Electric use of wall connector or mobile connector isolated

[Kognos]

Forgive me in advance for being petty here, but in this day and age where one valued the per-year electricity charge of your standard LED light (I'm one of those people) I'm looking at the electricity use of our standard wall connector or mobile connector and wondering how much electricity it consumes, in and of itself.

I totally get that the car pulls power as it needs, and that's different. But while I have a wall connector installed, it has a green light on. While the mobile connector is on, it has the green Tesla lit. Has anyone evaluated how much energy that is consuming in a way where one could evaluate the practical sense of having it be "always on"?

For example, should I actually be turning off the circuit breaker to the switch if it's not in use for days, in order to effectively turn off a power source? I'm more interested in specifics - I already believe in my guesstimates that it's probably not enough to really register - maybe a light bulb or two in power - but I'm more interested in the actual real power consumption of the connectors themselves either disconnected from a car or connected to a car without drawing power (full), and I lack the equipment to measure it. Was hoping one of the fine members here has done a study.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Forgive me in advance for being petty here, but in this day and age where one valued the per-year electricity charge of your standard LED light (I'm one of those people) I'm looking at the electricity use of our standard wall connector or mobile connector and wondering how much electricity it consumes, in and of itself.

I totally get that the car pulls power as it needs, and that's different. But while I have a wall connector installed, it has a green light on. While the mobile connector is on, it has the green Tesla lit. Has anyone evaluated how much energy that is consuming in a way where one could evaluate the practical sense of having it be "always on"?

For example, should I actually be turning off the circuit breaker to the switch if it's not in use for days, in order to effectively turn off a power source? I'm more interested in specifics - I already believe in my guesstimates that it's probably not enough to really register - maybe a light bulb or two in power - but I'm more interested in the actual real power consumption of the connectors themselves either disconnected from a car or connected to a car without drawing power (full), and I lack the equipment to measure it. Was hoping one of the fine members here has done a study.

Thanks very much in advance!

I've heard it measures at about 4W. Which is kind of high, but what can you do? It is performing safety checks with that power, so I feel ok about it, even though with good engineering it should be possible to get it under a watt.

You should be able to measure the UMC with a Kill-A-Watt meter, though I wouldn't recommend leaving it inline with the UMC while charging the car.

 

[Timbo2]

I have an ammeter that uses a current transformer on my Nema 14-50. Gen 1 draws around 1W when idle.

 

[fsl2102]

Forgive me in advance for being petty here, but in this day and age where one valued the per-year electricity charge of your standard LED light (I'm one of those people) I'm looking at the electricity use of our standard wall connector or mobile connector and wondering how much electricity it consumes, in and of itself.

I totally get that the car pulls power as it needs, and that's different. But while I have a wall connector installed, it has a green light on. While the mobile connector is on, it has the green Tesla lit. Has anyone evaluated how much energy that is consuming in a way where one could evaluate the practical sense of having it be "always on"?

For example, should I actually be turning off the circuit breaker to the switch if it's not in use for days, in order to effectively turn off a power source? I'm more interested in specifics - I already believe in my guesstimates that it's probably not enough to really register - maybe a light bulb or two in power - but I'm more interested in the actual real power consumption of the connectors themselves either disconnected from a car or connected to a car without drawing power (full), and I lack the equipment to measure it. Was hoping one of the fine members here has done a study.

Thanks very much in advance!

It's about 2.6W for Gen 2 Mobile Connector

 

[Timbo2]

That looks familiar. . This is the Gen 1. Interesting the first gen is more efficient!

 

[Eno Deb]

My meter shows 1.2W at 245V for the gen 2 UMC. Negligible.

 

[Doctor X]

What (!) about the hpwc? Has anyone measured it’s idle power consumption?

 

[Kognos]

Firstly, thank you all, that data is amazing. Still very low power consumption - about the same as a single LED for the entire year if I am doing my armchair math correctly.

 

[ewoodrick]

So, around 10 years usage of the UMC is the equivalent of a single charge?

Reducing your speed by 5 mph will save a lot more energy

 

[pdp1]

It's about 2.6W for Gen 2 Mobile Connector
View attachment 419600

I have a similar meter and it shows 1.4W for the Gen 2. HOWEVER, even

That looks familiar. . This is the Gen 1. Interesting the first gen is more efficient!

View attachment 419604

I have a similar one (this one Digital Tester 4in1 AC Voltmeter/Ammeter/Power Meter/Energy Meter Multifunction Monitor Panel Meter/Digital Multimeter + Current Transformer). With nothing plugged into my 14-50, it reads 0.6W and 0.09A. With the Gen 2 connector plugged in (but not actively charging the car), it reads 1.3W to 1.4W and 0.13A. The voltage is around 244V by the way. So in my case, my Gen 2 only draws about 0.7W to 0.8W when idle. Not sure how accurate these cheap power/ammeters are though, especially at low power.

 

[Kognos]

So, around 10 years usage of the UMC is the equivalent of a single charge?

Reducing your speed by 5 mph will save a lot more energy

Lets not be hasty or quick here, pun intended. This is really information gathering. Everything consumes energy at a rate, and the question and topic is really about the consumption of the wall connector or mobile connectors in a always-on connected state while not charging a vehicle. Everyone knows that if you drive slower you consume at a better more efficient rate, but then again, why get such an amazing car to drive slowly all the time? You can..... but.....

My question and investigation here is to really assess the rate at which these connectors consume power while always connected, which most people seem to do. If we are to believe they are 1w-4w in continual pull, depending on connector (1st/2nd gen mobile connector and wall connector), then people can decide whether that's important to even deal with. I think it's inconsequential, really. It's less than a LED light bulb on all the time. And you're right - many ways to really handle that.

I believe we in the Tesla community are all getting very wise as to power consumption and I like to generally be aware of what the actual pull rate of my stuff is.

 

[smatthew]

Forgive me in advance for being petty here, but in this day and age where one valued the per-year electricity charge of your standard LED light (I'm one of those people) I'm looking at the electricity use of our standard wall connector or mobile connector and wondering how much electricity it consumes, in and of itself.

I totally get that the car pulls power as it needs, and that's different. But while I have a wall connector installed, it has a green light on. While the mobile connector is on, it has the green Tesla lit. Has anyone evaluated how much energy that is consuming in a way where one could evaluate the practical sense of having it be "always on"?

For example, should I actually be turning off the circuit breaker to the switch if it's not in use for days, in order to effectively turn off a power source? I'm more interested in specifics - I already believe in my guesstimates that it's probably not enough to really register - maybe a light bulb or two in power - but I'm more interested in the actual real power consumption of the connectors themselves either disconnected from a car or connected to a car without drawing power (full), and I lack the equipment to measure it. Was hoping one of the fine members here has done a study.

Thanks very much in advance!

If you're worried about a single green LED, you have too much time on your hands. Really.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

My 2nd gen wall connector is around 1W when idle, which is quite good. My Juicebox was about 4W.

The LED isn’t the major contributor to the power consumption, it’s generally internal power supply losses and electronics that are always powered.

 

[Rocky_H]

My question and investigation here is to really assess the rate at which these connectors consume power while always connected, which most people seem to do.

It's not just that.

should I actually be turning off the circuit breaker to the switch if it's not in use for days,

You're not just using this as an interesting "being informed" thing. You're talking about using this info for possibly flipping your breaker on and off. Frequent toggling of breakers isn't good for their long term health and reliability, so that's the other reason why people are telling you to stop following this path.

 

[Kognos]

You're not just using this as an interesting "being informed" thing. You're talking about using this info for possibly flipping your breaker on and off. Frequent toggling of breakers isn't good for their long term health and reliability, so that's the other reason why people are telling you to stop following this path.

Actually no one on this thread has said that, but I was being mostly rhetorical anyway. There are 14-50 outlets at RV parks that are designed with their own circuit breaker switches so it's not entirely unfounded to be turned off when not in use. I don't really want to argue about that though - I'll concede you're absolutely correct and no one should be flipping circuit breakers! - the point is that these are effectively permanent devices consuming power whether charging cars or not and determining how much is being consumed.

I might have too much time on my hands, but to me the details are somewhat fun (to me).

 

[Rocky_H]

Actually no one on this thread has said that, but I was being mostly rhetorical anyway.

For the love of.... I copied and pasted your exact words saying that. Maybe it's a bit of our recent political...shenanigans...that have me a bit sensitive to this issue, but I do get tired of people denying they said things they said.