Cell Phone Question.

Ok sorry to get way off the subject but my wife and I are having a talk you what I mean, its about leaving the cord plugged in for charging your cell phone all the time, she claims it is taking electricity I say no way there is nothing to draw the power, ok Help.

I always felt that if the transformer was plugged in and warm it is using power whether the phone is connected or not. Same as those small battery chargers

Never thought about it. I never bring my cell phone in the house. It's always either in my car or my pocket.

And when it's in my car, it's plugged in to the charger. Even overnight or for a day or two.

But, I'm not one of those who can't live without a cell phone glued to their ear. When I'm on the job inspecting real estate properties, my cell phone stays in my car. To me, it would be unprofessional to have a cell phone ring while I'm interacting with a homeowner doing an inspection.

I honestly can't think of what people have to talk about that can keep them on a cell phone all day, unless they think it makes them look important.

My cell phone says "Charging Complete" at that point I can't imagine that there would be any kind of draw other than the energy to light up"Charging Complete" and the phone would have to lay there a long time before it would draw more electricity to charge back up from lighting up that message..like days...Just my thoughts,I'm no expert but go to your wife and say Haw Haw Hawwhh!!!Told Ya!!
You owe me!

i know you heard this before and most likely from the wife; she is correct. its not the phone using it but the excitation current for the windings of the transformer (charger). now go and tell her; honey you're right, you're always right.

If the phone or the transformer is warm then it is drawing power.

You must have a pretty good relationship with your wife if this is all you argue about.

Yes all transformers / Chargers are same as power leaks unless you have them on a separate switch..My computer alone has 4 of those even when the computer is shut down I have to turn off power strips also, or they will continue to draw electric. My phone (land line) has one , bedroom clock ,Police scanner, Fax machine, water softener, Just some of many I can think of. All drawing about the same as a night light.

Your wife is right.
I have heard more than one report on it lately.
Heres one

When the charger is plugged in but not in use, it is mostly an energy storage device. That is, its power factor is close to zero, so even though current travels through its transformer winding, it just momentarily stores energy in the transform then returns it to the grid 120 times per second.

Note I said the power factor is "close to" zero. It's not zero due to resistance in the device and eddy current losses. That's why it gets warm. The energy lost in the device is converted to heat. The power consumed by a single inactive charger isn't much. But multiply it by all the similar devices in a typical home, and it does add up. Multiply that by the number of homes in the country, and you have a significant amount of power being consumed by chargers that aren't in use.

Probably draws some,but I DEFY you to show me anything that will lower your electric bill. We had 4 adult kids move out over a period of a year. They were constantly taking showers using the electric water heater,alway doing laundry with the electric dryer,the girls were using their hair dryers and hair straighteners,the electric stove and microwave were constantly going,cooking at all hours of the day and night,the bill didn't drop one thin dime when they all left.
So if your wife thinks your bill will go down by unpluging the charger,she's dead wrong.

i have heard of cases where these cell ph's have blown up due to being plugged in and in use at same time. so better play it safe and unplug when using it. its not the power that worries me its the risk!
same with the tv being turned off... its still drawing power.

It's using power, but how much? Not much I'm sure.
If you want to know how much each device is using you could
get this device called a Kill-A-Watt. Kill-A-Watt
This is the cheap one, you have to be able to see it when its plugged in.
Obviously not good for use on refridgerators, etc
They make a wireless one for those devices that you can't see.
I think it was in the neighborhood of $80 with one remote.
Take a lot of phone chargers to pay for that!

I learned along time ago. Never argue with the wife. You will lose and the couch doesn't feel that good.

My Verizon phone just sent message yesterday to unplug as it is using current when not in use.

With all transformers even if the secondary winding isn't being used, the primary, if plugged in, will draw power.

The transformer in the charger will always draw some. Wether or not it will amount to a penny for her thoughts... that's another story.
Doubtfull if it's significant tho.

Rod

All chargers take electricity, even if they are not charging. You probably couldn't really tell it though by looking at your monthly electricity bill. I usually unplug mine from the wall when done, because I fear those Chinese-built chargers have the possibility to catch fire. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

These are called Phantom Loads. They are real, though they seldom take more than 5-10% of your electrical usage.

I beg to differ with the person who said their electric bill hasn't dropped. I replaces numerous incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, especially on lights that are on quite a few hours each day, and my electric bill has dropped.

Granted, lights don't use much electricity but each little bit helps. I was surprised to see incandescent bulbs, at Sam's, are more expensive then the spiral bulbs.
Phantom Loads

Is the charger warm when it's plugged in? If it is it's using juice. Jim

It is not only using power but with the phone not plugged in and picking up on the secondary voltage being produced isn't good for the charger. Our laptop charger gets hot when plugged into the wall whether the laptop is hooked to it or not. We always unplug our chargers from the wall when they're not being used. The battery charger in your shop would you leave it on all the time even if you weren't using it?????

yea them wives are right even when there's wrong.
most womens logic makes NO Sense to me or any or man

"If a man says something and there's no woman in the room to hear him, is he still wrong???"

Thanks Guys I screwed she wins I thought my Tractor buddies would have helped me out Thanks any way it just cost me Dinner oh well.

She wins, but it is a small victory. I am a retired electronics technician, and the chargers do use current when not charging the phone, but it is an extremely small amount, probably less than 1 or 2 cents per month. Also, if your TV can be turned on by a remote rather than the button the front it is using electricity powering the receiver the remote controls. Anything with a clock on the front is also drawing power when not in use, such as microwave, coffee maker, etc.

(quoted from post at 09:51:28 02/10/13) Ok sorry to get way off the subject but my wife and I are having a talk you what I mean, its about leaving the cord plugged in for charging your cell phone all the time, she claims it is taking electricity I say no way there is nothing to draw the power, ok Help.

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Your wife is right in theory but the question is: how much money is it costing you? 1 dollar, 10 dollars or 100 dollars a year? No way to tell unless you have a kill-o-watt meter, which I happen to have.

I just ran upstairs where I charge my work cell and grabbed the latest numbers. Its been plugged in for the last 3817 hours (the last time the power went out) which is almost 23 weeks or 159 days. In that time, I used 1.16 KWH of electricity. The charger is plugged in 100% of the time and the phone is usually plugged in when I get home from work. I do not use any other charging stations, ONLY at home. The reason I point that out is because I think everybody can agree that the actual phone usage has to be about 99% of the total energy comsumed.

Now if you do the math, given my local energy charges of 11 pennys per KWH, I used just over a dime of electricity. By year end, it should be right around a quarter of energy use. Keep in mind, thats not just a phantom load, thats recharging and using the phone too.

When I first got my kill-o-watt meter, I remembered my wife always unplugging the charger. She was reaching behind the furnature to do it and it was kinda clumsey to do so I tested what the load was on the charger. After a month, it didnt even register a penny of juice. I told her to come over and look/check my math (which I knew was right but hay, women like to be able to give input). I then told her to gather up every wall wart she could find to which she asked why. I told her to plug them all in if thats all they cost. I explained that the wear and tear on the outlet itself had to be 100 times what would be saved from the electricity.

The wall wort and "phantom load" thing is a scam. They still even have the greenies on the news showing how they have bought power strips for everything in their house. They just dont realize that by them spending $10 for a power strip to save a quarter or 2 of electricity per year is a money losing proposition. The problem is, I dont use key words like "carbon footprint" or "climate change" so they wont ever listen to me so I dont bother much anymore.

So your wife [b:bab3669f71][i:bab3669f71]IS[/i:bab3669f71][/b:bab3669f71] right, they do consume power but hardly an amount worth worrying about. To save the small amount of money, you could turn off the TV for about 5 minutes per [b:bab3669f71][i:bab3669f71]year[/i:bab3669f71][/b:bab3669f71] to make up for it. You could turn off the light in the average living room for about 15 minutes [b:bab3669f71][i:bab3669f71]per year[/i:bab3669f71][/b:bab3669f71] to make up for it. Or, you could save that money in gas: coasting about 1 mile should save you the same amount. Not hard to do at all, push in the clutch or shift to neutral for a quarter mile just 4 times will get it done. Or, how about food, skip just 3 banannas per year. Or 1 potato. Or about 3/16 of a delicious apple. How you are gonna buy just 13/16th of an apple, I dont know but Im just showing the math. Anyway, as you can see its not much money but your wife [b:bab3669f71][i:bab3669f71]is[/i:bab3669f71][/b:bab3669f71] right.

A very wise and wealth man once told me, "dont slip on the dollars when you stop to pick up the dimes..."

(quoted from post at 08:47:06 02/10/13) I learned along time ago. Never argue with the wife. You will lose and the couch doesn't feel that good.

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There are 2 ways to argue with your wife........neither with work so why bother.....


If someone is sleeping on the couch it's her. I paid for the bed!

Rick