Doorbell always uses electricity!

Actually, a big transformer that draws an amp with no load may use less power than a little transformer that draws half an amp. It's resistance from the copper windings and the iron core that uses power. Without resistance, the current is 90 degrees out of phase with supplied voltage, and that means no power.

I think the solution is a DC chime with a modern wall wart. To get the Energy Star rating, a wall wart up to 50 watts can't use more than 0.3 watts idling. That would mean about 25 cents a year for electricity. My remaining question is how long a particular wall wart would last.

If I went wireless again, I use an outlet-powered receiver. I'd be concerned about its service life and how much power it sucked.

Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that.

If it was "a very common problem", can you offer a cite proving that a

Wouldn't you expect that if that story was true those big pole pig transformers and all that higher voltage wiring running on the poles on nearly every street would have caused the radios to melt?

Jeff

You didn't trim $120/month by eliminating three cent/month transformers.

I also know that spending two hundred hours to trim three dollars a year off one's electric bill is insanity.

Turn the thermostat two degrees and it'll outweigh removing every single transformer in the house.

Your bell transformer was using $120 worth of electricity? That must have been one hell of a big transformer, and an even bigger bell!

Try considering a cost/benefit analysis next time then do something that is meaningful. Bottom line is that you saved perhaps a dollar or two a year if you eliminated the door-bell transformer, not that sillyi $120 you are quoting!

the cheao chinese brass was a big polluter in china ands added to world pollution

Good idea. Everybody has boxes full of wall-warts whose original device has passed on. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to modify one of the right voltage.

Go "Amish"

Delete from that cost the cost of repairing/replacing whatever was wrong with the original system (cost of transformer, button, chime and wire plus labour to replace)

He might still be saving money.

The KillA Watt does not compensate for the terrible power factor of an idle transformer - It will be indicating significantly higher than the actual power disipation of the transformer. The incandescent lamp in the lighted doorbel button is likely 80% of the real draw.

Put a power factor correction capacitor across the transformer primary and I'll bet the KillAWatt reads less than 1 watt.

The fact that my doorbell transformer is not remotely warm to the touch would indicate to me it is not dissipating 3 watts of power (and it IS powering an incandescent lighted push button)

The lighted button helps find the key in the dark, so I don't really care if it costs me $3 a year.

And instead of driving all over town to save $0.05 a gallon on fuel, drive less, don't haul junk in the car, drive an efficient vehicle, keep it tuned and the tires inflated, and stay home more.

The 4400, which I think is their base model, is supposed to show volts, amps, volt-amps, power factor, watts, Hertz, kilowatt hours, and hours. Accuracy is advertised at 0.2%.

Almost all customers love it. I was about to buy one until I read a review by someone who claims to have bought several for an R&D lab.

He found them inaccurate when new, and they were likely to freeze when current exceeded 7 amps. This made them useless for anything with a starting surge that high.

All failed between 30 and 50 hours, giving wild readings or none at all.

I believe him because his description is good. It reminds me of problems I've had with DMMs that can measure up to 10 amps. If you run several amps through a resistor with little mass, I suppose sudden temperature changes can lead to microscopic cracks, which affect accuracy and cause increasingly fast deterioration. I imagine Kill-a-watt's manufacturer could solve the problem with R&D.

Boden wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@enews1.newsguy.com:

Yellow holes in snow are not trivial.

Watch out where the huskies go and dont you eat that yellow snow. [Frank Zappa]

According to the FCC Interference Handbook, defective doorbell transformers are often a source of interference to TVs and other household electronics. It may be a neighbor's transformer. I think it happens when part of the core comes loose and vibrates.

I've had one in service for at least a decade. It's outlasted several of the button/transmitter units. And a second (upstairs) for 3-4 years. The nameplate current is 50ma (which would be 6W) on one, and about twice that on the other, but I think that must be when actually making noise, as I couldn't measure *any* current drain.

Dave

I'm no EE, but I would guess that most of the in-house interference is back down along the power lines, not through the air. I know that on the baby shortwave I use to AM-band DX myself to sleep at night, when some unknown something in my house (or one of the neighbor's houses on the same pole can) is running, I can't get S**t to come in. But if I unplug the wall wart and run on batteries it comes in fine, as long as the unplugged cord is over a foot from the radio. Intermittent as hell, and annoying.

-- aem sends...

Eek! My electric bill is around $40-45 total for my house, and I've got an old refrigerator and several computers that run 24/7. But gas heat.

Dave

If the Guberment says so it must be so. I just don't believe it.