How do you know the delivery is fixed? You’re in Ontario, aren’t you? My bills (from Hydro One) explicitly promise that the fixed-usage ratio is a complete mystery.
70CAD on Amazon… the engineer in my is very curious as to what a meter might tell me, but the skinflint in me tells me it would have to last for the rest of my life (and maybe those of my kids) until it started paying for itself. Maybe the more affordable https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07DPJ3RGB/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_O89ZFbTPVBZFZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 would be a better buy.
Return on investment is a high priority for myself, as well.
However, I see return on investment in not only money value, but also knowledge, and stress reduction value.
Saving money, and, especially, not wasting money, is great.
Reducing stress by solving mysteries that induce stress is also great.
Life’s short.
Can’t take my money with me.
Stress reduces my lifespan.
Spending a bit of money to reduce stress works for me.
I don’t have it in writing, no. What I have is a consistent value for the delivery charge on my bills. I suppose I could be wrong on that.
That kuman probably works just as good. Or, if you’re an engineer, you might even have access to an osciliscope, which will also provide you a means to determine the power draw. Just remember to be careful.
Somewhere (lost in BBS land) is my modified OZWYLBUR for which I used a patched ZCPR with an integrated dialer for the Osborne I modem. So I could do my work on my computer and quickly upload (300 baud) to the mainframe.
I warn you, they are addictive.
I keep finding more and more devices that need a smart plug.
When smart plugs go on sale, I find even more devices that need them.
Too late! I’ve already thought of the better part of a dozen uses for them. But since I’m probably overestimating their abilities, I’m just starting w/one.
In addition to downloading guide updates and so forth, if you switched off Tablo, how would it record TV shows? I suppose if you used a smart switch, you could turn it on automatically, say, during prime time when you want to record a show, but it uses so little power that I don’t think it’s worth worrying about. Especially when you consider the impact of the start-up surge on the life of the Tablo vs letting it run continuously.
Of course, don’t forget that those outlets have their own parasitic draws as well. Useful for some things, but don’t install them everywhere just for the sake of installing them. In our case, I’ve only been replacing switches where I had timers in the past, like the outdoor lights. Though, I really need to get another one for that kid’s bathroom I mentioned.
Other outlets, like say, where we plug in the toaster, it’ll probably cause more of a drain than a savings.
If anyone’s interested, I plugged the Tablo into that smart plug and the it never was rated at pulling as much as 10W, even when it was recording. I don’t fully trust the accuracy of that gizmo, but I’m not ready to say it’s as much as 90% off. So it looks like I overestimated the amount of energy required to make a device that like warm.
Another thing I figured out: buying only 1 of those gizmos at first was the right move. After using it on several devices, it looks like I stand to save very little from turning stuff off at night.
It shocked me to find my 25 year old refrigerator used 180W when its compressor ran.
Cycling on for 20 minutes, then off for 20 minutes, and so on.
Average power usage is 90W per hour.
I expected more like microwave, and toaster usage.
The heat you feel is due to both passive cooling and depending on model somewhat closed air flow. Plus the motherboard has a number of metal plates that shield WiFi/coax/etc.
Lots of people like the monitor feature so I’m sure if it was off very much the various forums would be loaded with posts. Of course some plugs may do a better job then others.
But it’s a Christmas toy. To me the plug is worthwhile - the monitor function I could care less about. I live in California, the PUC already artificially jacks up the rates. I’d save more money if someone would fix the PUC.
