I have 2 strings of small led Christmas lights above my cabinets in the kitchen as a accent lighting (probably about 100 bulbs total) I have each hooked up to a lamp timer, and they turn on for about 6 hours a night. A friend at work laughed and said that it would be cheaper to leave the lights on 24 hours a day then to run the timers. I can not find a definitive answer, but it makes sense. Anyone know?
Is hooking up led lights to a timer cost effective
ledtimer
Related Solutions
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%.
It matters which one you replace, because that will determine which type of timer you need. One of those switches is going to be the "middle" switch, between the other two circuit-wise. That middle switch is a four-way switch, the two outside switches are three-way switches. You can determine which is which visually is you don't know the circuit layout - the three-ways will have three wires plus a ground, the four-way will have four wires plus a ground attached to each switch.
This is a simplified and idealized example of the circuit you're dealing with:
Best Answer
No, the lights will use many more times the power that a timer, digital or analog, uses. If you talk about digital timers, the difference is astronomical. A modern solid-state timer will use no more than half a watt (5v logic x 100ma consumption), probably a lot less.
In terms of mechanical timers, it's still a lot lower than 7w; Using a kill-a-watt, I just now plugged in all 4 mechanical timers I had around (at once), and the meter was still unable to measure the draw, placing all 4 at under 3 watts combined. There are different brands in that batch as well: 1 intermatic, 2 ikea, and one unknown. Think how long a tiny battery can power a mechanical watch; clocks are low-power these days.
Obviously 7w > (x/<3), so your friend is simply wrong. He's a lot closer than he would have been 5 years ago, but he's still wrong.