Electricity Usage

[JimmyD]

Anybody have any measurements or calculations of the amount of electricity their machine uses per hour, per something useful?

Thanks,
Jim

[Bob Eustace]

Jim we approached it in a different way and ordered a Tesla Powerwall to store power overnight at the off peak rate of 14.7 as against 25.6 peak. We did this because the solar buy back rate was reduced to a lousy 6 cents. The feed in was a brilliant 62 cents originally. A sort of bait and switch con job! They are about to close our local coal power station so things can only get worse. Solar farms despite our abundant space and sunshine just arent happening sadly.

[Burkhardt]

I suspect you need to measure this with a power meter under your normal operating conditions. I did that with my small machine and found the spindle and machine itself used only a fraction of their nominal power the way I use it. I never managed to pull the full 2.2 kW for my 3hp spindle, probably would need to run a bigger bit bit deep at high speed which I normally don't do.
If you include dust collector and vacuum that is a different story because they will probably run near nominal power all the time.

Power meters for 120V like the Kill-a-Watt brand are cheap and easy to get but a meter for 240 V was more difficult. I had to order it in Germany and ship here. While this was designed for single phase ground referenced domestic 240V/50Hz, it works just fine with the symmetrical 2x120 V/60Hz we have here once you find the proper connectors. If you need to measure 3-phase power it will cost you probably more.

[ron_moorehead]

Hi,

I just installed a power monitor on the electrical panel that powers my shop, with my vacuum system and 5 hp dust collector running, and lights and the ShopBot all running I am using about 6.3 KW or about $.75 per hour.

The brand I am using for monitoring power is Neurio got it through Amazon for about $220.00.
.

[JimmyD]

Thanks everyone for your input. Ron, that's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks very much.

Jim

[cowboy1296]

I live at 8600 feet elevation, so ac is not necessary. But i did a 2 years study of before shopbot and after shopbot which included the dust collector. I do mainly 3-d and i am not much more than a hobbyist. My kw hours went up 36%.

[curtiss]

I believe 750 watts equals one horsepower... many tools are NOT under full load at all times. Full load is rather rare I think.

I never have figured out why 5 hp spindle is needed to run an 1/8 inch bit