Electricity Problem

[wanderingfool2]

6 hours ago, Caroline said:

A chandelier? we have one at home that takes 12 bulbs, that's 1200W if I had left the 100W tungsten bulbs on it. Swapped all of them for 8W LEDs so it's now using less power than if it had a single older bulb  if you're worried about weight go for glass LED bulbs, not heavy at all and the light isn't as diffused as the one from the plastic bulbs.

Yea, a chandelier (given the rest of construction on my house probably sketchily attached).  45 bulbs - 25 watts [yes it's weird, most have lasted over 20 years now though].  Requires an a-frame ladder in a weird spot...so yea, not really swapping them with LED's that don't have larger capacitors inside of them (that will be able to survive that long)...but all the ones that have larger capacitors tend to be heavy.

 

Just speaking from experience the candelabra ones [the ones I need], typically don't have that sort of longevity unless you go with the bulkier heavy ones.  (Tried all the name brands and off name brand ones in my other chandelier that is easy to get to...seriously my house is so weirdly built, not sure why they enjoyed chandeliers)

 

 

To the original post, if it was your dad saying that (and blaming on computer usage), it could be a way to indicate that you are using it too much for his liking (or he thinks it's the major drawer of electricity).  By chance though, do you use electric heating in your house?  I know at my work, I found a heater that was cranked full power in an "outdoor" room once that burned so much electricity but no one realized it was even on.

[tkitch]

On 11/29/2021 at 8:43 PM, dilpickle said:

Dialup? Damn dude just get a console and buy discs.

That won't help with Cyberpunk's 25GB updates

[saddlesap]

14 hours ago, Caroline said:

I'd like to keep both of my kidneys for now, but thx for the advice.

 

Up to 1Mb/s but it's like 512K on average since the downloads always cap at about 50 KB/s. DSL but you could say it's a form of dial-up since I have to enter my phone number and a password to make the modem work every time I want to connect to the internet.

I just leave the dl running on the background and check on it every once in a while to see if it's still going.

 

A chandelier? we have one at home that takes 12 bulbs, that's 1200W if I had left the 100W tungsten bulbs on it. Swapped all of them for 8W LEDs so it's now using less power than if it had a single older bulb  if you're worried about weight go for glass LED bulbs, not heavy at all and the light isn't as diffused as the one from the plastic bulbs.

You might find those marketed as "vintage" or "classic" 

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-LED-Classic-Glass-Dimmable/dp/B07WLJDT36

 

My room still has a 250W arc lamp because I can't find a replacement, but that's a story for another time.

 

Anyway... I doubt OP's problem is the computer.

dsl is pretty much dialup 

"DSL is defined as an abbreviation that stands for digital subscriber line which is defined as the way a computer connects to the Internet at high speeds using telephone lines. An example of DSL is the phone service that might be down when your Internet connection isn't working"

[mariushm]

14 hours ago, Caroline said:

I'd like to keep both of my kidneys for now, but thx for the advice.

 

Up to 1Mb/s but it's like 512K on average since the downloads always cap at about 50 KB/s. DSL but you could say it's a form of dial-up since I have to enter my phone number and a password to make the modem work every time I want to connect to the internet.

I just leave the dl running on the background and check on it every once in a while to see if it's still going.

 

Ough, so sorry you have to live with that.  I'd seriously consider Elon Musks satellite internet, if you're in a supported region and you have the ability to install that antenna in a position where it can connect to satellites.

 

Otherwise, no internet caffes or friends/work colleagues with better internet? Do you have faster internet at work and if so would they be flexible or willing to let you download stuff (see IT staff, maybe they could help you out) 

You could get a usb drive, install Steam, start the download, then even if the download is incomplete, you can copy the game files to the usb drive, then copy them to your computer and just hit verify files to resume download at home if needed.

[paddy-stone]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:32 AM, wanderingfool2 said:

I literally have a lighting fixture that consumes 1.1kwh an hour.  The cost of replacement though doesn't really justify going green though [as it requires a ladder, and not sure it can support the additional weight of that many LED bulbs]

Install a different fixture buddy, and LED bulbs. even a budget fixture say with 2 or 3 branches and LED bulbs would use approx 9W -15W Total typically. So even if the fixture and bulbs cost you around £100 you'd easily see the energy usage drop considerably if that fixture is used a lot.

If you didn't want to mess with installing a new fixture you could get a floor lamp instead.

 

I use philips hue bulbs in my hall/stairs and bedrooms, and turning them off by the app or remotes has saved loads from being left on a lot when not needed even. They are costly, but considering that they chould have a very good lifespan it'll even out in the end.

In my living room I just have cheap normal 5w LED bulbs that are around £1.50 or so  as my living room has 2x 3 branch fixtures  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DY97BF6/ they use approx 3.3W each so around 20W usage in total per hour. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

On 11/29/2021 at 7:43 PM, dilpickle said:

Dialup? Damn dude just get a console and buy discs.

Yea, its not like half the time a disc is just a game key and you need to download like 30gb still.

[Alder Lake]

On 11/29/2021 at 6:32 PM, MesZa said:

I've had my PC for a couple of months now, but my latest electricity bill was through the rough. I think its from downloading so many games over so long (my Internet is pretty garbage). Does anyone know a way to either make the Computer's connection better or reduce the amount of electricity used?

 

Thx

Internet uses very little electricity

same deal with daily driving a PC, even for hours on end

 

a modern overkill PC (12900k+3090) will take ~1kw, if you use it for 8 hours a day every day, that's ~3000 hours a year, the most expensive electricity is in Germany, at $.3194 per kilowatt hour, meaning it would cost ~$1000/year

 

by comparison, most people have a PC that takes ~1/5 of that, and use it at most 4 hours a day, meaning it would cost only a few hundred dollars a year

 

 

 

16 hours ago, MesZa said:

Thats the thing, whenever its not being used, it always gets shut down

 

Don't know exactly what the increase was, because my dad just came in and said the electricity bill was "through the roof'. The PSU is 550W 80+ Bronze

 

Not too sure what the increase as because my dad just told me the bill was through the roof, but i think it might have been the thing as you, I would leave my PC on for a couple of hours to download some stuff, but otherwise it gets shut down when its not being used

a 550W psu doesn't take 550W out of the wall, it's the maximum it can "use" before getting run over

you can almost think of it as the PSU's top speed, if you try to make it run faster, it "trips" and falls, but in most cases, the PSU is doing no more than walking, or at worst, speedwalking, your actual PC probably takes ~200-400W

 

You could leave the most power-hungry PC in the country with the most expensive power running the most power-demanding task, and it would cost $250/month

 

The cause for the bill increase is not your PC

[dilpickle]

21 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Yea, its not like half the time a disc is just a game key and you need to download like 30gb still.

I've never seen a console game that gives you just a key.

 

You can always buy a physical disc and you never have to connect online to play. There are plenty of people out there who don't even have internet

 

(Well I only have experience with playstation. I couldn't tell you what Microsoft does with their crap)

[Helpful Tech Witch]

9 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

I've never seen a console game that gives you just a key.

 

You can always buy a physical disc and you never have to connect online to play. There are plenty of people out there who don't even have internet

 

(Well I only have experience with playstation. I couldn't tell you what Microsoft does with their crap)

Almost every console game on a PS or A Xbox has a huge internet download with the disc.

THe only game that comes to mind that doesnt is rdr2, which had a instal disc and a play disc, but it still had a 30gb patch after I installed it to my xbox.

Installing halo had a 60gb download after the disc install.

But theres a lot of switch games that are just game keys in a case

[mariushm]

Ok, two pages of confusing stuff.

 

The wattage on the power supply, is the maximum power it can supply to components, if and only if the components demand it.

The power supply will produce that amount of power ( watts) with a certain efficiency - around 82-87% in the case of a Bronze efficiency power supply.

 

So for example, if all the components in the computer require 200 watts to function and the power supply is 85% efficient at that threshold, that means that those 200 watts were 85% of the total power the power supply took from wall socket....

So in this particular example, the power supply took 235 watts to produce 200 watts that went to components. Those 35w are simply lost in the form of heat and pushed out by the fan.

 

The first thing you should do is make sure you didn't somehow caught a mining virus, or some application that silently installed a mining tool on your computer, which now forces your video card to run at 100% and consume more power.

The second thing you should do is to check your power management plan - try setting it to "Balanced" or something similar .

If you have it set to "High performance", the operating system may keep all the cpu cores at high frequencies when the computer is not doing much, wasting more power.

With a "balanced" profile, if the cpu is not used (you don't need 4-8 cpu cores to download a file from the internet, a single core can do that) the operating system can reduce the cpu core frequencies to very low values or even turn off cores to save power.

 

A regular computer will consume maybe 50w -- 80w  when you're just in Windows, typing a message on the forum on watching a Youtube video (playing a video makes the video card consume maybe 5-10w more than just Windows 2D stuff)

 

Basically, it shouldn't cost you more than 1-2$ a day, if you leave the computer running 24/7 just sitting there, downloading files. If you play games, the power consumption will typically double or triple (around 250-400 watts depending on what video card you have)

 

You can easily figure out how much is 1 kWh in your region, the average in US is 12 cents (and then add taxes and other crap) : https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/

 

So if your computer idles at 50w and leave it running 24/7, then the computer would consume 50 x 24h = 1200 w or 1.2 kWh and that's probably less than half a dollar.

 

also your father should probably also check if there's something that runs 24/7 instead of working from time to time. For example, maybe there's something heating related.\

 

Maybe you guys have a water pump in a well in your yard, maybe there's a short in the power cable or the cables went bad due to water ingress and now your pump runs all the time.

 

Maybe you have night lights outside your house and now they run for much longer periods each day because it's darker outside.

 

Last but not least, a BIG saver of electricity is going with LED bulbs ... you're replacing 60-100w bulbs with 8-12w bulbs. Instant savings.

 

[Biohazard777]

9 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Yea, a chandelier (given the rest of construction on my house probably sketchily attached).  45 bulbs - 25 watts [yes it's weird, most have lasted over 20 years now though].  Requires an a-frame ladder in a weird spot...so yea, not really swapping them with LED's that don't have larger capacitors inside of them (that will be able to survive that long)...but all the ones that have larger capacitors tend to be heavy.

My 2 cents:
for that many bulbs it makes no sense for each bulb to be hooked to AC.
Get 12V or 48V DC LED bulbs, drive them with a good PSU, if PSU/driver weight is a concern you can mount it elsewhere (like where the base of the chandelier is). Voltage drop shouldn't be a problem since the cable run won't be that long and you probably already have some solid thickness wires in there. That would resolve the light bulb weight problem, since most of the weight is in the AC/DC conversion (transformer and a big cap in the base of the bulb).

@MesZa Are you in the norther hemisphere? Winter is coming, how are you heating your home?
Anyway I highly doubt your PC is to blame for the high electricity bill.

[IPD]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that either you had a significant change to climate control settings/use within the house (heat now being used due to colder months); or there's a new appliance/fixture/something else that is spiking energy use.

[dalekphalm]

17 hours ago, MesZa said:

Thats the thing, whenever its not being used, it always gets shut down

 

Don't know exactly what the increase was, because my dad just came in and said the electricity bill was "through the roof'. The PSU is 550W 80+ Bronze

 

Not too sure what the increase as because my dad just told me the bill was through the roof, but i think it might have been the thing as you, I would leave my PC on for a couple of hours to download some stuff, but otherwise it gets shut down when its not being used

So you need to get more information from your Dad before you can determine whether the "increase" was caused by your PC.

 

You also need to provide us with additional details.

Over the last 2 months, on average, how long is your computer turned on for? (How many hours per day)

 

When you leave it to download games, is that all the PC is doing?

 

For your Dad: How many kWh's and what cost was the increase compared to before you had a PC?

[dilpickle]

29 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Almost every console game on a PS or A Xbox has a huge internet download with the disc.

THe only game that comes to mind that doesnt is rdr2, which had a instal disc and a play disc, but it still had a 30gb patch after I installed it to my xbox.

Installing halo had a 60gb download after the disc install.

But theres a lot of switch games that are just game keys in a case

If you are not online then you don't need to download a patch. 

 

I don't know of any single player console game that requires a patch just to play. That defeats the whole purpose of a console.

 

I know some companies wanted to change that but it hasn't happened. And I also know there are often features missing without a Day1 patch but you can always still play without it.

 

I'm speaking from experience. I know more than a few people around the world with no home internet who play console games all the time.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

If you are not online then you don't need to download a patch. 

 

I don't know of any single player console game that requires a patch just to play. That defeats the whole purpose of a console.

 

I know some companies wanted to change that but it hasn't happened. And I also know there are often features missing without a Day1 patch but you can always still play without it.

 

I'm speaking from experience. I know more than a few people around the world with no home internet who play console games all the time.

Yea, you do. Halo 5 had a 60gb install from a disc, but another 40gb form the internet just to play the game.

The purpose of a console is not to play games with out interntet, its to play games. Full stop. 

Its been forever since I installed it, but I believe Fallen Order had the same thing

The fact remains that a 120gb game wont fit on a 50gb disc (which all xbox one discs are).

ANd any backwards compatible game wont run without internet.

[wanderingfool2]

6 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

I don't know of any single player console game that requires a patch just to play. That defeats the whole purpose of a console.

A surprising amount in recent years (because the game publishers rush it out the door because they can "fix it in post").  e.g. Skyrim PS3.   Lots of games now get released and patches are made to fix crashes and other bugs.

 

36 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:

for that many bulbs it makes no sense for each bulb to be hooked to AC.
Get 12V or 48V DC LED bulbs, drive them with a good PSU, if PSU/driver weight is a concern you can mount it elsewhere (like where the base of the chandelier is). Voltage drop shouldn't be a problem since the cable run won't be that long and you probably already have some solid thickness wires in there. That would resolve the light bulb weight problem, since most of the weight is in the AC/DC conversion (transformer and a big cap in the base of the bulb).

At that stage it's a cost thing.  It only averages 15 min a day at most, so payback period on that would be crazy (especially given 45 bulbs @ $2 a bulb, and lets say a DC PSU $40, plus labor of at least $100)...payback period would be 6,344 days

[Biohazard777]

15 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

At that stage it's a cost thing.  It only averages 15 min a day at most, so payback period on that would be crazy (especially given 45 bulbs @ $2 a bulb, and lets say a DC PSU $40, plus labor of at least $100)...payback period would be 6,344 days

Heh yeah, I thought it was in use a bit more than that.
I've got 3x200W halogen lamps on my terrace that can easily double as outdoor heaters , but since they are in use only for a few hours per week (I rarely run all 3 at the same time)... no point in replacing them until they die, which will probably take a while hah.

[saddlesap]

12 hours ago, Caroline said:

Yeah but you can use the phone at the same time so it's premium dial-up lol

pretty much, but, i hope you fix your situtation, sounds kinda sucky to live in a banana republic.

may i ask, what country do u live in?