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Prime charger: how much energy during standby?

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by stevepea, Nov 3, 2017.

  1. stevepea

    stevepea Senior Member

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    Especially for those of you with electronic testing equipment...

    I was wondering how much electricity the Prime's 120V charger uses while in standby mode, until the charging actually starts. I'm assuming it's not very much, but if I have a schedule where I only use the car for a few hours every morning (say 8am-11am) -- and don't want to have to remember to plug it in later in the day or before I go to sleep at night -- if I want to just plug it back in when I return at 11am -- that means it would be plugged in, in "standby" mode for about 15 hours before charging would start... multiply that by 5 or 6 days per week.

    So was just wondering the amount of electricity the included charger actually does use when you plug it in the wall (after the initial clicking and testing, when it reverts to standby mode)....
     
    #1 stevepea, Nov 3, 2017
  2. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

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    I measured about 2-3W.
     
    #2 Lee Jay, Nov 3, 2017
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  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    2-3W... winter or summer?

    Does that include the traction battery warmer function?
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, Nov 3, 2017
  4. Lee Jay

    Lee Jay Senior Member

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    Plugged into the wall, not into the car.
     
    #4 Lee Jay, Nov 3, 2017
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  5. Robin Mitchell

    Robin Mitchell New Member

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    I just measured mine (Prime Premium in 70-degree weather) and it shows 0.6 watts with just the cable plugged in and 0.7 watts when the cable is plugged into the car waiting for the charge timer to start.
     
    #5 Robin Mitchell, Nov 3, 2017
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  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's a big difference.
     
    #6 bisco, Nov 3, 2017
  7. Robin Mitchell

    Robin Mitchell New Member

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    It may be a large percentage difference, but in absolute terms it's still pretty small - the minimum difference between Lee Jay's measurements and mine is 1.4 watts, which is 1/1000 of the power draw when charging the battery.

    For what it's worth, I measured the power consumption using two meters: a Kill A Watt, which has a resolution of one watt and read zero watts, and one of the meters described in this post, which has a 0.1-watt resolution and read 0.6 watts.
     
    #7 Robin Mitchell, Nov 3, 2017
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  8. stevepea

    stevepea Senior Member

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    Thanks for the replies and info, folks. Yes, quite a difference between the two readings (though it's a small amount of power regardless). When there's something like 15hrs of standby time before it needs to charge, I may try to remember to plug it in later instead, and see how it goes... though the first time I forget to do so, I'll go back to plugging it in as soon as I get back, long beforehand :)
     
    #8 stevepea, Nov 6, 2017
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