car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) (10/01/90)
Like most folks, I have a tight budget. When I made plans to buy a 3B1
I didn't take into considering the monthly cost of electricity to feed the
thing. (My newsfeed is a local phone call away - with unlimited local
calling there is no cost there).
After leaving the 3B1 one for a month, like the manual suggests, I received
my first electric bill.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My electric bill increased by $20 per month!
Is this reasonable?!
Did anyone else notice a big jump in their electric bill?!
I don't want to turn the system on and off daily, nor do I want to do
something like leave it on for 4 days and off for 3 days. But I would
like to reduce the electric bill!
This makes me think that AT&T is an electric company, not a communications
company. :-)
car.
--
Christopher A. Rende Central Cartage (Nixdorf/Pyramid/SysV/BSD4.3)
uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car Multics,DTSS,Unix,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek
trux!car@uunet.uu.net Minix,PC/XT,Mac+,TRS-80 Model I: Buy Sell Trade
"I don't ever remember forgetting anything." - Chris Rendewsinpdb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Paul de Bra) (10/01/90)
In article <258@ramecs.UUCP> car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: >After leaving the 3B1 one for a month, like the manual suggests, I received >my first electric bill. > >Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >My electric bill increased by $20 per month! > >Is this reasonable?! Considering the power consumption of the 3B1 this is reasonable. (I only wish my fully loaded 386 box would only cost about $20 per month in electricity) A major factor in the power consumption of the 3B1 is the fact that the screen is on all the time. There is no power switch for the screen and I heard that leaving that screen on 24 hours a day shortens its life-span considerably. It was certainly NOT REASONABLE to ever have designed the damn thing so you could not power down the screen. (note that the screen- blanking does not really reduce the power consumption) So part of a solution to your problem is to mess with the internals a bit to install a power switch for the screen. Paul. (debra@research.att.com)
bri@tsnews.Convergent.COM (Brian Rice) (10/02/90)
car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: >After leaving the 3B1 one for a month, like the manual suggests, I received >my first electric bill. >Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! >My electric bill increased by $20 per month! Look somewhere else, fellow 3b1'er... it ain't the PC at fault by any means. If you're leaving three lightbulbs burning constantly you're burning more power than the average 3b1! With an increase of that size I think I'd look to see if someone is running a Motor Home off of an extension cord out your backyard!!!
rhh@alice.att.com (r hardin) (10/02/90)
In article <258@ramecs.UUCP>, car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: > My electric bill increased by $20 per month! > Is this reasonable?! That's probably too high. However remember that if MI means Michigan and not Marshall Islands, it'll heat the house in the winter at 100% efficiency, saving an equal amount of $$ from the furnace. (Assuming electric resistive heat. More or less for other means.)
todd@ivucsb.sba.ca.us (Todd Day) (10/02/90)
I calculated $15/mo. I have mine doing UUCP to an internet host, so I just consider mine much cheaper than Compu$erve. -- Todd Day | todd@ivucsb.sba.ca.us | ucsbcsl!ivucsb!todd It's not a matter of winning or losing... It's how much tread you scrub off your tires!
wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew) (10/02/90)
In normal operation, taking my 3b1/2meg/voice-power/monitor as an example, the machine draws about 75 watts. If you get brave, you can install a power switch on the monitor and reduce the quiescent draw to just over 60 watts with the above configuration. I know these are real figures because I measured them with an honest to goodness watt meter (VI*cos(phase-angle) type meter), so that is the same as your watt-hour meter outside sees. Figuring 12 cents (US) per killowatt hour, which is on the high side of things. you've got 55.8 KWH of consumption in a 31 day month, if you leave the monitor on with the screen blanked. That is $6.97. 12 cents per killowatt hour is probably on the high side for most areas, but you know that prices are going to be going up this winter with the US's monkeying around in the middle east. Even throwing in an external modem is only going to increase the cost of operation about a buck a month. $20.00 is too much; you must have bought something else recently too, nicht wahr? I noticed about a $5/month increase in my electric utility bill when I installed by Unix PC and TB+ modem several years ago. You gots to pay to play. ==Bill== -- Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511 wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu ....!uunet!aablue!neoucom!wtm via internet: (140.220.001.001)
rlw@ttardis.UUCP (Ron Wilson) (10/03/90)
In article <806@tsnews.Convergent.COM>, bri@tsnews.Convergent.COM (Brian Rice) writes: >car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: > > >>After leaving the 3B1 one for a month, like the manual suggests, I received >>my first electric bill. > >>Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >>My electric bill increased by $20 per month! > >Look somewhere else, fellow 3b1'er... it ain't the PC at fault by any >means. If you're leaving three lightbulbs burning constantly you're >burning more power than the average 3b1! With an increase of that size >I think I'd look to see if someone is running a Motor Home off of an >extension cord out your backyard!!! One other thing: the heat from the 3B1 could be causing your airconditioning to run more. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- About MS-DOS: "... an OS originally designed for a microprocessor that modern kitchen appliances would sneer at...." - Dave Trowbridge, _Computer Technology Review_, Aug 90 iwblsys\ rlw@ttardis uunet!rel.mi.org!cfctech!ttardis!rlw sharkey.cc.umich.edu/ rel.mi.org is currently sick - back in 2 weeks.
jim@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Mercer) (10/03/90)
i started my system up soon after moving into a new place. my wife just figures it costs more for heat. 8^) -- [ Jim Mercer jim@lsuc.On.Ca || ...!uunet!attcan!lsuc!jim +1 416 947-5258 ] [ Systems Facilitator - Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA ] [ Standards are great. They give non-conformists something to not conform to. ] [ The opinions expressed here may or may not be those of my employer ]
bri@tsnews.Convergent.COM (Brian Rice) (10/03/90)
A follow-up to my previous comment: Some people have posted or replied to me directly regarding the plate on the back of the 3b1 describing its power consumption. One math genius from my favorite unix college even sent the equation that resulted in exactly $20.00 per month increase at x multiplied by y devided by c... or somthing like that!!!:) The purpose of this follow-up is to direct your attention to the posting that described how the maximum power consumption is attained when the machine is at its busiest... disk seeking, fans taking off like jets, etc. So maybe the machine in question IS having a specific problem. 1) Is it powered by an abnormally expensive power company? 2) Are there run-away processes, causing constant disk seeks? 3) Is the room too hot, causing the high-speed fan to kick in? 4) Is a floppy file system being left in a mounted condition? Ok, the last one is reaching, but you get the idea. I think it would be good to put some test equipment on it if the problem is not one of the more obvious as outlined above. The fact is I am running 2 190MB Maxtors, An expansion cabinet, two modems and an ATT477 printer and my electric bill is approximately 17.50 higher than when these were disconnected (God forbid I should have another one of THOSE months!:)) On the other hand, one could easily argue that a VAX would consume much more power and provide you with a great deal less functionality, so.... quityerbitchen!!! Brian Rice
res@cbnews.att.com (Robert E. Stampfli) (10/03/90)
In article <258@ramecs.UUCP>, car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: > My electric bill increased by $20 per month! > > Is this reasonable?! I have run a Unix-PC pretty much continuously for several years. It appears to me that it costs less than $10/month here in Central Ohio, where electric costs about 7-8 cents/KWH. The obvious unknown is your cost per KWH. I have a half-meg motherboard, and a couple combo cards, but I really doubt that the configuration alters the amount of electric consumed much. Definitely, though, something most people don't consider is that over the life of the PC, they are likely to spend more on the electricity than they did for the machine in the first place. -- Rob Stampfli / att.com!stampfli (uucp@work) / kd8wk@w8cqk (packet radio) 614-864-9377 / osu-cis.cis.ohio-state.edu!kd8wk!res (uucp@home)