Cost/harm of leaving AC adapter plugged in without laptop?

Sometimes I forget, other times I just am too lazy to unplug it. Will my electric bill be affected dramatically or am I hurting my adapter with it being plugged in without my laptop?

 

The only thing it will do is use slightly more electricity.

 

this is an interesting question.

supposedly (at least according to the electric company in the state i live), phantom power, which is power used by things plugged-in-but-not-turned-on, makes up 25% of your electric bill.

what they say is that if you unplugged all the devices in your house that you are not using such as toasters, coffee makers, lights, computers, etc etc. and only plugged them in during use, your electric bill would be 25% less.

whatever.

if you're worried about whether something will happen to the a/c "brick", then don't worry about, nothing will happen.

 

Every electronic device, plugged in, rather it be turned off or not, consumes power all the time. That's why I unplug everything, when not in use.

I've saved over $70 in my bill doing so.

Leaving the adapter plugged in, without a laptop running on the other end will just result it in using power and converting it into heat. Which is a damaging factor to components.

Bottom line, unplug any electronic not in use.. It adds to it's lifespan and saves you money.

 

That was a good question as I've wonder that from time to time. Sometimes I get lazy too and leave it plugged in when I take my notebook elsewhere... not anymore after the great tip above... which gets repped too!

 

To know how much it is truly costing one would have to know the cost per kWh (kilowatt hour, which is on your power bill) and the wattage consumed by said item (in this case adapter). Annually over 10% of all power consumed in the U.S. is due to stuff left plugged in that is not being utilized (ie cell phone chargers, standby on well everything almost, flat panels can consume as much as 100 watts an hour in standby alone etc.) either called phantom or vampire loads. So cost really depends on how wealthy you are and also if you care about reducing your carbon emissions.

 

That is a little vague. Is your monthly bill $140 or $600? Did you save $70 over the span of a month, a year or the lifetime of your laptop? My subscription to mind-readers monthly expired and I forgot to renew.

 

You are right. Not only am I hurting the environment, I am also hurting my wallet. I really care about both so I am going to stop being lazy!

 

I see people leave chargers plugged into the wall all the time. It's convinient as you don't have to deal with the brick behind the desk, but it's a short circuit hazard (well, if you pour iron fillings or water on the tip), and it wastes power.

 

I leave all my adapters plugged in. Actually, I have 2 ac adapters. One stays in my bag, the other at my desk. I actually have a nice setup with all my cables in their perfect location so that when i come home at night i can just pull out my gadgets and charge them without having to reach around and plug in their respective adapters into the wall.

 

This is a very interesting topic.

Though I live in a college dorm right now, I'm sure that once I started paying for my own electricity that I may think more closely about this.

Generally, I leave my laptop power adapter plugged into the wall. I'm not sure it affects it negatively, but so far so good.

I agree with nizzy, I like my cables where they are.

 

It is always a better option to unplug unused/turned off devices even though newer devices consume less power.

I have also observed that most AC adapters heat up or become warm when plugged and unplugging them might increase their life.

Some of the older devices like video players/recorders, microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines have clock on them. Turning these devices off will result in they flashing 00:00 whenever turned on and it is a pain to set the clock. However, these devices do save significant amount of power when turned off.

 

I never thought that some people would go to the extent of setting clocks just to save a few pennies. For me, time is money. My earnings per minute is higher that if I started to turn off devices and set their clocks every time they are turned on, I would lose more money than if they are left on all the time.

 

Care about reducing carbon emissions?

Nope. I don't participate in that quackery.

-sd

 

Why not just buy some cheap surge protectors and use those to plug stuff into? That way, instead of plugging/unplugging all your non-portable electronics you can just flip the switch.

 

Sooner Dave,
Most people in the U.S. east of the rockies do not care about wasting energy, in fact most people in general do not care. The whole thing is bigger than saving pennies. The U.S. consumes over 25% of all energy in the world yet we only represent less than 5% of the total population. If we all did a little bit to help conserve we could stop a lot of people from dying, and hopefully focus our military en devours on situations of greater prudence say Darfur for example. As far as quackery goes you might want to consider educating yourself, if not for you then possibly for your children or little brother or sister. Or simply continue on in the way you are and wonder why most of the civilized world hates our guts.

 

The civilized world hates my guts because I leave my TV plugged in? Wow.

What is the relevance of the statistic that the US consumes 25% of the world's energy, but has only 5% of its population? We also have one of the highest standards of living in the world, combined with one of the most productive economies in the world, so doesn't it stand to reason that we'll use more energy? And how, exactly, will leaving my TV unplugged stop the situation in Darfur? That's a situation borne of political corruption and greed of the highest order.

I do educate myself. I rely on science, not the Al Gore hysterics, nor this idiocy of "carbon footprints" and "greenhouse gas" asininity. Do yourself a favor and stop taking your science lessons from Al Gore and the Sierra Club and listen to people who have a freaking clue about reality. Read some information by William Gray, world-reknown hurricane forecaster and meteorological expert - who also characterize this current global warming nonsense as the racket it is.

I've educated myself to the point that I realize this idiocy about global warming is based on some of the most absurd junk science to come down the pike since the UN insisted we were going into a global deep freeze back in the 70's. As a result, I fight it at every possible opportunity.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

-sd

 

Actually I think Al Gore is a douche bag, and as for the Sierra club do not get me started. As for the statistics your assessment is relevant although would you not hope with what you've said we would also be one of the most efficient countries in the world. I love my country and see the enormous potential & maybe sometimes I just expect more from her and her people. I work in the energy industry so maybe I'm just more in tune with what it takes to realistically power our world. And what we give up on regular basis to keep it going.

-Sorry for the rant

 

Why don't you and your ilk stop using car for transport and walk all the way to your work and back? That might reduce gas prices for the rest of us sane people due to low demand. Why don't you and your ilk quit using paper plates and cups and use steel, glass or ceramic ones for food and parties, quit paper napkins and use towels to wipe your hand, face and body; wash your a** with water instead of tissues and use cloth bag for groceries? That might reduce paper prices for the rest of us sane people due to low demand.

All this is big humbug created by a few publicity hounds! Bringing this under patriotism is a shame! If you really want to be patriotic, go with your beautiful wife, young son and daughter to Iraq and fight for your country!

 

From cost/harm of leaving AC adapter plugged in without laptop to energy conservation to carbon footprints to greenhouse gases to global warming to Al Gore to William Gray to Sierra Club to UN to Darfur to gas & paper prices to A** water wash to patriotism to Iraq, I am amazed at how the thread has proceeded.

Can we now go back to umm... what was it??? Hmm! Yeah, the topic of cost/harm of leaving AC adapter plugged in without laptop?

 

Can someone please explan to me how leaving the adaptor plugged cost signficant use of energy?

From what I understand, keeping the adaptor plugged will cause the LED indicator to remain on. This is just an indicator light to let you know the adaptor is plugged in.

But in terms of energy usage, you are not drawing any current from the adaptor or outlet at all. There are some losses of course that incurs due to the electronic components in the adaptor itself (ie transformer, regulators, and any resistive components). But my guess is the loss is minimal since likely there are circuity in the adaptor to "sense" current flow so it's not drawing full load converting that energy to heat. Remember, energy must be conserved. It gets used by electrical components or disapates to heat.

Have you ever touched the adaptor when it's charging the battery? And when it's not? The differences is drastic, in terms of heat. The heat is generated due to electric losses, which is a result from high current flow during charge. When the adaptor is not charging, it's often at normal room temperature because there is little or no current flow. Little or no current flow means no power used.

A lot of adaptor, my Dell in particular, have a heat sensor that shuts itself off when the adaptor overheats (normally when it's buried in my blanket or something).

Remember, if there's current but there's nothing to draw power from it, it has an open connection and does not get used. Wouldn't it suck if all the outlet plug constantly uses power? This is the same, nothing is drawing power from the other end of the adaptor, even though one end is plugged in. So no power is used (minimal, excluding the LED).

I keep mine plugged and never had a problem. I am more worried by burning out the LED if I leave it 24/7 for a few years straight. But I do that all the time I mind has never burned out.

I wouldn't recommend plugging it 24/7 for 365 days a year. But if you leave it plugged 7 days a week and unplug it for travel, that should be perfectly normal.

 

It shouldn't reduce the life, and as far as I know, it does not use up much power. Most of the concerns about using power come from having the computer itself plugged in, not the power converter.

 

I thought my Studio 17's AC adapter would draw Watts if left plugged in But I do not think it does.

When my laptop is plugged in and charging or already charged with the AC Adapter still in the AC adapter get pretty Warm almost hot.


But when the Laptop is removed and its the AC adapter plugged into power but not to the Laptop its stays ice cold, meaning no power is being used or very minimal.