Interesting Power Spikes

So, I decided to check in to see what is going on with ole' TED and I logged in and saw some odd power usage.  The figure below is for the last 48 hours  What's interesting is the short-term mini-spikes that were occurring 2 days ago, but not this AM:



My Househould Power Usage from 3/28 to 3/30.


From the graph, the 1.1-1.2 kWh spikes start around 10pm and continue until 8am.  It should be noted that no one was home then as you can see, there's no normal increase in power for the morning and evening activities.  Tuesday's power usage showed 32 kWh being used.  Maybe it was really cold outside?  Checking on wunderground.com for my area I see that nighttime temperatures were averaging 28-30F:  Pretty cold.  And it didn't get out of the 30s until 9am...right when the temperature spikes stop.  The next day was significantly warmer showing nighttime temperatures in the mid 50s.

So, I guess I just figured out what was going on.  I probably need to remind my wife to put the thermostats into "Vacation" mode when she goes away and I'm not around.  Otherwise TED will tell on you....Tsk tsk...

Follow by Email...

Ok...so I've been asked about why folks who follow don't get any updates when there is a new post or comment even if they are a "Follower".  Well...apparently that's been a complaint about Blogger and I've updated my blog with the new "Follow by Email" gadget.  So, if you'd like updates, you have to input your email in the gadget box and then you'll start getting updates.  I'm not entirely sure about the details of how it works...but it would alleviate that annoyance.

Enjoy!

Good job babe!

Kudos to my beautiful wife.  Curving in on TED from denver, I've noticed she is averaging less thsn 20 kwh for daily power usage with a low of 15!  

When my family was in town for the ncaa tournament we averaged about 50 kwh...but that was with 6 people in the house plus with two tvs on for 8-12 hrs.

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My home of the future

So I got to thinking yesterday about my "home of the future".  This was in part beause I watched an old (2005?) NOVA episode with the car talk guys which discussed the cars of the future.  The episode ended discussing the merits of plug-in hybrid cars as the best alternative for the US because it keeps our liquid fuel (gasoline, E85) infastructure intact but heavily relies on the more efficient electric vehicle.  The episode was old enough to talk about the Chevy volt as a concept car that was uncertain if it would be produced (which is now being released). 

Well, eventually my wife will need a new vehicle and the plug-in hybrid has been on my radar for quite some time now.  I've also been sold on the concept especially since the vast majority of our travels are <20 miles and easily <40 miles (the current range limit of the Chevy volt, the first plug-in hybrid on the market).  Which car to choose will depend on when we finally start looking for a car...which is years away.

Anyhow...a couple years ago while at the Home and Garden Show, I got in a great discussion with a vendor (I don't recall their name) who was selling a "smart" electrical system.  This system was meant to manage electricity in the house when on a generator.  Well, the system was designed such that if the system had solar PV, then batteries could be used for backup electricity.  And the smart system would only send electricity to the areas that required it (i.e. HVAC, refridgerator, minimal lighting).  Well....the system was also designed with the future in mind such that if a plug-in hybrid was available, then it could use the vehicles batteries as supplemental power .  Wicked cool.  And if the car batteries get low, then the cars can be turned on and their liquid fuel engines/generators can recharge the batteries.

So, watching that Nova episode reminded me of the conceptual plan I had for my home.  Here's my plan:

1)  Install smart electrical system.  I have a very old breaker box (aluminum wiring!) that's located outside.  I eventually want to move that indoors (garage/workshop?) anyway.  Plus, it will most likely need to be upsized to house the necessary circuits for #2 below and the inclusion of plug-in hybrids.  The smart electrical system would include provisions to add in backup batteries and solar PV.

2)  Install 120V/240V plugs in the garage for plug-in hybrid vehicles.  I guess I need to determine where the best place to locate these.  It might be smart to locate them in the ceiling with a retractable cord so it could be plugged into the vehicles front/back/side or who knows where they'll put the plug in these cars.  I'll put in 240V for the primary power and if I'm running electricity, I might as well put in a 120V outlet next to it for convenience.

3)  Install Solar PV with battery backup system.  This system would start small...maybe 1 or 2kW and then would eventually be expanded to allow for net-zero energy as solar panels (hopefully) become cheaper and (hopefully) more energy efficienct.  My first guess for net zero energy would require roughly 50 kWh/day...or that's 2 kW.  However, given that that sun doesn't shine 24 hrs/day, then if we assume 8 hrs of sunlight, then the enitre system would need to be 6 kW.  The battery backup system would be sufficient for, say, 9 kWh which would be sufficient to operate minimal lighting and the refridgerator plug maybe some small appliances.  Add in the car batteries (which from what I understand are around 9 kWh each) and then you could probably run the HVAC system periodically.

So, this is my concept.   I'm not installing this anytime soon, more like years away.  More than likely moving and upsizing the breaker box will be the first task since I want that to be moved indoors and if we do get a plug-in hybrid, then I'll want a dedicated circuit for that.  Plus a 240V outlet will charge the car significantly faster than a 120V outlet.  For instance, I was reading last night that a Nissan Leaf electric car charges fully in 20 hrs from a 120V outlet...or 8 hrs from a 240V.   Which would you want? 

The smart system could be added later when costs of PV and backup batteries come down.

My gut says what could inhibit this could be (beside cost) would be my old house wiring.  Given that my breakers appear to control all over the place it might be tough for the smart system to send power to only certain areas.  However, the major loads are on their own breakers so that should be fine.  It would be the fridge and maybe minizing lighting/outlets that would be difficult. 

Any thoughts out there?

Phantom Power Usage

Ok...so I'm trying to figure out where a phantom 40w is being consumed.  From Google Powermeter, my always on power is 323w.  This accounts for 7.75 kwh/d...or 20-30% of our average total power usage.  However, because Google PowerMeter averages every 10 minutes, this is skewed.  Looking at my TED data, my min power consumption is around 285W.
 
So the other day I took out the killawatt meter along with TED and started measuring everything...i mean everything.  Htpc, oven, fridge, garage door openers, etc...anything that is plugged in I measured.  For those that I couldn't (dryer, idle hvac and hit water equipment, etc) , I used Ted and the breakers.  My breakdown is below:

Device                              Watts                 Comment
HTPC                               120                (All HTPC equipment. TV+PS3 off)
HTPC Frontend                  30                 (frontend+APC, at plug to wall)
Office Equip                        17                 all office stuff on powerstrip)
HVAC idle                          26                (taken using TED and breakers to off)
Oven/Microw                       7                 (taken using TED at breakers)
Fridge idle                          10                  (using TED)
Garage door                        6                    (Garage door switch lights?)
motion lights (3)                   3                    (photocell?)
Roomba idle                         4                    (not charging)
den tv/remote/switch             5
Cable booster power            7
alarm clocks                         3
Dirt Devil charge                  2
washing machine                  1
Dryer                                   0
Doorbell                              2kVA. Measured using multimeter.  Does not include efficiency!!!
downstairs phone charger     0
TED gateway                       2
TED display charger            0
Onkyo receiver                   0
bedroom TV off                  0
LED flashlight charger          0
toothbrush charger               0
Lamp (w/CFL)                    0

Total                                  245


Avg “always on” wattage:   ~285  (6.84 kWh/day)  - From TED.


Missing wattage:                  40


Cost of missing wattage:        0.082    per day
                                            2.49      per month
                                           29.87    per year

I can account for 245w...but I'm missing 40w!  Where is it being used?!? I even measured the doorbell using my multimeter (2w, btw).  I can't imagine this is line losses.  I realize that it isn't a lot of money...but still, it's the prinicpal of it, right?  Would you leave a 40W light bulb on 24/7?  Yeah...didn't think so.   I'm not in the mood to be giving out a complimentary $30/year to the electric company.

My plan this weekend is to turn off the power to all the breakers except TED.  Then I'll start flipping breakers on, one by one, to account for power usage by room/area.   Since my breaker box isn't labeled, this will allow me to start labeling some of them anyway.   Actually, I'll probably start by turning the breakers off, one by one, to measure the reduction....and then do it again on when I turn everything back on to see if I can replicate the power usage (scientific method, style!)

So...any thoughts out there what this could be?

Driveway complete!

Looks great!  Can't wait to try it out...

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Almost there

Inspection complete!  All good.

Customer package info...check!

(includes tax credit info)

Driveway guy is forming up today.

Tomorrow, they put concrete.

So, by monday, everything should be 100% finished.

Only thing left is for the grass to grow in the front yard....and I have to step side and let mother nature do that for me.

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