Electrical – How much power do LED smart bulb wireless control systems consume when the light is turned off

Say your electrical bill is $100 a month.

Now say you have a refrigerator, a computer, a window fan and your light bulbs in your house as your only electrical devices. Everything but your light bulbs are on 24/7.

• Fridge: 725W **NOTE MOST FRIDGES DON'T ACTUALLY RUN 24/7 THIS IS JUST FOR EXAMPLE PURPOSES*
• Computer : 125W
• Fan: 150W
• Lights (on 8 hours a day, 100W)

• Fridge, computer and fan on all day = 1000W * 24h = 24kWh
• Lights on 8h a day = 0.8kWh
• Total daily usage = 24.8kWh

In that scenario your lights represent 0.8/24.8 or 3% of your daily electrical consumption.

If you replace your light with a 15W bulb, you've dropped from 24.8kWh to 24.12kWh a day, a savings of only 2.7% of your total daily consumption.

Addendum: I am not saying lighting is going to be 3% of your bill - I'm only making an example. You have to do the math - you have to figure out how much total power you're using (check electric bill) and then how much power your lights use (look at the bulbs and measure how long each one is left on each day) and that's your total % of energy for lighting. If that % is 15 then you can only reduce that 15%. You can cut your lighting costs in half, but half of 15% is only 7.5%.

I found the answer! @diceless set me on the right track in looking at where the foot of the bulb is connecting to the fixture.

Since it was an older fixture (installed in the 80's, I think), the hot contact (Number 1 in this diagram ) was bent down, and it was connecting with the smaller bulb but not the bigger LED bulb.

With the circuit turned off at the breaker I reached in with a wooden tongue depressor and bent it upwards slightly. Then, I made sure to screw the LED bulb in tightly. Flicking the switch it was bright as day!