Another great way to cut power usage is to use automations (SamrtThings lingo) to turn things off when you're away from home. Also, I have several routines set up to put on lighting and ensure lightning is turned off while I'm at home. I rarely have to touch a lightswitch but everything illuminates and shuts off just when it should. This could be particularly good for families where children are notorious for leaving things on.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Totally Alex! Actually one of my very favorites is just that!
@OntologicalQuandry2 жыл бұрын
@@AutomateYourLife Despite having multiple SmartThings in my house (and increasing them in number) the automations have helped turn them off or keep them at the appropriote dimmer setting and keep my bills much lover than before I upgraded. Sounds like the same for you and well done with that!
@oldmanvlogs-UK-PHP2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the tips, I have a Terramaster Nas system which WAS on 24/7 running at 90w, I went into the settings and discovered that there was on and off timer settings, so now M-F comes on at 5pm and off at 11-59pm, S-S comes on at 9am and off 11-59pm
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Oh man...did you just save a TON there. I love that!
@chrisyerp1746 ай бұрын
What I did was took my pannel apart. And installed amp clamps on the main legs from the breaker to give me precise amprage draw on the every leg of power whether it was a water heater or a lamp and outlet. This saved me hundreds so far lights dont do much your amp draw is mostly from electronic moters and heat strips so what I did for a whole summer was didn't run the ac at night saved me over $500 in one summer , main thang is target your main amperage offenders I have the little killawatt meter but that's just designed for a measly 20 amps cant measure the big stuff
@AutomateYourLife6 ай бұрын
CTs :)
@jaynunes25012 жыл бұрын
Brian, Thanks for the insightful tips. Nothing like checking a box on your TV and having it magically turned into beer and poutine!
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Mmmmmm!!!😃😃😃😃. Thanks Jay!
@daveschmarder-19502 жыл бұрын
This is one of my favorite subjects. I measure the power of everything, especially the idle power. If I'm listening to something on my speaker, I don't care about the extra draw as that is transitory (c) Jerome Powell. :) My Nest Hub Max idles at 5.7 watts. That is why I only have one. But my little Google Hub is less than 2 watts. In other power news, over 6 months ago I bought my first Mac, a Mac Mini M1. I used to have m PC on all day, but now I have my Mac Mini on all day, and the PC is only on briefly now and then. My overall household electric usage went down by 25%. At present rates, my Mac Mini will be free in about 5 or 6 years, sooner as the rates rise. Each of those smart switches draw about 0.5 watts off, and almost a watt on. So using them on seldom used items might not be worth it. The wifi bulbs do use current at idle, but I forgot what the amount was. The power meter I use has one more decimal place than the usual Kill-A-Watt ones. This is helpful for the power we measure . My usage over 12 years ago was 250kWH or so. With other changes, including the Mac Mini, my usage is 140kWH per month. These are US watts, not metric ones, btw.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Great info! These are the things that get ya big time. Those speakers on my PC...I gotta ditch them and go simple and small. They're just too pricey!
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
And I'm so glad to have hit on a topic that you, a middle-aged boomer, are interested in! ;)
@daveschmarder-19502 жыл бұрын
@@AutomateYourLife Yep. It is a good activity. BTW, my new Zigbee mailbox sensor is working great. The Wyze one died.
@houstonshomeautomation35242 жыл бұрын
I'm still here Brian! I'm still inspired . Im still watching ! Just busy as all get out ! The power consumption has been an issue in my house as well. Honestly I was gonna look in to solar. But I need to put a magnifying glass to my smart home and see what's what ! I recently had to rebuild my entire smartthings home from scratch. 30 zigbee bulbs 3 locks hundreds of automatons and a shit ton of sensors deleted. I want to shoot smart things wifi ..... you warned me. Lesson learned
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Hey man, good to hear from ya! Saw your pop up shop! Congrats and keep on rocking man. :)
@desparky2 жыл бұрын
You guys have cheap power compared to here in Australia, but have you considered installing Roof Mounted Solar panels on your home? Even a small array could offset all of your "vampire drain" devices.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Welllllll we have a lot of charges on top of the power cost. It's about 1/5th of my bill at this point.
@CharlesReiche2 жыл бұрын
OK OK, I shut down my NAS. I had a nest that was given to me, it worked for a while and then died. I went back to a programmable schedule thermostat. I work at home. I set it to where I might just be cold, and turn it up if I feel cold. Even though my house is now 100 years old, I'm mostly happy with the heating costs.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
I couldn't believe how much that NAS was costing me! And yeah, the programmable ones can be good. Just a few degrees throughout the day can be worth it!
@dwayneshaffer2 жыл бұрын
Awesome vid and I have been looking for ways to save on my electricity bill. I have lowered the brightness and volume on my smart speakers and displays. Thanks
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Glad I could help Shaft! Nice to hear from ya!
@TaylorQuade Жыл бұрын
511kWh!!! Holy shit dude. I'm averaging 20 kWh during the summer in a 5 bedroom, 2 bath built in the 1910s.
@AutomateYourLife Жыл бұрын
Canadian winter + Content creator = a lot of use ;)
@The_Independant_Pit2 жыл бұрын
Some nice tricks, but some of them have no return on investment potential and can't barely be recommended... Like investing in a power socket and a battery sensor to save less then 10$ a year and the realizing the sensor consume batteries. Also sound device even playing full blast isn't using nominal wattage. Also lights should not be calculated on a 12h average, as we should sleep at night generally, so 8 or 9hours maybe. I think the focus should be on the most meanningful things. HVAC, water heating management have reel impact. For the small onesI liked the ones that are within the devices possibilities already otherwise your effectively losing time trying to earn some. Still good job !
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Yeah I probably coulda dropped the time a bit on the light usage to be exact. It's just an example, but I hope you go save some money now!
@EsotericArctos2 жыл бұрын
That's a significant amount of power you are using each month. In some ways that is a side effect of so many devices the use a small amount of power all the time, even when turned "off". I did find that some smart bulbs are much more efficient dimmed than others, and as much as I hate it, Philips Hue are some of the best for power efficiency when dimmed. I am not sure they offset the cost of purchasing the devices though..... I think there is huge potential to make savings, but you have to be careful which devices you purchase as some can actually cost more due to standby power and inefficient dimming.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Lots of it for me is the HVAC in the winter. -20 C average around here for about 4-5 months and -10 C for another 2-3 months is a lot of heating. Any inefficient windows for housing materials and it can get downright ugly! Otherwise, I was so surprised as I measured everything how little was actually being spent with most of my appliances and small electronics. Very impressed actually.
@garethjones50682 жыл бұрын
The energy prices in the UK are going through the roof at the moment, my bills have doubled & that’s pretty average right now, I got lazy with my smart home for a year or so but I’m back on with it now to try minimise my costs
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
I think it's about the same here man...our government put in carbon tax that shot up all the prices by 25% at least. I think more
@garethjones50682 жыл бұрын
@@AutomateYourLife A bunch of the energy companies have gone bust in the UK so there’s fewer & fewer providers to shop around too
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
@@garethjones5068 that's really scary...tells ya why power and basic needs like that probably shouldn't be driven by profit
@garethjones50682 жыл бұрын
@@AutomateYourLife The problem of them going bust that the UK government introduced a price cap to help consumers but in effect it made being a provider a tough gig hence fewer providers & thus less competition
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
🤦🤦
@konyks61962 жыл бұрын
Hey, great video! Could you share with us this "smart bulb and power vs percent requested" graph?
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
The one I showed? Whatcha hoping to do with it?
@ronm65852 жыл бұрын
Thanks Brian. Good information sir.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
You bet sir! Thanks!
@taranagnew4362 жыл бұрын
is there a chart with speaker/smart speaker volume power usage (on different brands)?
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
In the two ebooks for Google and Amazon speakers on our shop! Yep! Google - shop.automatelife.net/products/google-home-speaker-guide Amazon - shop.automatelife.net/products/amazonspeakerguide
@lany_07gaming2 жыл бұрын
Great info and great save.👍
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Lany! I hope it saves you a few bucks!
@lmorgan15092 жыл бұрын
Great information as always 👍
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Thanks King Louie the 1509th! ;) 👍
@martymctry202 жыл бұрын
Did you test the power consumption of your Smart Plug Bars? My Sonoff WIFI switches flashed with tasmota go from 0.3W idle to about 1W in ON state.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Yep. Smart Plugs on average use 0.3 W and some of the bars used up to 1.2 Watts
@martymctry202 жыл бұрын
@@AutomateYourLife Thanks ;)
@Hecheva642 жыл бұрын
Don't all smart gadgets consume energy even when not in use?
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Very small amounts yes. On average, 0.3 W at any given time is used as extra power.
@OscarHanzely2 жыл бұрын
Complains about $150/month power bill. Proceeds to show saving of $4/year. LOL I think this video should have started with some temperature, AC adjustments or room temp sensors. That’s where you can save something. Saving $4/year may pay for the bulb in 3 years but it’s just not going to move that needle significantly.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Remember that time you watched the first part of a video then commented? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
@CCCC-tq8yo2 ай бұрын
Ur luck I use 2500 k
@patriciawirry8182 жыл бұрын
I'll bet your biggest monthly cost is government (taxes) and no doubt government is working on ways to further jack up your electric bill. We better put our heads together and come up with a way to power our lives with small pinwheels.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
No problem. Pinwheels and merry go rounds
@jamesw42652 жыл бұрын
Never use to worry about energy cost until Biden became president…LGB
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Power bills in Canada are insane right now. Absolutely nuts.
@CCCC-tq8yo2 жыл бұрын
I'm a dog
@tolqar65632 жыл бұрын
Don't blame Biden, blame the companies. If I can blame a president I can blame trump for safety while I lived in China.
@AutomateYourLife2 жыл бұрын
Things are Ruff
@evlnte2 жыл бұрын
Political discourse is valuable when it is based on facts and yet it rarely is. Most inflationary forces were well already underway at the end of the Trump presidency. Also, parts shortages were already under way from climate-related events, resource shortages, tariffs and then covid happened. The virus, the conservatives said was "just a bad cold", caused further disruptions and shortages. Then a new guys takes charge and everything inherited is "his" fault. Ignoring climate change, ignoring outsourced production, ignoring political rivals (or playing into their end-game) caused all this.