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Thread: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

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    Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    I can't seem to find any info anywhere on what the average cost is in regards to charging a mobile phone ? (something like a Samsung D900/Nokia N73 for example), someone somewhere must have an idea ?.

    Are we talking pence or pounds ?.

    I try to allways charge mine at work as I'm a tight arse
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPreston View Post
    I'm pretty disappointed that in the 21st century so much human endeavour and industry is still devoted to ascertaining whose imaginary sky-fairy is best...

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    Ғо ѕніzzLє му піzzLє chicken's Avatar
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    It's absoloute pittance. You'd need figures like the power draw of the charger and average charging times to calculate it, but I don't think you'd even reach a pound in a month of charging.

    Take a look at your charger's power draw (the input at 230-240 volts) and fill this in to find out: Electricity Running Cost Calculator from UK Power
    Last edited by chicken; 23-10-2007 at 12:39 PM. Reason: adding link
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    convert the mAh of the battery into KWh? something to do with mAh x voltage? dont really remember
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by chicken View Post
    It's absoloute pittance. You'd need figures like the power draw of the charger and average charging times to calculate it, but I don't think you'd even reach a pound in a month of charging.
    Thanks for that

    In relation to this it seems that people keep banging on about how leaving our mobiles plugged into the charger overnight etc is another drain on resources/global warming. If they genuinely use such a tiny amount of power then this is b.s. ?.
    I'm not fat and I'm not 40

    Quote Originally Posted by JPreston View Post
    I'm pretty disappointed that in the 21st century so much human endeavour and industry is still devoted to ascertaining whose imaginary sky-fairy is best...

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    Ғо ѕніzzLє му піzzLє chicken's Avatar
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Transformers leak power, so leaving something (such as a Charger or Laptop/Flatscreen power-supply) plugged in with the socket on will constantly draw a little bit of power. Not nearly as much as when it is charging your phone even, but consider everyone doing this 24/7 and it soon adds up.
    Last edited by chicken; 23-10-2007 at 01:39 PM.
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fatboy40 View Post
    In relation to this it seems that people keep banging on about how leaving our mobiles plugged into the charger overnight etc is another drain on resources/global warming. If they genuinely use such a tiny amount of power then this is b.s. ?.
    I really wish people would stop banging on about it. Along with things like getting green insurance to offset you Carbon footprint or buying a bluething whatsit Golf etc etc. Even bags of crisps now tell you how much CO2 is used to produce/transport them.

    Really it has gone too far, lets just get on.

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Yep, agree with you there 99Flake.

    The fact that this is now being used as another sales tactic is underhand and a little sick realy.
    I'm not fat and I'm not 40

    Quote Originally Posted by JPreston View Post
    I'm pretty disappointed that in the 21st century so much human endeavour and industry is still devoted to ascertaining whose imaginary sky-fairy is best...

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    the simple fact is that, even if everyone switched off their mobile phone charger when not in use for an entire year, it would probably be completely mootified by about an hours use by a small coal power station......

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by 99Flake View Post
    I really wish people would stop banging on about it. Along with things like getting green insurance to offset you Carbon footprint or buying a bluething whatsit Golf etc etc. Even bags of crisps now tell you how much CO2 is used to produce/transport them.

    Really it has gone too far, lets just get on.
    boots did a carbon footprint trail for one product, not sure of the product off the top of my head, it took them 6 months and £40,000

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    There are a lot of devices out there using AC stepdown -> rectifier circuits. Unplug them all when not in use, and that is a lot of power saved, no matter what anyone says to the contrary.
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    The government rakes is something like £29+ million in environmental taxes, and they spend around £2 million on environmental causes.

    So I have done my part by paying for these ridiculuous useless stupid taxes and I leave it upto the government to sort it out.

    I used to support recycling and doing as much as possible for the environment, still do - but not in the way that the government in this country wants me to do. It is a total and complete lie.
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    There are a lot of devices out there using AC stepdown -> rectifier circuits. Unplug them all when not in use, and that is a lot of power saved, no matter what anyone says to the contrary.
    Some examples of common devices that use these would be great
    I'm not fat and I'm not 40

    Quote Originally Posted by JPreston View Post
    I'm pretty disappointed that in the 21st century so much human endeavour and industry is still devoted to ascertaining whose imaginary sky-fairy is best...

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    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fatboy40 View Post
    Some examples of common devices that use these would be great
    Looking around me now i can see:
    Mobile charger
    2x Laptop power supply
    USB hub power pack
    2x External hard drive power pack
    Router power supply
    Squeezebox power supply
    Remote charging cradle
    Cordless phone charger

    It all adds up

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    By complete chance I have just done transformers on my Electronic Engineering course at Cambridge:

    An AC stepdown transformer will basically comvert 240V into something like 8V by means of a basic transformer with a turns ratio of 30:1. Once you are dealing with 8V (ac) then it needs to be converted to dc, this is done with a rectifier/converter. A rectifier/converter is a bridge of 4 diodes connected so that the AC power sine wave is all pushed above the axis. As the following diagram explains perfectly:

    Once you have got to this stage LC circuits can smooth the output so that a steady DC voltage is outputted from the device in question. This DC is then used for a million tasks - such as phone/ipod/camera/laptop charging.....

    Because of the fact that the transformer is always connected, there is a constant power loss through the device (I admit it is less since there is no drain on the secondary side of the transformer). If you want actual figures then the average power from any measurement I have taken with different brand phone chargers is 450mW to 850mW. If you connect the phone to the charger then its power usage jumps to between 4-5W. Thus a phone charger is a minute device compared to a light bulb.

    Recent research suggests that the average British citizen uses 5000W of power throughout the day. This sounds a lot but it includes everything - lights/cleaning/cooking/driving/computers... Thus a phone charger is really pretty insignificant but if everybody turned them off it could have a big effect.

    I feel I have pretty thoroughly covered this but if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. If I do not know them then I am sure my lecturer will!

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by mcmiller View Post
    boots did a carbon footprint trail for one product, not sure of the product off the top of my head, it took them 6 months and £40,000
    for the item or the trail?

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    Re: Cost of charging a mobile phone ?

    Quote Originally Posted by explicitlyrics View Post
    By complete chance I have just done transformers on my Electronic Engineering course at Cambridge:
    Ack! I remember that crap. Thank god I didn't have to keep doing it after the 2nd year...

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