Your cell phone charging habbits

[AimlessWanderer]

Wasn't there some gadget that sit between appliance and socket to measure the standby power? Somebody must have one to test a phone charger.

.... and has anyone ever plugged one of thosn into another one of those, to monitor how much juice a monitor uses 

[kmanct3]

I charge my I-Phone 4 every other day, or when it reaches 40% , my apple charger never appears to get hot either in the wall or the comp. I would love to have a back up battery as Stealth mentioned but my Lifeproof case will not permit

[enki_ck]

Wasn't there some gadget that sit between appliance and socket to measure the standby power? Somebody must have one to test a phone charger.

.... and has anyone ever plugged one of thosn into another one of those, to monitor how much juice a monitor uses 

[nuphoria]

Good point!

I see my unplugging ethos raised a few questions, which I am not qualified to answer. But this I do know, as a general rule in life I try not to waste anything, including resources of any kind. So unless I get 100% proof that leaving something plugged in on standby is A-OK, I will err on the side of caution. It hardly takes much of my energy to do it, and I sleep better for it.

[zepla]

I'll charge my phone every chance I got. At work, I plug it in the usb charger of my computer. At home usually at night the normal charger and in the car the 12v charger.

It is annoying that I have to do so with these "modern" phones. With their very old fashioned run times  It cannot get through one day of what I consider normal use on one charge. And I use the thing almost exclusive for what I think it is made for in the first place; as a telephone 

[Steinar]

I see my unplugging ethos raised a few questions, which I am not qualified to answer. But this I do know, as a general rule in life I try not to waste anything, including resources of any kind. So unless I get 100% proof that leaving something plugged in on standby is A-OK, I will err on the side of caution. It hardly takes much of my energy to do it, and I sleep better for it.

In general, any power supply plugged in will consume a tiny bit of electricity and be a minor fire hazard. New, greener PSUs consume less when the connected device does not draw electricity, but I don't know if they actually reach zero. Also, the recommendation in the manual for any "green" PSU I own is to unplug it when not in use. (Chargers for phones and stuff like that.) I assume that is both for fire safety and energy consumption.

Disclaimer: Basically just quoting manuals and official fire safety recommendations in Norway here.

[nuphoria]

Hey, no-one wants their house burning down do they?!

(unless you have a body you need to destroy... oh, wrong forum)

[N_N_R]

Hey, no-one wants their house burning down do they?!

(unless you have a body you need to destroy... oh, wrong forum)

 

[Landrew]

I tend to do a tiny bit of risk assessment on most procedures before I reject them out-of-hand. A tiny bit of power may or not be significant in the scheme of things, depending what that means.  I lived off the grid for awhile, just to learn how to do it and see what it was like, but I'm not out to save the world by cutting out a few milliamps from the world's energy consumption by unplugging my phone charger every day.  I also spent a hundred bucks replacing the bathroom lights with LED bulbs.

I think I may have earned the right to leave my phone charger plugged in.

[nuphoria]

It's not about earning rights, it's doing what you think is right. That's your business and no-one elses dude. I know what's right for me, not you

We will probably all be dead before most of the important resources run out, but if you have kids, grandkids etc and care in the least about the future of this planet, you make your choices accordingly.

[Steinar]

(unless you have a body you need to destroy... oh, wrong forum)

Uhm... what's the right forum? Not that I did to know. I'm just asking. For a friend. Yeah, that's right. For a friend. 

[Taxi Dad]

We will probably all be dead before most of the important resources run out, but if you have kids, grandkids etc and care in the least about the future of this planet, you make your choices accordingly.

if you're worried about 'resources' and all the electricity waisted by things on 'stand-by', I have a confession that will shock you.
last month (December) i had enough small bulbs blazing away on the outside of my house to light a small shopping mall 
and i'll wager i wasn't the only one  ?

[Landrew]

I think we may be going way off topic here, but if you want to save the world, it's best to weigh what you do before you do it.

[Lynn LeFey]

One of the versions of the device to test phantom load is called a 'Kill-A-Watt'. I'm sure there are others, though.

I don't have a smart phone. I use a Pantech Breeze. It'll go about a week before needing recharged. I let it run until it complains, then recharge it. I've had it for years now, and after a while, its recharge time started slipping to the every-three-days range. I replaced the battery and now it's back to the once a week levels. And when i DO recharge it, it takes about an hour.

I don't do a lot of talking on the phone. almost none, in fact. I'd bet on a weekly basis, I might use it 10 minutes.

Also, when I say 'I don't have a smart phone, what I mean is I don't USE a smart phone as a phone. I own an iPhone 3GS. I don't have a phone chip in it or data plan, so it's basically acting like an enormous capacity iPod Touch.

[stealth007s]

Reduce the carbon footprint?¿? Save the world?¿?

 

I'm actually doing the exact opposite

[dks]

Reduce the carbon footprint?¿? Save the world?¿?

 

I'm actually doing the exact opposite

You ago around KILLING trees, burning their leaf.....
   

From the replies I assume most people do not have switches on their plugs, right?

I can leave my charger plugged in all the time, but I switch the plug off when I am not using it, so it does not get hot etc.

[Landrew]

Reduce the carbon footprint?¿? Save the world?¿?

 

I'm actually doing the exact opposite

As a carbon-based entity, I think I deserve my share of the carbon footprint. The beautiful thing about nature is that when I don't need it anymore, something else will use it.

[stealth007s]

Reduce the carbon footprint?¿? Save the world?¿?

 

I'm actually doing the exact opposite

You ago around KILLING trees, burning their leaf.....
   

From the replies I assume most people do not have switches on their plugs, right?

I can leave my charger plugged in all the time, but I switch the plug off when I am not using it, so it does not get hot etc.

I'm all about my conveniences D!¡! I've never seen the switches on the plugs here in the US I saw it on a tv commercial where the Asian kid is playing the guitar and the dad comes in and flicks the power switch.

[dks]

ta taaaaaaa!!!!

[stealth007s]

ta taaaaaaa!!!!

(Image removed from quote.)

Strange looking plugs The switch on the plug makes so much sense to me

BTW, the tree killing was totally accidental and the leaf burning just tastes oh so goooooooood!¡! 
 

[dks]

No worries I am burning some leaf as I post 

I have no idea why there are no switches on sockets in most countries with 2 pin plugs...
It allways seems strange to me.

[Taxi Dad]

my girls don't know how to switch stuff off !
good job they don't have to pay for the electricity 
(oh god i sound just like my dad  )

[Landrew]

I'm installing an elevator switchplate in place of a regular lightswitch this weekend for a friend of mine.  An engineer he works with, designed it for him as a novelty.  I'll stick to the regular toggle switches for myself.

[Lynn LeFey]

Most folks I know who want to cut phantom power drains just plug a surge protector power strip with a power switch into the outlet, then turn off the surge protector. Putting the switch at the outlet is a decent idea, but climbing behind furniture to get to the switch might be a tad inconvenient.

[nuphoria]

Most folks I know who want to cut phantom power drains just plug a surge protector power strip with a power switch into the outlet, then turn off the surge protector. Putting the switch at the outlet is a decent idea, but climbing behind furniture to get to the switch might be a tad inconvenient.

Yeah, that's how it is here, especially in older houses.. bloody inconvenient. Those big switched looking things are standard UK wall sockets.

I tend to run switched extensions from them when they are inaccessible so I can easily turn off individual things. Got all kinds of cable spaghetti running round this joint!

[dks]

You do not have to switch it off at the socket, but you have the option. If you can not reach it then you just leave it on; like there is on switch.

I have several sockets that are not behind furniture (kitchen, corridors and most rooms) so I like being able to just flick the switch off, without having to run any additional wires or equipment from them in order to do so. I run and installed most of my wiring so I installed plenty of sockets (I think I have 10 behind the TV and 10+ in the kitchen).

[THE_LONGBOW]

I know this is getting off subject, but one of my pet peeves is bathroom exhaust fans. Nobody ever turns them off so they suck the heat out of the house and run till they quit working. So after replacing the the motor I also installed a timer on the switch so now it goes off after a few minutes.
I also replace my smart phone battery if the life of it does not meet my needs. The batteries can be pick up online for way less than at phone stores. So I charge mine over night every night.

[Steinar]

I know this is getting off subject, but one of my pet peeves is bathroom exhaust fans. Nobody ever turns them off so they suck the heat out of the house and run till they quit working. So after replacing the the motor I also installed a timer on the switch so now it goes off after a few minutes.

Around these parts bathroom fans very often are controlled by hygrostats. Very convenient, turns itself on when you shower, then turns itself off when the bathroom is dry enough.

[stealth007s]

Around these parts bathroom fans very often are controlled by hygrostats. Very convenient, turns itself on when you shower, then turns itself off when the bathroom is dry enough.

That's brilliant

[Landrew]

I just got the hardware to measure current drain on appliances. I aim to settle the debate about whether cellphone chargers draw phantom current or not, once and for all.