Turning off My Wall Charger

[lefkonj]

My wall charger uses practically nothing unless plugged into my vehicles. There is a very small amount for the wifi connection but 6KW would be a lot.

I would shut it off and get a trained professional in to look at it. Chargers shouldn't be drawing more than a few watts while idle like that.

Quick comment: This is why I don't love hard wired chargers. If it was a NEMA14-50 you could just unplug it and measure, also test it with a different charger and see what happens. Much harder to do with a hardwired model.

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[Oldsmobile_Mike]

My wall charger uses practically nothing unless plugged into my vehicles. There is a very small amount for the wifi connection but 6KW would be a lot.

Same. A small amount for the LED and the WiFi, is all it should be using when not physically connected to the vehicle.

 

[babock]

Open the panel and put a current meter on the line and see what it measures at idle. I am also curious to see on mine. If it uses more than 50mA(12W), I will be very surprised.

EDIT: For my Wallbox Pulsar charger, Gemini says between 2 and 5 watts. I am going to measure mine when it stops raining.

 

[DuncIT]

I am out of town and ran a little experiment. My charger uses roughly 6kwh per day. I am throwing away $200/year. Other than using my breaker box, is there a way to power off my Rivian Charger? Also if not does anyone have a charger that powers down?

That seems like a heck of a lot of energy for an idle charger! What kind of charger are you using?

That being said, my charger automatically turns off when I leave the house (actually it waits 10 minutes, in case I've just walked down to the mailbox or something). I have my charger connected to a contactor which is tripped by a Smartthings relay. When either my wife or I are home (determined by Home detection in the Smartthings app) the contactor closes and energizes the charger. When we both leave it turns the charger off. I wasn't really worried about energy, or theft, when I put it in - it was more of a proof of concept type effort.

Dunc

 

[babock]

That seems like a heck of a lot of energy for an idle charger! What kind of charger are you using?

That being said, my charger automatically turns off when I leave the house (actually it waits 10 minutes, in case I've just walked down to the mailbox or something). I have my charger connected to a contactor which is tripped by a Smartthings relay. When either my wife or I are home (determined by Home detection in the Smartthings app) the contactor closes and energizes the charger. When we both leave it turns the charger off. I wasn't really worried about energy, or theft, when I put it in - it was more of a proof of concept type effort.

Dunc

Kinda curious why you wouldn't want it to be on if you are both not there.

 

[Time2Roll]

Just measured my Rivian wall charger with a Fluke 325. 50mA so 12 watts.

 

[2kwik4u]

Kinda curious why you wouldn't want it to be on if you are both not there.

Safety concern maybe? No power = no accidental shorts? I too am curious.

 

[babock]

Safety concern maybe? No power = no accidental shorts? I too am curious.

If that's really a concern, do they turn their HVAC system off when they leave?

 

[2kwik4u]

If that's really a concern, do they turn their HVAC system off when they leave?

Ya got me. It was the only thing I could come up with; not saying it's a good reason.

Hell, I leave my portable charger plugged into a 14-50 NEMA extension cord in my garage 24/7.

 

[Erik+]

Damn, you got me, I've been sneaking over and plugging in for 30-45 minutes per day while you were away. Thought I could fly under the radar.

 

[babock]

Just measured my Rivian wall charger with a Fluke 325. 50mA so 12 watts.

Just measured my Wallbox Pulsar with a Fluke 325 and it was toggling between 20mA and 10mA(meter precision) so assuming its 15mA, that's 3.6W.

Supposedly there is a mode to turn off the LED light ring....I think I will live with the 3.6W!

 

[Jeff B.]

That doesn't make any sense. My Rivian wall charger consumes virtually no power when not charing my R1T. I have it running through a smart home panel that monitors energy consumption and it shows zero watts currently.

 

[2kwik4u]

Interesting side note.......We just moved to a new place on the 13th. Got this text from the power company last night.

NYSEG Alert: Low usage change at [old address]. Your recent average daily electric usage has been 52 kWh per day. However, your daily electric usage from 2/13 to 2/15 was 6 kWh, 5 kWh, 7 kWh. Learn how and when you use electricity and find ways to save with Energy Manager, visit at nyseg.com/auth.

I'm guessing the "smart meter" on the side of the house is reporting constantly. Obviously the house went from being occupied and providing energy for the daily commute to just sitting idle with nobody around, so it tracks. Just thought it was interesting, and at least adjacently related to the topic at hand.

 

[Luxus]

To the OP, is the charger on a dedicated circuit or could it be that something else is hooked into that circuit too? Just something to check.

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