Phone Chargers and power usage

[My Name is URL]

Hi guys,

Was wondering if anyone on the forum had one of those energy consumption meter thingamebobbies and has ever checked how much a - plugged into the mains but not attached to a phone - phone charger uses.

I have a charging dock on my bedside table for my HTC One and leave it plugged in 24/7 and was wondering if that was bad for using electricity and how much.

Anyone got an idea?

 

[Gramaisc]

Measuring it is the any way to the truth, but the warmth it exhibits when not charging should be a fair clue - even a watt into something that size will warm it up.

My old Nokia one is stone cold when there's nothing charging.

Some stand-by usage can be mental - Florence gave me an old hi-fi that used 18 watts full-blast - and 14 watts when it was 'off'...

 

[Jonah]

Does a phone charger which isn't charging a phone actually use any power?

 

[Gramaisc]

Transformers will have hysteresis losses, some will be more significant than others.

Some chargers which are not actually charging anything will get quite warm as a result - and that warmth is energy that will have passed through the meter....

 

[My Name is URL]

Does a phone charger which isn't charging a phone actually use any power?

Yes although very small amounts from what I have read....

The same, in fact even more so, applies for phone chargers plugged into a fully charged phone...

 

[tek-monkey]

The roku LT boxes and sky nowTV boxes have no off button, because apparently the PSU uses as much power regardless of it being on or off.

 

[wmrcomputers]

We're talking literally just a few coppers (at most) per week. It always makes me laugh when my phone insists on telling me to "Unplug the charger from the mains to save energy". Even if the whole world started to do so, it would hardly make a difference to global warming. It would only take one house in a street to leave their bathroom light on all day and the entire estate might as well have left their phone chargers plugged in!

 

[Trumpet]

Mrs Trumpet is convinced that they use more than a kettle, even when not actually plugged into your 'phone and will not be swayed.

 

[Gramaisc]

Mrs Trumpet is convinced that they use more than a kettle, even when not actually plugged into your 'phone and will not be swayed.

Next time she wants a cup of tea, place her cup, full of water, on the charger and make her wait until it's ready.