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kiwifidget

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#3482837 21-Apr-2026 18:39

MikeAqua:

kiwifidget:

What are some recommendations for tracking down the power hogs?

Refrigerators running defrost cycles.

Generally these power consumption surges dont last long, 5-10 minutes.

It's just weird when you;re sitting in the lounge watching some telly at 11pm and then wham! the house starts drawing heaps of power.

Vampire mode tends to run around 1.5kW. Well it bobbles around between 1kW and 2kW.

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#3482838 21-Apr-2026 18:47

Are you saying the draw when everything major is turned off is 1.5kw? Ours is about 300w.

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#3482905 21-Apr-2026 21:02

@ timmmay yep, we know that "idle" in this house is actually quite busy.

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#3482906 21-Apr-2026 21:08

How much smoothing is there?

Most hidden loads have very sharp edges because they're on/off. Hot water, well/sump pumps etc.

Fridge deforest elements are usually <500W.

Heat pumps are variable.

If there's enough computing running to be >1kW at idle, you might be able to double that with some specific tasks unexpectedly.

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#3482907 21-Apr-2026 21:36

I dont know about any smoothing.

I just have that one way of being able to see whats happening.

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