| RAINBOW POWER COMPANY LTD E-mail
Newsletter #75
27 August 2004
CONTENTS:
1. COURSES
2. MONTHLY SPECIAL
3. AUDIO & LARGE TV SYSTEMS
4. CONCLUSION
1. COURSES: We have two courses coming up - our
popular Weekend Course for system owners, and our
5-day course for those in or wanting to get into
the Renewable Energy industry.
The Weekend Course is coming soon on 4 & 5 September.
Karlin, who has lived on a solar system for some
20 years and has also taught Renewable Energy in
PNG, Solomon Islands and Brazil, runs this course.
Cost for the weekend is $115. Book your place today
with a $25 deposit (see Living with Solar Course
on our website for details).
The 5-day advanced course, for people with prior
electrical knowledge or experience, is going to run
from 30 September to 4 October. This course used
to lead to accreditation (needed for AGO rebate installations);
however, the BCSE has since decided you now need
to attend TAFE for a few years to gain accreditation.
Cost is $700 – a $200 deposit confirms your
place and gets you the course notes to start studying.
2. MONTHLY SPECIAL: For the month of September,
get 10% off our published price on our popular 5W
monocrystalline solar panel. This is a quality product
with toughened glass and a 15-year warranty. Ideal
for an electric fence energizer, small exhaust fan,
camping light, telemetry devices, etc. Product code
is SOL-Y05 on our website.
3. AUDIO & LARGE TV SYSTEMS: This month we look
at some power consumption figures for the more ‘upmarket’ home
entertainment gadgets.
One of our customers recently did an energy audit
on his rather large and sophisticated sound system.
Generally we have found that audio equipment uses
a lot less power than what the specification would
have you believe. Many amplifiers use more power
when the volume is turned up high.
We would suggest that you use a sine wave inverter
for running your audio equipment. A modified square
wave inverter often causes an unacceptable buzz or
hum on audio equipment.
A battery operated radio or CD player is the most
power efficient form of audio equipment if you have
a limited size solar system. Power consumption of
even the larger models is usually only 3 to 6 Watts.
This is more efficient than running a 240 Volt unit
from an inverter.
Murray measured the following power consumptions
of his audio equipment. If you were running it from
an inverter, you would need to add around 15% extra
for inverter losses.
1. Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 CD Player. Standby;
31.6 Watts (W) Playing; 33.7 Watts (W) Not really
affected by volume. Claimed Power consumption; 30
Watts
2. Opera Audio Cyber-800 Power Amps (2). Standby
(on - not really standby) 165W each Playing; 165
-175W each. Not really affected by volume. Claimed
Power consumption; 90W each
3. Opera Audio Consonance R1.1 Reference Preamplifier.
Standby; 13.7W Playing; 14W Not really affected by
volume. Claimed power consumption; 40W
4. Opera Audio Consonance C3 three channel power
amp. Standby; 42W (on - not really standby) Low volume;
44W Med volume; 60W Loud volume; 100 – 130W
5. Yamaha RX-V2400 AV Receiver. Standby; 59W Low
volume; 59W Med volume; 62W Loud volume; 63W Claimed
power consumption; 500W - as an amplifier - I only
use as a receiver.
6. Denon CDR-W1500 CD Recorder. Standby; 15.5W Playing;
20W Claimed power consumption; 29W
7. Marantz DV4300 DVD Player. Standby; 2.7W Playing;
16W Claimed power consumption; 14W
8. Panasonic DMR-E100H DVD Recorder. Standby; 4.1W
Playing; 37W Claimed power usage; 45W
11. Paradigm Servo 15 powered Subwoofer. Standby;
2.3W On; 25-55W
POWER CONSUMPTION OF LARGE TVs
Large TVs are becoming more common. One of our customers
recently tested the power consumption of his two
TVs, with the following results:
Panasonic 106cm Wide Screen Plasma TV (Model TH-42PA20A)
Standby; 1.5 On; 170 - 300 average about 240 Volume
seem to have little effect. Claimed power usage;
Standby; 1.6 On; 313 (normal use)
Panasonic 86cm Widescreen TV (Model TX-86PW100A)
Standby; 2.8 On; 165 - 200 Claimed power usage; Standby;
3 On 228 max.
Dave recently checked the power consumption of his
43cm LCD wide screen television (NEC brand), and
found that it used 53 Watts, when measured on the
AC side.
4. CONCLUSION: That’s all for this month folks!
By the way, I am always on the lookout for your suggestions
and information which can go into the next newsletter,
or for longer articles and essays which can go onto
our website. Your comments and questions are most
welcome; however, there is no need to send our newsletter
back to us when you reply!
If you would like a price or product information,
please tell us which country you are from if it is
not evident from your e-mail address. This allows
us to assess if local GST (tax) is applicable or
whether 240 Volt 50HZ products will work in your
country etc.
Dave Lambert and the RPC crew |
