RoninBoxers Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Hi all! I'm wondering if there is a way to measure the power consumption on a tank setup? Perhaps something to plug between the wall & power board? I've had a cursory look on the DSE website, but wasn't sure what to look for? (A wattage meter?) Thanks! Helene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 You used to be able to buy a kitset kilowatt meter (Dick Smith, Jaycar outlets) which would measure the power consumption over a period of time. The problem is you don't know when the heater is on or not so you have to measure over a period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoninBoxers Posted January 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 that sounds perfect! I want to be able to leave it on for a week or more and then do an average... Now I know what to look for that will definitely help. Also thanks for mentioning Jaycar! I wanted to check there but couldn't think of the name. :oops: Cheers Helene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Don't forget to check it in mid-winter and base your costs on that. then it wont hurt too much. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Please dont post the results!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Kidding, would be interesting to see the answers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 It will differ in cost throughout the country as price per unit varies too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 I just brought a centameter of Genesis. This is designed to measure your electricity useage in cents an hour or Kw. I have a LCD screen that shows the temeperature and humidity as well as the cents per hour and Kw used My electricity bill has been to high for my likeing so decided to get something to measure it to see what is costing me the most. I have noticed through the day that the electricty cost and use per hour goes up quite a bit. In the morning it is at about 10 cents a hour and by the evening it is up to 35 cents a hour. It fluctuates quite a bit with all the tanks i have plus i guess the Fridge and hotwater cylinder. It really goes up when the stove is turned on. I will have to monitor it for a while to get more of a idea what is going on. I have set the LCD screen up beside my computer where my son spends most of his time hopeing he will go and turn off some of the lights or the TV when he sees the electricity useage going up. Slim chance though. Maybe i could incorperate it into his computer games with a alarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 But don't you mean you are monitoring your total house consumption Mark? Helene just wants to know how much the tanks and stuff add to the load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoninBoxers Posted January 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 Hi All! Well, thought I'd update you on what I've learnt so far (now I know what to look for!) firstly here is a site on the centameter, I had to go read what it was :-) Not what I'm looking for and it also doesn't do cumulative readings. http://www.centameter.co.nz/index.php This site describes what I'm probably going to go for (plus interesting power usage stats!) http://www.pmb.co.nz/power_usage.htm There are nice compact devices like this available in the US (cheap!!) but I have to work out if they can be used here with the conversion stuff. There is also a kitset available at DSE for about $150, its pretty big and ugly compared to the others but seems to have advanced features for handling brownouts and such. Will keep you posted :-) Helene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 There's also things like clamp meters that you can just clamp onto the power cords and they'll tell you how many amps it's using. They're kinda pricy though. But, I'd like to get one. it'd be a cool toy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 The power-board have meters that you can hire. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 There's also things like clamp meters that you can just clamp onto the power cords and they'll tell you how many amps it's using. They're kinda pricy though. But, I'd like to get one. it'd be a cool toy. Knowing the amps unfortunately doesn't tell you the power. It will be fine if the current drawn has a power factor of 1 and the clamp meter is true RMS, but for any other case you'll need a special power meter that measures the 'Real Power'. A simple case of Power = Amps x Volts isn't usually the case. Any pump will not have a power factor of 1 and most fluro's are only corrected to about 0.95. Using just a clamp meter to measure the current and multiplying but the voltage will only give you the VA (or kVA). kVA and kW are two completely different things. For most domestic power users, you only pay for kW. At least if you measure kVA it will give you the worst case. If you base your power consumption calcs off this you'll get an artificially high value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 The difference will still be well within the IDGAD range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 Remember if you do try using a clamp meter it needs to be put around only one wire (putting it round both the - and + cancel each other out giving a 0 reading), which makes it a pain to measure single power outlets, they are really only good for measuring whole circuits off the main board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzza Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 All i can tell you in my case is the power bill went from $90 to $100 a month to $360 a month.I did not think the on going power cost. Its a about $20 to $30 more in winter.($70 a week)Funny how no one tells you this. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodle Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 All i can tell you in my case is the power bill went from $90 to $100 a month to $360 a month.I did not think the on going power cost. Its a about $20 to $30 more in winter.($70 a week)Funny how no one tells you this. 8) How many tanks? what size? etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 If your tank is truly using about $250 a month in power then it's using an average of about 1200W. Please supply the following details: 1. How big is the tank (litres please)? 2. How many heaters and what wattage? 3. How many pumps and what wattage? 4. What type of lights and what wattage? 5. How many hours a day are the lights on? From this it's fairly easy to guesstimate the power usage the tank should have. It's always a good procedure to go through before committing. I once looked at building a 38000L tank. It would have added about $10k to the cost of building a house. The tank was going to be 7.6m long, 1.8m tall and 2.4m wide using 3 off 2.4 x 1.8 x 75mm acrylic panels. I gave up on the idea when I calculated the running cost would be about $750.00 a month (in a year it would use what it cost to build in power). My 1200L tank costs about $25 a month in summer and $45 in winter. It has the following setup: 1 x 100W Pump 24Hrs a day. 1 x 40W Pump 24Hrs a day. 500W lighting 14Hrs a day. 600W of heating (0% in summer, 50% in winter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoninBoxers Posted January 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 Skuzza - How many tanks / heated litres is that? Helene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 All i can tell you in my case is the power bill went from $90 to $100 a month to $360 a month. That's about what my power bill is. That's my marine tank and 5 FW tanks ranging from 100L to 440L plus a spa pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 I can't say we have ever moticed any major difference inour power bill because of the tanks. We have a well insulated house though so the heaters do not have to work hard. Lights are all fluorescents and on timers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 I did a guesstimate recently on a larger tank. Here are my calculations for the 300w heater. 300 (watts) / 1000 (to make kW) x 0.16 (price per kWh) x 12 (hours on per day) = $0.58 per day. I worked this out myself so I hope its right and I dont put you crook. Even if I got the calculations right this is not compleately accurate and a power meter is a better plan but this should give you a rough guide. The biggest power problem in a tank is the same as in a home. Heatloss via uninsulated sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 from new zealand discus man.. insulation even on part lid/ends/back will cut power...!!! 25mm poly is what we had on house tank and power was not noticeable.. we have 80 tanks going and no power use even at night because of insulation,including 4 huge sky lights..with insulation. 2 layers of plastic glass house film and 3 layers of packaging bubble rap. air con set on 26 c and is not room dropping below 28 c.. area is 75 sq meters with high open portal roof, web photos show tanks 3 high.. we have no lights or tank heaters..to dangerous.. were are filling 12 more this week and 24 more within a month.. power in winter is $250 month for all this..when air space is replaced by water power will drop again.. insulate tanks with poly ,,all area's you dont see..hope helps..cheers phill collis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzza Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Sorry been holidaying.My tank is 8ft L 4ft W 2.5ft D and i have had to order another light . At the moment i only run 2 mh at 150w and 4 fluros at 40w each.My new light has 3 250w mh and 2 blue tubes. So it will go from 400w to about 1100w(never thought about till now) Have 4 pumps,3x 24hours and one 12hours. Pump size 9500lh Return from sump 4500lh 12hours on closed loop 2200lh zeovit 3300lh protien skimmer.Have to upgrade, will be a bigger pump(s#!t) It is around 1600L with stock in it. Big is better but the cost is the biggest. Sorry heaters 3x 300w in sump Lights are on from 11.00am to 10.30pm (11.5 hours) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 Ok, so here's the breakdown. Lights: 300W MH + 160W FL at 50% = 230W Ave Pumps: 9500L = 160W 4500L = 90W 3300L = 60W 2200L = 45W Total = 335W Heating: 3 x 300W @ 50% = 450W Ave Ave Total = 1035W x 0.16 = $119.23 per month approx. The extra MH's at 750W @ 50% will cost an extra $43.20 per month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 so howmuch does my 150w Mh use?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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