Yeah, kinda like we do with nuclear power plants, except spent radioactive material is not recycleable.
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Just one more. I’m from GA and can’t help posting this:
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I used to live in Georgia and bought an EV when we had the $7,500 Federal and $5,000 state subsidy. It was a no brainer. In 8 years, I have only replaced the tires twice and the cabin air filter annually. I’m not a “save the environment” guy…but I am all about saving money and getting some of my own tax dollars back.
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Given the advantages of owning an EV as a second car, and given the overwhelming agreement (97%) of qualified climate scientists who agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change, the resistance to accept the EV as a step in the right direction is, to me, mind-boggling.
And, if you think it is a recent thing, and 50 years ago the scientific community was predicting another ice age, read this.
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But even that less than half will have to buy new EVs only in the future. They are not exempt from the laws banning e future ICE engine vehicles.
I can only afford one car.
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Depending on your situation, you could buy an EV as your only car and use public transportation for longer trips, or… wait till EVs and the infrastructure catch up.
On Clark’s podcast today, someone asked about whether or not to turn the power off to their EV charger when it was not being used. Yes, you should turn the power off. The reason is simple: Do you leave an electric light ON when not in use? If the answer is NO, then do the same for your charger. On the other hand, if you are a person who can’t be bothered with flipping a switch, saving energy, saving money, and helping the environment, then leave everything ON all the time! This will help to keep the electronic circuits hot so that their expected life is reduced, while increasing your electric bill. For my unused electrical equipment, I always turn it OFF. (This is advice from an experienced electrical engineer.)
PS: For all you dummies that leave your computers, printers, and TVs running 24 hours a day (when you use them less than 25% of that time) turn them OFF and save power, save batteries, and extend the life of your electronics!
I heard that also. If I understood, the caller’s dad was saying turn the power off to the charger at the breaker panel.
Circuit breakers are not designed to be switches.
Thank you very much for your advice (from an experienced electrical engineer) to turn off all my electrical devices when not in use.
But… given the fact that my hp 1505 laser printer draws but 0.8 watts and I pay approx 12 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity and a month has approx 800 hours, my monthly out-of-pocket for this serious and wasteful oversight is… lemme see… whoa!.. 9.6 CENTS! a month
BTW… my EV charger is hard-wired on a 240V/70-amp circuit
And here’s a news flash for your electrical engineer friend, a level two EV charger is simply a 240 AC power supply for the charger, the charger itself is located in the EV. I think your electrical engineer friend must have obtained their credentials before 1960.
I agree. The ON/OFF switch on the charger should be used. If it does not have an OFF switch, then a properly-rated external switch should be installed. No heavy-current device should EVER be installed unless there is a way to turn it OFF. This used to be common knowledge and was taught to all engineers and electricians. Unfortunately, foreign influence has made people think that electrical devices should be left on 24 hours a day. I see this a lot, with rows of computers running all night with no one within 500 feet. What a waste of power, and equipment. No, it does not help electronic devices to leave them ON all the time. The life of any electronic device is dependant on how long it has run.
Yes, many people think that electronic devices use so little power, why not just let them run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? If you like to buy new equipment all the time, then that will work for you very well. All the electronic companies promote this idea. Many of them have stopped putting buttons labeled OFF on their devices, encouraging the belief that it should never be turned off. News flash! Most of these devices contain transistor chips, capacitors, inductors, and resistors that degrade the longer they are ON. Electronic devices get hot and the layers slowly separate the more current and heat pass through them. If you use that laser printer 2 hours out of 24, then you can easily increase its lifetime by about 24/2, or 12 times, by a simple push of the OFF button when you finish with it each day.
So you have a potential 70 amps running through wires left hot all the time. Why don’t you just unplug it, of use a timer and contactor to turn off the power? The resistance and idle current of those 70-amp sized wires is probably about the same power use as your laser printer sitting idle. It is not a surprising pattern. I suspect your entire house is full of parasitic electrical devices using energy for no gain 365 days a year and 366 on leap year. If you change your habits and turn switches off when your are done, you can save power, but most importantly you can extend the life of your equipment. I know it works, because I have old computers from the stone ages that still run very well. They only ever had to run when needed. I bet you leave lights on in hallways and bathrooms because someone might happen to need to go there. There are infrared switches that will turn those lights On when someone goes in, and then off 5 minutes after they leave. What a deal! A simple switch change saves power, improves convenience (never again fumble around for the light switch), and extends the life of light bulbs.
I rather doubt that for a typical house.
My printer is 10 years old, I don’t need a printer that will last for another 110 years.
That can be said of any of the electrical wires of any home, it’s an absurd statement.
Evidently you have found an IR detector that runs on some mysterious energy source other than your home’s electrical circuitry, what do think powers IRD’s?
BTW my EV charger has a built-in timer, power switch and output regulator so I don’t need to follow your suggestion that I have a manual switch installed for it. But just in case you need one for your electric range, HVAC and clothes dryer, here’s a Square-D switch that will handle the job, and they’re only $449 each.
No, you mis-read and mis-understood. I never said 70 amps was running through 70-amp-rated wires all the time. The current present all the time in connected wires has to do with the induced current (IL) between the wires due to the surrounding invisible magnetic fields that surrounds the wires any time alternating-current (AC) voltage is ON. That induced current is very small but not zero, but over time does add to electric bills. Yes, magnetic fields do surround ALL electric wires in a home, not absurd but simply based on the well-known laws of electromagnetism. See Kirchhoff’s Circuit Laws. Current (I) in an A.C. circuit is not simply the Voltage (E) divided by the Resistance (R), but is the RMS Voltage divided by the total Impedance (Z) of the circuit. Impedance includes resistance, but also Inductance and Capacitance. Z = Square Root of (R squared - (XL-XC)squared). You can see from that formula that if the inductance (XL) created by the magnetic field around the wires is not zero, then there will be a parasitic current flowing that increases your electric bill. To avoid or reduce those extra costs, simply turn off anything that is not being used.
Yes, infrared switches use a very small amount of power, but not nearly as much as a light bulb, even a LED bulb. Your choice: Waste, or Save! I have used infrared wall switches in my bathrooms and hallways for over 50 years now. They are worth installing just for the convenience of never having to turn those lights on or off. The power and bulb savings are icing on the cake!
I am glad your EV charger has a built-in timer and power switch. I suggest that you use them to reduce your total power usage.
As for an electro-magnetic switch for a range, I have one already that I built 30 years ago. It has an infrared switch mounted above the range that senses a person in the kitchen. If Person= Present, 50 amp contactor = ON. If Person = Absent, contactor = OFF. I am always glad to share the circuit and material list with anyone who can use it. The cost now would be about $175 (infrared wall-mount switch with built-in timer, 2-pole contactor, 50 amp cord, plug, and receptacle, and metal box) if you build it yourself. It is very useful if you have an older senile relative who tends to leave food cooking on the range and walks off and forgets about it.
I was an electrician on a Navy minesweeper for 4 years and an IBM field tech for ten years. I understand the basics of electrical theory, you do not.
Your posts consist of a collection of unrelated cut-and-paste snippets of basic DC and AC electrical theory and lacks any indication of actual application in real-life situations. Anyone on this forum with any experience will probably agree.
I suspect you are using a chatbot to come up with your posts.
I suggest you read a book if you wish to learn about the subject. You’re not kidding anyone.
Congratulations on your 4-year Navy career. Thanks for your service to our country. I was an electrical engineer for 40 years, working on many types of projects and electrical problems. I do understand electrical theory, but also practical applications for electricity. I have only used references to check my sentences, not to originate my thoughts. I have built and wired up two houses, and remodeled many other houses, so I know a lot about practical wiring. Many electricians only see part of the picture of using electricity. That is understandable. Their job is to wire it up according to the wiring diagrams and get it working. An electrical engineer has to be able to generate the wiring diagrams, and the material list, and the purchase orders to buy the materials, and has to oversee the work to see that it is done according to codes and specifications, is safe for use, and does not exceed the cost estimate. Practical applications rarely are very much concerned with saving power, so those small power-saving methods are overlooked on the typical electrical installation. I doubt power-saving was a big concern on Navy ships or IBM computers.
More chat-bot chatter… 
Some printers, when turned on, take a long time to become ready, often running tests and possibly using ink to check cartridges. (I used to work for a computer/printer/ink company.)
Having a computer, printer, and other devices connected to an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) can significantly extend their lifespan. We had many mainframe computers and frequently encountered strange, unexplained problems. However, the day we connected those computers to the computer center’s UPS, those errors decreased considerably. It was a genuine eye-opener. Besides providing consistent power to the devices, UPS units also filter surges, sags, and incoming power noise. While UPS units do consume power themselves, they offer a trade-off by prolonging equipment life. Some UPSs even come with a guarantee to cover equipment damage caused by power issues.
Most electronic devices today contain mini-computers, including your TV, microwave, and phones. This is how they maintain a clock or can instantly power on and start functioning. Even my propane water heater requires electricity to trigger the on-demand burner and thermostat. All these devices consume some power, including wall warts (those chargers and power supplies we have). They use power whether they are actively in use or not, albeit not a significant amount.
If it were up to me, I wouldn’t turn off a charger designed for a vehicle unless it had substantial standby power consumption. Doing so might cause spikes on the power input. While the unit may have a built-in surge protector, I’d consider factors like the unit’s cost and whether I had a warranty covering equipment replacement at no cost to me. If I did decide to power it off, I might use a timer or, at the very least, install a power cutoff switch near the unit. As mentioned earlier, circuit breakers are not intended to be used as power switches.
Lavarock (definately not an AI 
(in case that should ever come up)
I agree that too many devices are now deliberately designed to make it difficult to turn them off. Why is that? What does a manufacturer gain by building them that way? Answer those questions and you will know whether or not you should fight this trend. Most people are not going to go against the lemming trend and simply leave everything on all the time. It has not always been this way. Why not? People used to have a little more spunk, a little more fighting spirit not be be lead around by their wallets. Wasting power and equipment degradation to allow companies to make more money is not how I think, or act.
A good rule of thumb for almost all modern equipment: The longer it runs, the sooner you will have to buy a new one.
For mainframe computers, it is probably best to keep them on a UPS and running all the time. Most of those are doing jobs 24 hours a day. But home computers are different. Most personal comuters are not being used for about 22 hours of every 24. That means they are running for no reason during those idle hours. That run time-for-no-reason is NOT free operating time. It costs in wear-and-tear on the electronics of the machine, plus the electricity cost. No company has yet sold an electronic chip that lasts forever. (Someone may have built one, but were paid to quietly put the plans back in the drawer.)