Top Ten

Dave Angelini
Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Did you guy's see this?
http://www.toptenusa.org/
"we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
   htps://offgridsolar1.com/
E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

Comments

  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    interesting, but it might only serve well as an initial start. for instance i can get a tv that draws less than what they have and who said it should only be in the sizes they chose?
  • RCinFLA
    RCinFLA Solar Expert Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    The 46" Samsung UN46C5000QF is listed with an 'On' power of 48 watts.

    That is just too good to be true. Maybe with no backlight. I have three large Samsung LCD's and that is about the power with backlight turned all the way down.

    These ratings can play so many games. Some LED backlight TV's actually modulate the backlight in sub-segments of the display in concert with the brightness of the image.

    If you play a video that has generally dark scene with only a small section of picture with any significant illumination you have a condition where there is almost no backlight power.

    The sub-segment LED backlight is a good power conservation scheme but having a near totally dark scene for a power statement is stretching the truth.
  • RCinFLA
    RCinFLA Solar Expert Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    I notice all the large refrig's have bottom freezer drawer.

    This is an intuitively obvious help as the cold air does not get dumped out every time the freezer drawer is opened.

    Unfortunately I cannot sell the wife on having a bottom drawer freezer.
  • solar_dave
    solar_dave Solar Expert Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    RCinFLA wrote: »
    I notice all the large refrig's have bottom freezer drawer.

    This is an intuitively obvious help as the cold air does not get dumped out every time the freezer drawer is opened.

    Unfortunately I cannot sell the wife on having a bottom drawer freezer.

    I love my bottom freezer drawer in the Whirlpool I got on the AZ Energy Star rebate program. (I needed a new one anyway as the old one was 13-14 years old). The only thing I could suggest the manufacturers should do is make the drawer have sides on them to prevent even less cold escape upon opening.

    The wife likes it as the sliding baskets inside allow easy access to all the contents without a big digging session in the freezer. The grand kids can get their ice cream out without assistance! ;)
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Pushing it in the laptop category, too. The #1 is an 8-inch netbook, not what I would call a "laptop". They do list several other 12-inch+ laptops in the category.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    RC, get a wife that is shorter than 5 ' , as is mine, and she will love the drawer type. I being 6'2" DON'T...
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    I've been keeping my eye open for a smaller TV, that 19" Hitachi at only 13 watts is awesome! Now if only I can find one to buy. WalMart online has it available in USA, but not in Canada. Was looking at a no-name 19" LED today, rated at 60 watts! No thanks!
  • kenputer
    kenputer Solar Expert Posts: 27
    Re: Top Ten

    I have a 15 " LCD made by electrohome, it can be DC powered and draws only 27 watts when powered through the walwart that comes with it. Also can be used as a computer monitor.
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    would be nice if they gave the actual power consumption...

    went to our local sony/toshiba dealer and he looked at the "plate" rating on the back of a 32" LED Toshiba and it stated .5A max ...therefore ~55W max, so as RC stated one can get lower consumption than that depending on your settings

    Per year consumption tells me nothing as I don't now if the rating is based on a similar viewing hours as I have. at least I can use the A or Ahr rating to evaluate suitability.

    ej
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • RCinFLA
    RCinFLA Solar Expert Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Problem is about one third to a half of the power consumption is backlight. As earlier mentioned LED's have the speed to do more with modulating the level based on scene brightness.

    Even for EL backlighting, many LCD's have brightness adjustments based on ambient light level. This opens the spec's game allowing a lower level backlight power level when referenced against a darkened room.

    I did some searches of various monitors and there are quite a few 19" sized that have a real use case power consumption in the 15-20 watt range and less then $150.

    For monitors, LED doesn't have that much better power then EL panel. LED's are probably better for long term reliability in turn-off, turn-on cycling. This may be good for keeping a short display timeout standby setting on the computer.
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    From the wisdom of Costco. "The new LED energy star LED's are 40% better than the FL energy stars." I think that is pretty accurate with what I measured for the 46" LG's. Good enough for offgrid ! The little green leaf button at max on the remote. They are so good at sipping power that the 52" models are doable now. You do have to be reasonable about the number of hours and can choose to read a book when there is not any sunshine. But you know all that...
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

  • solarvic
    solarvic Solar Expert Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Dave, There are other items to think of too and what you expect from the tv. I have a Nice big 63 inch DLP samsung that is very good on power consumption. If I remember right it uses about 90 watts on a bright picture. It has a great picture but a poor excuse of a tuner if you want to watch tv off an antenna. I called Samsung and they told me most people don,t watch offair and not too important to them. It is to me as I can get tv from all directions and have a good antenna and a rotor. The tuner isn,t sensitive enough and misses a couple of channels my LG and Sony gets. Everytime you move the antenna you have to do a channel scan and it loses the channels you had before unless they are strong enough to stay in. There is no way to manually tune them in. Even otherwise I think the Samsung is great if you don,t watch off an antenna. I probably won,t buy another Samsung because I watch more off air antenna than I do satelite. Samsung could do a software update if they wanted and they told me when I called about it they said there wasn,t enough demand for it. I picked up a little 22 inch Lg last winter to put in my Pc room and It has a great tuner. All channels stay in when you move the antenna and the tuner is very sensitive. If I was going to buy a new tv I think I would get one of those Infignia Lg sets. I have the LG front loader clothes washer and gas dryer and really like them. I use to think Toshiba tv was good till my budy started haveng problems with his. It is a 2008 model and blew a dlp bulb with low hours and when he put in a new one it won,t stay powered up. He was told the power supply with the ballast was probably going bad. Toshiba doesn,t have parts anymore for that tv. They claim it is obsolete. About all you can do is try to get the power supply rebuilt as you can,t find new ones. There was a class action against Toshiba and they lost. So enough Toshiba for me If thier tv,s are obsolete in three years. :DSolarvic:D
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    solarvic,
    this is good to know about the samsung tuners and i agree with you on the importance of the tuner for over the air broadcasts. if it's so unimportant to samsung to cheapen it to any degree because, in their opinion, most people don't use it, then why did they even bother to put a tuner in it in the first place? a tuner is not a major undertaking in costs or complexities for them not to do it and do it right.
    so do you get the pittsburgh stations up your way at all or do you concentrate on those in ohio and erie, pa? what are you using for an antenna?
    hope your pvs don't get too covered up by the snow up there. this weather's sucky and is about a month too early imho.
  • solarvic
    solarvic Solar Expert Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Niel, I get pittsburgh 2-1, 13-1, 13-2, 13-3, 19-1, 52-1 and 52-2 full time. 11-1 and 11-2 part time, very seldem get 4-1 and 4-2. Get wheeling 7-1,7-2 and 7-3 part time, stubenville 9-1 and 9-2 fulltime. Youngstown 21-1, 21-2, 27-1. 27-2, 33-1, 33-2, 33-3, Western reserve, 45-1, 45-2, 45-3, 45-4 full time, Get erie, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 24-1, 35-1, 35-2, 35-3 and 66-1 without moving antenna. Have antenna pointed slightly west of pittsburgh. It is stuck there until I lay down the tower to fix the pipe. Before I got it stuck there I could get the cleveland area stations to the west and Johnstown to the east. Even now sometimes Johnstown will lock on my Lg set. Have a preety good channelmaster antenna. I have cleaned the snow off of panels yesterday and today many times. Isn,t hardly worth the effort as I got 2 kw yesterday and 3 kw today. Oh well I got the dirt washed off the panels using the squeege on them :Dsolarvic:D Forgot to say some of those channels my Samsung don,t receive as reliably as my other sets.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    wow, that's excellent coverage and you get more than me due to my location against a hillside, my being only 1000ft above sea level, and the fact that i only use rabbit ears.;)
    ps. i have an lg.
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Well I've been trying to get my hands on the Hitachi TV mentioned in the top 10. No luck, so finally called their 1-800# asking for names of Canadian dealers.
    Their response: "Unfortunately we no longer sell Hitachi televisions in Canada, thank-you for calling Hitachi and have a nice day"!
    OOOooooK!
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    so wayne, what does that tell you of the tv at a minimum, let alone the company?:roll:
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    niel wrote: »
    so wayne, what does that tell you of the tv at a minimum, let alone the company?:roll:
    Good point Niel!
    Guess when I do go shopping for a new TV, I'll have to take along my Kill-a-Watt :)
    I find myself feeling along the upper back of TV's whenever I come across a bunch on display, and notice some people giviing me rather strange looks, obviously suspecting that I'm perverted and enjoy feeling up televisions. Truth be known, I'm checking the amount of heat given off, AND finding some big differences! Came across a no-name at Wall*Mart the other day and it wasn't much above room temperature, while some of the brand names could be used to supplement my winter heating bill. And there's no need to fondle the plasma units, or even stop to look, I can feel the heat of the sun on my face just walking past them.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    maybe,
    you should invest in an infra red thermometer as you'll get more accurate readings than feeling and although you still may get looks you could then tell them to back off or you'll fry them with your ray gun.:p then again people are sometimes stupid or over reactive and the next thing you know you'll either have the police swat team on your butt or some guy in a white coat trying to net you.:cry:
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    niel wrote: »
    maybe,
    you should invest in an infra red thermometer as you'll get more accurate readings than feeling and although you still may get looks you could then tell them to back off or you'll fry them with your ray gun.:p then again people are sometimes stupid or over reactive and the next thing you know you'll either have the police swat team on your butt or some guy in a white coat trying to net you.:cry:

    Hahahaha Good one Niel :)
    I do have one of those IR thermo's, so might give it a try sometime, but it does indeed look like some sort of ray gun, so considering the mentality of today's society, perhaps I should leave it home. I might want to fly sometime in the future, and in the meantime, I'd kind of like to stay out of prison. That statement would be a joke if society wasn't so screwed up :(
  • zeuspaul
    zeuspaul Solar Expert Posts: 59 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    After reading this thread I purchased a 23 inch Visio LED LCD TV at Costco for $200. It is rated 27 watts.

    I am more than impressed with this TV. I bought it to run slide shows using an external media player because it has two HDMI inputs in addtion to a PC input and component inputs.

    It turns out that a thumb drive in the USB input is the best option for me as the images are stunning and I don't need an external media player.

    Zeuspaul
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    zeuspaul,
    for what it's worth, when i was in the market for a tv i decided to talk to an employee at wally world and she told me of the return rates on various tvs they have. the vizio i was told had the least returned with lg a close second. samsung was 3rd, but it wasn't a close 3rd. keep in mind that this was 1 employee's opinion from 1 store. i went for the lg, but i thought about the vizio.
  • zeuspaul
    zeuspaul Solar Expert Posts: 59 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    return rates on various tvs

    That's one reason I bought at Costco. I read a lot of reviews and it seems all TV's have return rates. I bought a 37 inch Toshiba online and I am stuck with a TV with a large defective area on the screen.

    I bought the Costco online but I can return it to the local Costco. I assume the same is true for Wally World.

    The Visio did have a lot of good reviews.

    Zeuspaul
  • vcallaway
    vcallaway Solar Expert Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    I have two of the Vizio TV's. I bought them for the RV because they will run directly off the battery. No need for an inverter.

    I think only the 23" and smaller are 12v.

    Combined with a Zvox Mini which also runs on 12v. Makes a really nice low voltage setup for watching movies.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    wally world has a messed up return policy in that for large ticket items they won't give you a cash refund, but will give you store credit in that amount, so beware.
  • beboxe
    beboxe Registered Users Posts: 12
    Re: Top Ten

    Wayne, do you know anymore about this Hitachi-model # or any thing else. How do you know it pulls 13 watts? Where is this top 10?
  • dagr51
    dagr51 Solar Expert Posts: 72 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    beboxe wrote: »
    Wayne, do you know anymore about this Hitachi-model # or any thing else. How do you know it pulls 13 watts? Where is this top 10?

    Post #1 of this thread.
  • SteveK
    SteveK Solar Expert Posts: 387 ✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Thought I'd add this chest freezer item here:

    http://manuals.frigidaire.com/prodinfo_pdf/StCloud/FFN09M5H_0710.pdf

    We bought this 4 months ago and it is an overperformer. We keep it in the basement 3/4 full and it uses around 12KwH per month.

    It's easy on the solar as it only requires 5A, 115V at start-up. And at $300.00 it was priced well below it's value IMO. I'm running this on a 350W inverter recently. We'll see how it holds up to the start-up current cycling.

    I have a second one to convert to a fridge but haven't done it yet.
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten

    Here is the link (very slow) for Canadian info

    http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/new-appliances.cfm?attr=4
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Top Ten
    beboxe wrote: »
    Wayne, do you know anymore about this Hitachi-model # or any thing else. How do you know it pulls 13 watts? Where is this top 10?

    Sorry "beboxe", I only saw your post this evening. The top 10 list was given by the poster who started this thread way back on what's at the moment, page 3 of this thread.
    That's where I got the info on the Hitachi, unfortunately, Hitachi has decided some time ago not to bother selling their products in Canada any more. Are they in the process of going out of business?
    Regardless, I have some new info for you.
    I've been looking for a small TV for the bedroom and picked up one today at WalMart, a "GPX" 13 inch LCD HDTV. Made in China of course, but considering what it is, has an excellent picture, and get this- - - - - - plugged it into the Kill-A-Watt and - - - 9 whole watts! That's right, just nine watts! I nearly fell over. For anyone with a limited power supply, or anyone who wants to sit up close like you do with your laptop and save power, it's awesome! Best I've seen yet and was only $58.00 Cdn.
    It's AC only, but when I get a chance I'll open it up and see what it has for a power supply, just in case it actually operates on 12 volts. Unlikely that it does, but who knows for sure till we check it out.
    One thing I knew was wrong was the unit on display said 30 watts, but when I checked it's temperature, unlike one I knew used 30 watts, this one was running basically cold. 9 watts is awesome!