daily news during dinner time plus only 5 or 6 hrs for regular TV 'per week', we have only a few shows we watch
any more time will be a DVD movie

my laptop does get about 4 hours a day, other 'online' stuff is done with the tablet

A/C and MW are done with the genset running

our very low TV usage is the reason for the lower than avg power usage

we don't watch reality TV or the so called 'talent' shows
we don't need the background noise of just having it on

How in the world can you get by without watching "Duck Dynasty"?:B

I'll still need a couple of shakedown cruises before posting any real world numbers for my smallish solar system. It's really cool to see usage amounts from some experienced people. Thanks for posting.