How To Reduce Your Air Conditioner's Standby Power

Removing AC Standby Power

A common appliance in many homes that can suffer from standby electricity is the air conditioner unit. 

This standby electricity greatly adds to the quarterly electricity bill and for some householders it is hard to discover and remove. 

So let us take a look at why this standby electricity occurs in an air conditioning unit and how to eliminate it.

The standby electricity in your AC unit can be caused by:

• Power being applied to the compressor windings
• Power being applied to a crank case heater
• Power applied to the control panel, thus creating constant communications between indoor and outdoor components of the unit

So how do you reduce the standby electricity of your air conditioner? 

Well the simple solution is to turn it off at the power board when it is not in use. In some homes this can be for six months or more of the year, when the AC unit is not used.

With 100W of standby power costing at least $300 over the year [when based on a thirty five cent tariff], this is an amount of electricity costs that should not be ignored.

If you decide to turn off the AC unit, you need to be aware of one important fact. Which is the time before use, where the AC unit needs to be powered on. This may be written in the instruction manual and should read similar to:
'When you require the operation of the A/C please allow at least 4hrs on standby (after the isolator has been turned on) before initialising the touch pad ON/OFF button'.

The reason for this initial power up sequence, is due to the control board sending a ‘trickle’ charge through the compressor windings to warm the oil of the unit, during this four hour period. This warming of the oil is needed to get it to the correct viscosity. This process also removes any migrated liquid refrigerant from the compressor sump.

If this warming process is not carried out, premature damage may occur to the compressor. Furthermore there may be an increased efficiency loss and eventual seizure could occur. This is why if the power is removed, the correct procedure needs to be followed before operation.

On some inverter style AC units, the design energises the compressor windings (trickle charge) if the outdoor ambient temperature falls below 21C, during the off cycle or while in standby for a duration of 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off until the compressor is initialised for heating or cooling again. 

It can be this constant energising of the compressor windings that greatly adds to the standby power consumption, especially during any cooler periods where the ambient drops below 21C regularly.

It is noted this method [trickle charging the compressor windings] of heating the oil is far more efficient than any crank case heater in earlier AC units. These crank case heaters being powered on all the time and consuming large amounts of standby power.

Standby power is easy discovered by using an ELECTRICITY MONITOR in the home, where each appliances 'on power' and 'standby power' are easily discovered.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

10G Wireless Broadband Data For 365 Days

Wireless Broadband Data

10G DATA lasting for a year? At first we thought this was a joke!

Amaysim who use the Optus network have this offer on their website. This is a great solution for those of you whom either have no ADSL, or have only so far found expensive wireless broadband options.

This wireless broadband data plan is ideal for uploading home electricity consumption and solar data to an ONLINE ELECTRICITY MONITORING portal.

At $99.90 for 10G of data this works out to a low $8.32 per month over a year. That is $8.32 / 1G which simply is a great offer for wireless broadband. And if you use the data prior to 365 days, you simply renew the 10G / 365 Day plan. Amaysim has other great offers for voice and data. 

We have now switched to Amaysim after issues of running out of data on a monthly plan and occurring excess data charges. Then of course sometimes the data paid for, is not used. This way the data and the cost is more matched correctly to our monthly needs.

Visit AMAYSIM today for a great deal.


This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

3G GSM SIM Based Electricity Monitoring Data Logger

3G GSM SIM Online Power Monitoring

Are you looking for an electricity monitoring system, with a SIM based wireless broadband connection?

If so we have a power monitoring solution for you. 

By adding a 3G Wireless Gateway device to any of our ONLINE ELECTRICITY MONITORING solutions, you can now easily get the data online.

Currently we have tested a 3G wireless gateway using an Optus voice and data SIM card. We have successfully uploaded data from the monitor to the online portal. Only minor configuration of the 3G wireless gateway was required during the setup.

The 3G device further allows you to make phone calls by simply plugging in a basic landline phone and besides the four LAN ports, creates a wireless network allowing for the connection of other computer / mobile based devices.

For those of you with no ADSL [often country Australia] you now have an easy solution for getting your electricity consumption / solar power online. 

Online Monitoring Showing ADSL To SIM Success

You may have looked at a SIM based monitoring option already and due to high cost of wireless broadband fees per month, decided it was not for you. Well we have discovered a 10G data pack costing $100, that lasts for 365 days. Doing the maths this works out to only $8.32 per month with 832MB of data per month. Plenty of data for the simple uploading of your electricity / solar data.

We will be adding the 3G devices to our website in due course. In the meantime we are happy to discuss all options with you for your monitoring needs.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

Service For Converting Old Electrical Appliances To LED Lights

Old Electrical Appliance To LED Conversion

Have you got any old electrical appliances around your home, that are broken and not repairable? 

Does the idea of having those appliances recycled into a cool looking LED light interest you? Well now you have the chance to rebirth those old appliances, into something of use again!

Whilst the appliance may be not worth repairing back to it's old form, it sure can be worth converting it to an LED light? Imagine having your own individual LED creation!

What about an old retro Braun Super Compact 1200W hairdryer from the 80's. converted into a SuperCool LED light, looking at home in any bathroom.

Or the Ronson Blender, now converted into an LED light suited to any kitchen wanting an artistic addition. 

Currently we are 100% sure you will not find another of the above items anywhere on the planet! So if you want to boast to your friends you have the world's first LED appliance of your choice, then you need to call us.

Ronson LED One Touch Blender

You may not have got around to throwing out the appliance due to it's sentimental value or the fact that even though it is broken it is a cherished item of choice for you.

Well you now have the choice of having it converted to an LED light, where you once again can enjoy it's presence in your home.

Visit the LOW ENERGY LIGHT page on our website where we detail how you get started on the process of getting your old electrical appliances converted to COOL looking LED lights for your home. 

All of our conversions are low voltage 12 volt LED's and the appliance doe not necessarily have to be an old electrical appliance.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.

What Can I Learn By Monitoring Home Power

Online Home Power Monitoring

A common question indeed asked by many Aussie householders, whom are looking to gain control of their electricity bill once more. 

Depending on where the monitor's data is hosted online, or what software is used to connect to the HOME POWER MONITOR, the list is complex. 

Here are a few features and benefits gained by monitoring home power usage.

• Circuit level / appliance monitoring
• Live updates on usage / costs
• Solar power output / alerts
• Appliances on / power used / power alerts
• Power saved / money spent
• Standby power costs / alerts
• Forecast consumption / solar generation
• Information analysis / awareness
• Faulty / non efficient appliance awareness / alerts 

To maximse electricity savings we recommend an ONLINE POWER MONITORING solution, where information is easily accessible and offers most of the above features and benefits.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICES industry in Australia.

How To Make Solar Power A Successful Investment

Making Solar PV Successful

No one would argue that by installing solar power on the roof of your home, you are going to save off electricity costs.

It's not always the gross or net 'feed in tariff', that's reducing the home's electricity costs though. How much you save and how quickly, all depends on the correct matching and sizing of the solar system to your needs. 

Especially important when you are connecting to the grid via a NET meter, which is common now across a lot of parts of Australia.

Any home or small business around Australia can now directly offset the electricity used during the 'sunny hours' of the day. This offsetting of electricity is separate to any form of gross or net feed gain. It simply relies on you knowing what you use under the roof and what is using the power when the sun is shining.

The simple system of electricity offsetting seems to have been forgotten, or was not fully understood by many Aussie householders we visit during our ELECTRICITY AUDITING SERVICES. It is not uncommon to hear a householder complaining their solar system is not making money, especially when they are ONLY looking at the power exported, for a small six or eight cent return. This of course is a miss-understanding by the householder and should have been fully understood during the time of sale, yet it is not. Shocking is the fact it has often in the past not been explained by the sales person either.

Currently in NSW offsetting home electricity costs during the 'sunny hours, can mean a possible $641 per year off the electricity bill by installing a small 1.5kW solar power system! With a 3kW system generating a possible staggering $7000 of electricity above the roof over five years, based on a 5% increase per year on a 30 cent tariff.

Now that is something that needs to be understood you would think by every householder looking to save big time on electricity costs. And how long is the expected life of the solar system? Well we can say on average around twenty-five years. So that is a lot of free electricity from the sun, is it not? And as electricity prices rise so do those electricity savings!

It's a fact also that by offsetting your home electricity during the daytime, you can even save more $$$ off the electricity bill, compared to the recent NSW Government's 20 cent gross feed system!

You just need to understand the maths and be using the power under the roof in those sunny hours of the day to maximise your solar investment. To learn more about making solar power into a successful investment visit our NET FIT METERING & BILLING.

Sep 2015 : See our addition to this post, where we discuss a great SOLAR PV MONITORING ANDROID APP suitable for all net metering environments.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.

Over 100 FREE Electricity Saving Articles

Yes we have on this Electricity Saving Blog almost 125 blog posts discussing all kinds of subjects related to electricity reduction and savings, for Aussie householders and small business. 

Besides using the menu to the right on this blog, why not see the full listing on our ELECTRICITY SAVING ARTICLES web page.

This blog post and podcast brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY REDUCTION SERVICE industry in Australia.