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Part of making the total energy plan here work, giving up no
luxuries, has been to chase down and fix things that simply
waste energy with no benefit. Many of these are standby power.
The previous owner put a garage door opener at the house,
and I installed an ancient industrial unit (I rebuilt) on the 10
foot high door in the shed. FINALLY I am getting around to
installing an opener for the 14 ft high car shop door (previous
owner used it for a motor home).
Instead of a 50 or 70 year old opener, this is to be a brand new
unit. It is sophisticated enough, all electronic, slows down as
the door approaches the closed position. There is a 12 volt
backup battery.
Old stuff uses AC line to directly power the motor, the running
time % is negligible. Like many devices (doorbell, etc) the
annual energy consumption is almost completely the 24/7
standby power. Opener energy is more annoying, in that it is
located outside the living area, so it does not even contribute
to heating (at the lowest efficiency level).
The problem is, that to do the new tricks, this opener uses a
12 volt DC motor. THAT means a stepdown transformer large
enough to run the MOTOR is used. That transformer uses
7.6 watts in standby, which amounts to some 66 kWh a year,
half a days solar production. They could have used a very
small or electronic transformer to run the logic, then turned on
the large transformer only when the motor runs. This design
will never get an energy * rating.
I normally walk out to get a car or tractor out of the building,
opening the door. I think I will install a switched 120VAC outlet
that powers the opener, which I must turn on first. I will leave
it on until the vehicle returns and the door is closed, before
turning it off. Bruce Roe
luxuries, has been to chase down and fix things that simply
waste energy with no benefit. Many of these are standby power.
The previous owner put a garage door opener at the house,
and I installed an ancient industrial unit (I rebuilt) on the 10
foot high door in the shed. FINALLY I am getting around to
installing an opener for the 14 ft high car shop door (previous
owner used it for a motor home).
Instead of a 50 or 70 year old opener, this is to be a brand new
unit. It is sophisticated enough, all electronic, slows down as
the door approaches the closed position. There is a 12 volt
backup battery.
Old stuff uses AC line to directly power the motor, the running
time % is negligible. Like many devices (doorbell, etc) the
annual energy consumption is almost completely the 24/7
standby power. Opener energy is more annoying, in that it is
located outside the living area, so it does not even contribute
to heating (at the lowest efficiency level).
The problem is, that to do the new tricks, this opener uses a
12 volt DC motor. THAT means a stepdown transformer large
enough to run the MOTOR is used. That transformer uses
7.6 watts in standby, which amounts to some 66 kWh a year,
half a days solar production. They could have used a very
small or electronic transformer to run the logic, then turned on
the large transformer only when the motor runs. This design
will never get an energy * rating.
I normally walk out to get a car or tractor out of the building,
opening the door. I think I will install a switched 120VAC outlet
that powers the opener, which I must turn on first. I will leave
it on until the vehicle returns and the door is closed, before
turning it off. Bruce Roe
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