Express Energy Usage

[Gary]

I'm trying to calculate energy usage of my light display. It's easy enough to calculate the power draw of the lights... just add/multiply the numbers on the little tags on each string. However, how many watts overhead does each Express add?

And while I have peoples' attention, what would it be for an Aether I?

[jstevens]

Got a Kill-A-Watt meter handy?

I don't have an LE or Aether built right now, so I can't tell you what my Kill-A-Watt meter says.  Sorry.

[mms]

I want to say it's 2-3 Watts... less than a night light.

[egenoup]

 The express by it self only uses milliamps of power....   The kill-a-watt measurements are as follows:

.01 amps, 3-4 watts, 2VA.   readings that low can have errors...  I.E.  122 V olts (as read on the kill-a-watt) times .01 = 1.22VA.  Now either the kill-a-watt is rounding up to 2 or the measurement range and accuracy compound the error. 

The bottom line is that the LE does not draw enough power to be even a consideration in power calculations.  When the LE was powered up, as the LED display scrolled, the readings would change by one or two.  The final readings were taken once the display stopped scrolling.

Egenoup