Reassessing power usage. Anyone know the power usage of the Wineguard amplified wind up/down antennas used on many current vans? Been searching online and 12 volts is the only thing I can see listed.
I have the old type Winegard antenna, but perhaps the amplifier is the same, as you can just stick your type of newer aerial on as a retofit, so perhaps the power used is still in the same ballpark
Using an el cheapo DC clamp meter, so my figures should never be taken as gospel
My Wingard amplifier uses 0.5 amps
As a sidenote
13 LED lights, plus TV with amplifier OFF = a bit less than 4.5 amps
13 LED lights, plus TV with amplifier ON = a bit less than 5 amps
13 LED lights, plus TV using Sat Dish, through the Sat Box, not using aerial or amplifier, with the TV loud = a bit more than 5 amps
I notice that the amps increase and decrease, in proportion to the volume of the TV I do not have 13 lights on at the same time, I just wanted to know what my worst case power scenario would be
I recently purchased an el cheapo Aldi Stirling 40 litre chest fridge, and below are my numbers from another post The advertised usage of 3.7 amp, is in the ballpark, as on minus 22°C (the lowest temperature setting), and the fridge hot, my readings were 4.2 amp on MAX and 2.7 amp on ECO
Therefore my worst scenario power usage will be 9.2 amps for as many hours as everything is switched on
Hope that this info is useful to someone in the future
The problem with clamp meters is you are reading figures down extremely close to the bottom end of the range. You need to use a meter with a much lower range. You need a meter range with 2 or preferably 3 decimal point digits and then you ignore the last of those. I have the same with my solar controller, it has only one digit after the decimal point, if I am using that I look at the last figure being +/- 2 on the last figure.
I would be interested in an accurate reading of the Windgard amplifier current draw. Is there anyone out there with a better meter than Tony or me that could give us better figures?
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
It will be drawing minimal current while in standby mode - so that it can respond to the Power On button on the remote control. Same as any equipment which can be switched on or off with the remote. Just checked my battery monitor with TV in standby and then with no power, but could barely detect any change in current draw. Will check tomorrow with a multimeter (and my satellite receiver as well).
Joe
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Hino Rainbow motorhome conversion towing a Daihatsu Terios
Yes, most things that have lights illuminated when they are switched off still draw small to large phantom currents. Likewise if they have a standby state they will have some large phantom current drawn by the circuit that is alive and awaiting a switch on signal.
I have an amplified TV antenna that draws about 3 - 400 mA of current. When off power I power the antenna and TV set through a Merit plug. When the TV is switched off the plug is pulled to kill the power draw completely.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I now have an answer to my OP. Just got finished installing a Victron BMV700 battery monitor in the van. It shows the Wineguard as using 3 watts when switched on. Of interest also with summer rapidly approaching, it shows the Caframo Cirocco 2 fan to use 3 w on low, 4 w on medium and 6 w on high speed.
Cheers, John.
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"My mind is made up. Please don't confuse me with facts."
My TV (22" Conia) draws about 730mA in standby, and 2.5A when switched on. The Altech DSR4639 satellite receiver draws just over 1A in standby or when powered on.
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Hino Rainbow motorhome conversion towing a Daihatsu Terios
I thought that measuring the current draw of each of your appliances would be rather simple (or should that adjective apply to me).
My new 12v system is just about ready for installation .. just waiting for the last couple of components to arrive. Hope it doesn't go bang or smoke when I 'throw the big switch'.
Although I have an (el cheepo $50 DC Programmable 0-200V 0-500A Voltage AMP Ah Power Combo Meter Battery Monitor) battery monitor unit I was just going to record all of my usages by ..
1. Connecting my Fluke amp meter in the negative lead to the battery & recording the 'at rest' draw if any.
2. Then connecting each of the appliances individually in turn & recording the change.
3. As a check the next step is to connect the amp meter in place of the fuse for each appliance & comparing the draw when switched on against the results from step 2.
ps .. I will check what the battery monitor records at each step too. This will give me some confidence in it, or lack thereof as the case may be. It has a low V cut out facility too that I have wired via a spare 30a relay that I had lying about .... fingers crossed.
edit ....
Off now to make up a spread sheet to record the results ... will add a formulae to do the amps to watts conversion perhaps. I hope that I still have the Excel skills that I relied on so heavily before I retired some 20 years ago.
-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 30th of October 2017 09:36:24 AM
