Battery-powered Tools

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by ilusnforc

<snip>
After mowing the entire front and back yards and doing all the edging using up all 3 batteries it usually takes nearly 1 KW to charge everything after being plugged in for about 24-48 hours.

Electrically, this statement doesn't make sense. KW is a measure of power, not energy. Perhaps you mean KWH, which is one KW for one hour. Generally electrical energy is sold by the KWH.

Tom

[eagle33199]

Originally Posted by NoMoShocks

Well, not every device. Just like connecting a water hose to your faucet won't use water, products with real "Off" switches in the Primary Power Circuit like a simple table lamp don't actually use power just because they are plugged in. If the products have an unswitched circuit like a touch lamp control or a transformer in them where the power is only switched in the secondary circuit, then you start getting power leakage. Almost anything with a big "wall wart" plug and most products with remote controls have unswitched primary circuits waisting a little power all the time, and the problem is that there are so many of these, it is like having slow leaking faucets all over your house. A good solution is to connect all these products into switched power strips that you turn on when you will use them.

Example, your TV, Cable or Satellite box, DVD player, Sterio all have their own unswitched transformers to power a remote control monitoring circuit. Connect all these devices to a switched power strip and turn it off when you are not using the entertainment system. As a bonus, you can plug in your power tool charger to the same power strip, and it will only top off your batteries when you watch TV instead leaking electricity 24/7.

I was speaking in generalities... Something simple link a lamp doesn't draw power when it's off, but nearly every electrical device - from the computer to the TV to the microwave to a simple radio - is going to draw some power when off. Almost everything with a transformer in it (which is almost all of our electrical devices, as DC current is much more useful than AC) will draw power unless the switch is before the transformer, which is pretty rare.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by eagle33199

<snip>
Almost everything with a transformer in it (which is almost all of our electrical devices, as DC current is much more useful than AC) will draw power unless the switch is before the transformer, which is pretty rare.

I would change this statement to say "...(which is almost all of our electronic devices...)...". Most electronic devices have power supplies, while many (most) electrical devices are line powered. It's a small point and in no way diminishes the authors message.

Tom

[eagle33199]

Consider it a typo on my part

[NoMoShocks]

I was thinking about the original question regarding saving energy for a battery powered power tool when you leave the charger plugged in all the time to keep the battery topped off, and I thought one idea would be to connect the charger to a lighting circuit that you have on a couple hours a day. Then, each day when you turn on the light for a couple hours, the battery will get topped off, and the other 22 hours per day, the charger will be off.

[ilusnforc]

Originally Posted by NoMoShocks

I thought one idea would be to connect the charger to a lighting circuit that you have on a couple hours a day.

Might as well put a timer on the outlet, no electrical wiring necessary and it'll be automated.