[Shop-talk] Trickle Chargers - operating Costs

[Paul and Mary Thicke]

I also have the peak - off peak rates.  Twelve overnight hours a day at
4 cents a kw and 12 hours at 16-17 cents a kw.  So you really look at
keeping everything off that you can during the peak time.

Paul

  
> Would anyone hazard a guess on how a battery minder would work being
> cycled on and off every day? I have off-peak power discounts, so I try

> to have little or nothing running during the day. So if I got a
battery 
> minder for my lawn mower batteries, I'd put it on a timer to only work

> at night.

Wow, my first thought was "why bother".  The thing can't *possibly* use 
enough power to even worry about.  A large discount taken off a couple 
pennies is still a inconsequential amount.  Probably better to spend 
your effort looking for a small gain in HVAC efficiency, for example.

Then I did some math.  Damn -- even if it averages a mere 20W 
continuous, that's 175 KWHr/year or 14.6/month;  which would run me 
$14.00/yr $1.17/mo.  Hmm, apparently the little crap is worthy of more 
attention than I thought.