i recently escaped Line side studios and got the great pleasure in going down to Braintree
to Lewden Palazzoli to see Ian Peacock where he showed me a rig that i clearly described
in that video as something that didn't look like somebody's created it from their back bedroom when
we're looking at arc fault detection devices i've come back to the studios and looking down here
Gordon it looks like you've created something that looks like in a back bedroom for a YouTube video
well yes that's exactly you know while you've been in the Italy of east Essex as we do know Braintree
i've been back here trying to answer the question we get asked a lot on the channel when it comes to
AFDDs it's never mind all that technical stuff on how to work is people are rumoring that they
use lots of power just sitting there all year quietly consuming power and that's what we're
going to look at today however they certainly do use some power we're going to come to that i
thought we'll just put that into context before we go there because the other thing that people
worry about that's also permanently connected and everyone loves and that's USB charging sockets
right so that's what we've got down here you're going to tell me what power that's using when
it's not doing anything yeah we compare it to the AFDDs now if you want to see those AFDDs in
action in the videos that i made with Ian down at Lewden Palazzoli we'll leave them in the eye above
our heads yes and i'll put in the description as well below but there's a lot of learning in there
on the videos and we're going to be installing more of them okay um but first Gary let's have
a look at the USB socket okay this uh MK base USB socket i've got a Hameg power meter
here as well okay so it's not doing anything we've got a small read in there anyhow on the machine
tiny point not two three of a watt okay so not very much so i'm just going to close
out a quick test okay so that's energy the USB socket and you'll see now we're dancing around
at just about 0.1 of a watt really okay so almost nothing almost nothing and that's
mandated in lots of regulations the energy using products directive that when products go asleep
there's a certain maximum amount of power uh they can draw okay and obviously because it's not doing
anything that's gone to sleep and yeah so that's point one of a watt so i reckon that's about 22
pence a year okay so that's insignificant i would suggest however when i open up the panel with the
AFDD's and i've got a panel at home full of them all those uh all those lights are gleaming at me
yeah that suggests it's using some energy well but before we get under the lights on AFDDs let's look
at that other device you might have at the house in the kitchen think of those neon indicators all
right okay so let's see i'm gonna say that'd be interesting why don't you see what because i've
got several neon indicators on uh fused connection units for my fridge which has been on for the
15 years i've lived in the property as well as the dishwasher and things like that so it'd be
interesting you know it's always on as the neon indicator lasted that length of time it has yes
they're all working still yeah that's all good so we're on to the second socket now again MK base
range again so MK base range so just yeah bring on that indicator there so you can see actually oh
wow minus that that's about point point two four of a watt okay so i think i've been worrying about
the wrong one haven't i've been worried about the USB i shouldn't be worrying about the neon's
yeah so there's a bit of a revelation a neon indicator on a socket uses considerably more power
than a USB charging socket that everybody's always been firing in the comments when we featured
them before that use lots of power and in easy mass it's doubled through isn't it there we go
make it easier yeah easy math for Gaz okay can we keep this theme going on
yeah we'll call it yeah 52 pence a year to run a neon indicator right okay so i can i can double
that power consumption as well by switching the other socket on all right okay so yeah
just prove your point so you've now turned the other one on and we're now dancing around about
half a watt oh wow so just turn it back off for me so i can see both yeah now pop them
back on one at a time oh you did two at a time of course she did yeah all right okay yeah so
that's surprising yeah it is i was quite surprised by that actually wait because yeah we all go USB
USB actually no don't don't have a combination of both i would suggest yeah that probably
well technically yeah that's difficult would that comply with regulations then
good pushing pushing the border so what i've also built up here Gary is uh the consumer unit we all
love to see and i've peppered it full of lots of people's uh different AFDD devices and an RCBO
again just for a bit of context just like i say for the record obviously this is under controlled
conditions we sort of know what we're doing so we don't recommend you build one of these at home
and we're not in the back bedroom either so we're now going to liven up not
an AFDD are you going to go for an RCBO first yeah we'll just track it at an RCBO drop those
and that's the thinking behind that because we know they're full of electronic components yes
yes particularly on the type A yes as obviously things get more complicated the uh yeah the old
AC just used to have an iron core in there it was quite simple that resistance as you have the AC
there's more electronics obviously the B type and all those other ones have got more electronics in
to monitor stuff so AC's got next to nothing in but once we get to A we get electronics and get
more as we go F and B yeah and obviously yeah the minimum really we're thinking of now is
A unless you can find a lot for all resistive it's A type it's atomic so we're going to go so let's
just bring it in so yeah we can see it come on so at the minute we've got that sort of standalone
number you're going to turn on so there is a bit so yeah a little bit in there so yeah so RCBO we
are about 0.12 for what if i take away the the little number was shown beforehand um so yeah
that's a game similar to neon indicator yeah for those and that is an A type isn't it you confirm
that was an A yeah yes that's an air so not the neon indicator similar to the USB socket so point
uh 0.12 watts so that's about 26 pence a yeah okay yep yeah it's it's tiny money well
this is the one in it so you've got three i think you've got three different manufacturers
yeah just buying them is expensive but so you're going to tell me about running them so we've got
if i look down there we've got Lewden we've got BG Luceco and we've got a Wylex one yes
we're a Wylex one which is Siemens technology really so let's uh yeah let's have a look
inside a couple of these and we have there's a lot of electronics in there let's have a little
look then see what we are so we're going on with first of all the Lewden Palazzoli only one Lewden
so we've got a red light on there what we've jumped up to and we're about
0.32 of a watts when i take away the uh the small reading we had on the meter beforehand
which is about 70 pence a year and that's the largest number we've got so far yeah so again so
drop that one back out this is the BG one repeat that on the BG and we're getting a similar number
which is again 70 pence a yeah okay well before we go there let's just have a little discussion
because we've looked inside one of these aren't we so we've been inside the Wylex one and you said
to me you were amazed by the layers in there and the complexity was it a flexible flexible
rigid circuit body yeah the technology yeah you used to put in like missiles and stuff like that
yeah okay so when we've opened that one up and we took a deep breath there was a lot of
electronics in there so i'm going to use a little bit of logic now yeah there's probably a lot more
electronics in there maybe than the first two so we'd expect that to consume maybe more power
yeah yeah possibly could do okay let's have a look let's have a look then so i'm excited to
see this because i've got some of these at home well right so we're on so there we go so that
the uh yeah the Wylex one which is Siemens technology is 0.5 watts so that's cost new
Gary about one pound ten a year to run at home okay and i've got how many have you got i've got
a feeling you know i've got four that are blanks yeah i've got a feeling i've left them up as well
well there you go till tomorrow they're going or not went back off okay yeah so um
i'm sure it's not it's not gonna send anyone into a financial crisis but it is it is taking some
energy there so just remind me the number for over a year for one of those it is yes so the Wylex one
yeah it's about a pound and then the yeah the the other two have got there about 70 pence each and
it costs you 26 pence for your RCBO anywhere and people are going to be and these costs are
living obviously that's because energy prices have gone up so much when they were you know have on
that calibration 25 pence kilowatt hour yeah uh you know yeah a few years ago used to be at 10p
let's date it we're 2022 April and there's a price hike coming in October isn't that since i recorded
this video the energy price cap for October has been announced and for residential customers
price per kilowatt hour is going up to an amazing 52 pence a kilowatt hour however i
wouldn't ever suggest you tamper with the safety devices that have been installed in a property
because they are there for your safety and whatever small amount of power they use
is worth it things you do want to worry about are things like these
vampire devices that use a lot of power even when they're on standby i've recently checked
my install at home i've got a Sonos surround system that has Alexa built in and that uses
20 watts of power while it's on standby which adds up under the price cap to nearly 85 pounds
a year we'll perhaps look at that in a future video but while we're on the topic of energy
you might want to check out what i'm doing behind me in this curious setup with electricity meters