Question Regarding $ kwh charges

Titan Guy · 12-14-2014, 07:53 PM

What kind of range in charges would I expect for a month @ $.12 kwh.

I generally don't spend a month in any one spot but when I do, avoid kwh charges only because I have no idea if this amounts to $50 or $500.

homeguy · 12-14-2014, 08:33 PM

last month my bill was $37 and we were paying about 11cents p/kw. Since it was cold, we didn't run the a/c or heat pump. Depending on the climate, I have paid anywhere up to $150 month.

0nTheRoad · 12-14-2014, 09:56 PM

Last winter in Sarasota FL I averaged around $75-$100 per month, can't remember the rate per KWH. We used the AC/HP for most of the winter but the rig was under tree cover so I'm sure that cut down on AC usage some.

Shane Wood · 12-14-2014, 10:46 PM

Titan guy
All of your lights are rated in watts. 60 watts, 100 watts etc. 1000 watts =1 kilowatt
A kilowatt hour is 1000 watts × 1 hour
All the rest of the appliances, blow dryers etc have an amperage rating eg 1,2, 20amps etc
Multiply the supplied voltage eg 120 volts or 240volts X The amperage of the AC etc and that will give you watts. X 1000 =kilowatts.
Add up all the watts you are using at a given time and divide X 1000.
Multiply the kilowatt hourly charge X your kilowatts that you are using and this will tell you how much it will cost you per hour.
You can then multiply that by days, weeks etc.
This will give you an accurate estimate of what your bill should be

atom ant · 12-14-2014, 10:56 PM

But how do the 12V lights and appliances convert? Because they run off the converter in 12V, I don't think it is calculated that way.

Shane Wood · 12-14-2014, 11:15 PM

Multi ply the wattage of the lights or the amperage of the appliances × 12 volts and get the same thing. This is called OHMS Law.The wattage of your convertor or investor is 1000w, 1500w 2000w etc
If it is tripping you know you are using at least this much.

Shane Wood · 12-14-2014, 11:18 PM

Atom
If you are using a
A 60 watt 12v bulb you will notice they are no where's near as bright as a 120 60 watt bulb. But they are cheaper to operate

homeguy · 12-14-2014, 11:41 PM

ok, the easiest way is to read the meter at the beginning and then at the end. subtract the beginning from the end and multiply by your rate, .12. There's your bill.

Shane Wood · 12-15-2014, 12:01 AM

That is the way to figure out your bill to make sure you are not over charged and your bill is accurate
The other way is to estimate what your charges could be
Trust me after 40 years working for the electrical utilities I have had to deal with power bills forever

mhs4771 · 12-15-2014, 12:40 AM

For the past three Winters in Florida, one year in our Montana and two years in the RW, we've ran between $70 to $100 per month. We try not to run the AC (open windows and a fan or two) but Hot Water is on Electric and we don't have a Gas oven, so we use the Convection/Microwave all the time, and all lights converted to LEDs. If you're paying directly to the Power Company, there is a monthly service charge in addition to the per KWH rate.

atom ant · 12-15-2014, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shane Wood

Multi ply the wattage of the lights or the amperage of the appliances × 12 volts and get the same thing. This is called OHMS Law.The wattage of your convertor or investor is 1000w, 1500w 2000w etc
If it is tripping you know you are using at least this much.

Ohms law? I think you mean Watts law.

The Redwood 90A coverter produces 1,080W at 12V. Using your formula, each 20W halogen light (which we have over 40) would draw 240 Watts (20W X 12V = 240W), maxing out the converter at 5 lights. To determine wattage of the 12V lights, you just add them, not multiply them. Watts divided by volts = amps, so a 20W halogen bulb draws 1.6 Amps on the 12V side.

Regardless, I understand what you are saying, however, I don't think the relationship between the converter output and draw from the 110 is that constant. The converter will draw 17A at full load which is 1870 Watts, even though the Converter will only produce 1,080 Watts in 12V. Its not a clean crossover, and the battery charger also draws into play.

travelin' texans · 12-15-2014, 02:28 AM

The most we've paid is $125 & don't recall the rate, but we ran everything we normally would, wd, dw, hp, ac. I would highly recommend taking a picture before plugging in & when leaving, in other words don't trust whoever reads the meter for the park, we have practiced this from the beginning & saved our wallet a huge bill at least once.

Titan Guy · 12-15-2014, 02:32 AM

Thanks for the responses. Great suggestions re: reading the meter when you plug in. Anyway, sounds like $150 should be the max.

lwg · 12-15-2014, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atom ant

But how do the 12V lights and appliances convert? Because they run off the converter in 12V, I don't think it is calculated that way.

Watts is Watts regardless of voltage. I usually pay closer to $.15 KWh and my summertime bills can run about $200 in the heat with both A/C's running. Now when it's cold,d outside I expect closer to $100 as we run the fireplace most of the time when we're up.

Hope this helps.

Tobys Home · 12-15-2014, 11:16 AM

We're seasonal campers and our bill was around $128.00 average last season. Higher in the peak summer months. At home with ac and other things on we are under $100. THAT is until the comming new year. Our rates all over are up by 14%. Yahoo for two homes.$$$$

almcc · 12-15-2014, 04:07 PM

Last winter I read the meter here at the campsite for a few days to get a feel for our usage and cost. At 15 cents/KWH the daily cost was between $2 and $3 per day depending on what we were running, how many loads of wash we dried and how much electric heating we did.

At $0.15 per KWH it was still cheaper to heat with electricity than with propane, I expect this winter will be the same, electricity has gone up to $0.20 but propane has increased as well.