How much power my PC taking up - in volts ??

[Snow-Munki]

Hi,

got my HTPC and LCD TV connected to my Belkin UPS and it is saying that the battery voltage is 27.3volts.

Does that mean much to you guys, like basically how much does it cost me to have my Pc on during the day.

Thanks !

 

[BillytheImpaler]

You've got it a little backward. Though the charge of the battery in the UPS is important it's not a measurement of power use of the computer. In the computer voltage is static at wall current, in your case around 240 V. The machine's current demands are what varies. Power (P) is a function of current (I) and voltage (V).
P = I * V

To determine your computer's electricity consumption you need to measure the input current.

 

[PhillyDee]

You can buy little plug in power meters for this from bnq or a popular auction site.

 

[SinaiSound]

You can buy little plug in power meters for this from bnq or a popular auction site.

That's what I did.

Quite interesting to see the power consumption of electrical items.

For instance, my machines tend to use between 20w and 25w when they're turned off, so now I unplug them at the wall when I'm not using them

 

[eddie101]

i have one of the zalman fan controllers, uses a nice 190 watts when idle, 270 watts when i run 3dmark 06!

 

[mattyrigby00]

you want to be measuring the watts and there is things to do that as said before.