Cable shielding & hifi electricity costs

[JoelSim]

I was at my parents last night and...

 

My dad has bought an Owl. No, not one of those big-eyed nocturnal feathery things, but an electricity meter. Based on how much he pays for his electricity this is what it said.

Oven - 35p per hour when on

Plasma - 2-3p per hour

Hifi - Arcam separates/Project Debut/Pioneer A400 - 3p per hour

Kettle - 35-40p per hour (ok but is only on for 5 mins at a time)

Dishwasher - 30-40p per hour at first falling to 10p or so when water has heated

Lights - energy savers - 2p per hour each

Lights - 7 x halogens in kitchen - 45p per hour

In short, anything that heats is expensive to run, hifi and TV very low and little or no difference based on loudness played

 

The other thing that struck me as interesting is how the Owl measures the level of elec being used. It's simply a sensor strapped around the main electricity cable in the house. This demonstrates to me that an unshielded cable emits loads of current and whatever else. So by buying shielded mains cables for all of your components and a mains block, it will help decrease this current, any interference etc and therefore with a better signal in, it makes sense that your hifi would perform better.

I, for one, am sold on this. However, I shan't be buying any cables or a new block. As I already use them.

Moral of the story is, play your hifi all day but only drink a small amount of coffee and never leave spotlights on in a room in the house.

Eat your heart out Stephen Hawking.  

 

 

[Anonymous]

Stephen Hawking and Owl - there has to be a joke there. Some bird in the pecking order will probably tell it.

 

[JoelSim]

Graham_Thomas:Stephen Hawking and Owl - there has to be a joke there. Some bird in the pecking order will probably tell it.

You're Eagle- eyed...

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

the magnetic field round a conductor is directly proportional to the currant flowing within it. In a normal flex, where both live and neutral run side by side, we see the same field round each conductor, only its heading in the other direction. Conventionaly speaking, its up the live and back down the neutral. The fact there of equal strength but the oppersite way round causes a cancellation effect. These inductive coupled clamp meters wont generally see currant flowing in situations where both live and neutral conductors carrying the same load pass through the devices jaws. Such meters are used between the service intake fuse and electricity meter. Here you will find the two conductors are separate, so clamping round just one of them is possible. Thus, you are seeing noise there, that you wont see round the house. Try it around an extension cord or appliences lead. It should read as nothing if its the device im describing. I know of no other.

Why does your dad have 3Kw of lighting in the kitchen? Is it all under the stairs? lol

The A400 can eat double that alone, if cranked up. Over half a unit an hour, and ive seen units costing 16p lately.

1000w(1Kw) for 1 hour is 1 unit of electricity. Or a kilowatt hour(KWh) is its ofton called. The actual unit price changes regionally, and i think its about 20% difference accross the land.