I need to replace a very old CO monitor that I doubt is even registering. I was planning to do this as a plug in AC type with digital display. I would prefer not to mess with batteries. In the interest in keeping my vampire loads to a minimum I would like to find one pulling a minimal amount of current. My old one like this pulls about 3W continuously. I was hoping a newer one might pull about 1W, but I haven't found any operating power usage ratings for these. The specs merely indicate 60 mA peak current (giving me the max with the alarm sounding.) Does anyone have any recommendations for low wattage ones? I might even put in more than one, but only one of them will need a display.
I checked the one I got last year at Canadian Tire, it claims Garrity. Had to dink around with the short custom extension cord with separate wires, I'm reading 122 mA constant
Yes, that is what I recorded using a calibrated Fluke DMM. Around 14 watts by my math. It does feel warm to the touch That would be ironic if it burst into flames and burned my house down. A gadget intended to keep me from croaking in my own house, kills me. Yep.
123 kwh/yr for a CO monitor seems a bit over the top doesn't it? Granted, your electric is cheap, but even a battery powered unit would make more sense. Is it a combustible gas analyzer as well? I've seen combo units like that.
Spent 20 minutes on hold with Kidde. The rep. said that their current line of plug-in CO monitors pulls 0.75 watts (both LED and non-display models, which I found a little suspect.) So I guess I'll just buy one and test it.
Oops I think mine was an anomaly after all. It quit on me. Maybe I didn't notice before, but when I walked by it this morning the green LED was out. It's cold too
I've got several CO monitors that run on three AA batteries,, and they seem to run about a year between battery changes. Icarus
Yep, my fancy-schmancy combustion gas/CO monitor is Tango Uniform. Well, at least it didn't burst into flames while I was sleeping, and kill me That would have been ironic! :mmph: Had better find that receipt and demand a replacement. Mumble mumble hunk of mumble grumble ....
jayman, If it is really pulling ~15 watts when operating properly do you really want a replacement? I didn't ask what the Kidde combined CGA/CO monitor was running in the way of normal power. Wouldn't surprise me if this takes more juice. icarus, Thanks for the info on the battery longevity. I considered the battery option and if the new meters were running 3W then that would be the way to go. I might do it for secondary, but I really like having one with an LED readout as the primary detector. You know, it is REALLY irritating that we don't require labeling of normal steady state power draw and standby on most electronics. In terms of energy efficiency labeling we still have a long ways to go. And I'm still wondering how much standby power 220V appliances like my oven are pulling...
Good point on the fancy-schmancy CGA/CO meter that may have burst into flames and killed me in my sleep I checked my electric range. To run the LED clock and other stuff, around 25 mA
Well, I picked up the plug-in LED Kidde CO detector/alarm with 9V battery backup (7 year lifetime for the detector.) It looks like it is pulling about what they claimed on the phone. (Reads "0" watts, but measured PF = 0.08, VA = 10, with "zero" for the Kill-a-watt being PF about 0.02 with VA = 10.) Haven't decided whether to go with the non-LED plug-in version or AAA battery variant for detection on another floor level, but I'm glad that the power use is now minimal. The ancient 1996 vintage detector is probably effectively dead as it has only indicated zero for the past few years, even when I checked the "peak level" readings--unlike when the way it worked for the first ~10 years. Another vampire minimized. Time to update that thread.
I was just thinking about this and your previous CO reading...is that corrected for power factor or is that raw amps at a very low power factor? The power factor for my CO meter is miniscule. Perhaps your combined meter really wasn't pulling that much power? The Kill-a-watt truncates rather than rounds from what I'm seeing from hand calcs (e.g. 1.9 is diplayed as 1.) So at low watt levels I really have to read the VA and PF to calculate actual watts. I think it is time to revisit the LED lights because I'm finding the Kill-a-watt more sensitive than I at first believed.
True power, that is corrected PF. Some of these things, eg the CO detector about ready to burst into flames and kill me in my sleep, or the range LED display, have pretty bad PF
