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[spudgun]

Apologies everyone for asking such a basic question and for not knowing how to work this out for myself, but does anyone know how to calculate whether running a 1 box setup is going to work out significantly cheaper than a separate modem + router configuration now that electricity prices have increased a fair bit.

I'm currently running a fttc setup with a HG612 modem and an Asus AC88u router.

I do have access to some 1 box solutions from billion, fritzbox or zyxel so wouldn't have to factor in an additional purchase cost that could negate any savings.

Does anyone have any idea of what savings might be likely over a period of a year, assuming it was left switched on permanently, if I went to a 1 box setup or how I could go about working this out for myself?

[meritez]

ISPreview did an article 5 years ago:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/01/energy-usage-uk-home-broadband-routers-big-isps-compared.html

You would have to adjust the price for current prices but it's worth a read.

[johnson]

Depends on what you replace them with.

Just measured and a BT HH5a with wifi enabled idles at about 7.1W and a HG612 (not connected to a line) 6.2W.



Googled a little and got 14.1-21.2W for your AC88u from here:
https://productz.com/en/asus-rt-ac88u/p/VoMrK

Sounds high to me, but ok.

(6.2 + 14.1) * 24 * 365 = 177.8kWh

7.1W for the HH5a:

7.1 * 24 * 365 = 62.2 kWh

177.8 – 62.2 = 115.6 kWh * 30p = £34.68 a year.

Not huge, but a saving.

Obviously all just estimates, I’d get a power meter and test the devices you have to see if changing is worth the hassle.

[Chrysalis]

A few weeks back I did measure all my network devices on my in home display which is of courrse connected to my smart meter.

These were the measurements highest to lowest.

Qotom NUC (OPNSense/PFSense) 11w
Plusnet Hub One (HH5A) 7w
Archer C7 6w
Asus N16 4w

After October you can add circa 50% to your annual cost calculations.  I did end up turning off my plusnet one hub, it may get used again to replace the N16, so I still have a second WAP, but been energy aware now I disconnected it as I felt it was a waste to have it on only as a WAP no LAN ports used.  I didnt test my zyxel modem.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I enabled EEE on my switch and that shaved about 10W, I always disabled that before as I found it caused problems (on other switches) but seems okay so far.

Saving a few watts here and there is kinda negligible though as we both have health issues so have the bathroom fan on 24/7 (100W) and I have to use air conditioning to cool my room at night or I can't sleep (about 1200W when cooling).

Let's just say our last quarterly bill was four digits.  A post I made on Facebook:

Thankyou UK Government for costing us an extra £153.59 on our latest electricity bill.

The price by the end of the year is going to be batshit insane!

But yeah, not going to worry about saving a few watts here and there when my usage elsewhere eclipses it.   I have been pondering a portable battery band and solar panels, seeing as the council wont let us put any on the house.  Another government rule from what I gather, they don't want councils having an independent income from the feed-in tariff (which is stupid really, surely they could allow solar and just demand any profit goes back to central government).

[tiffy]

While all of the relatively low wattage items will together obviously add up to more significant electrical usage, in the scheme of things by comparison to the domestic "big hit" items, cooker, hob, washing machine/dryer, dish washer, heaters, AC's etc. it would take a long time to make any significant difference to domestic electricity consumption.
However, to quote a well known retailer, "every little helps" and even small savings will "eventually" add up.
I can't get over excited about consumption of small(er) electrical appliances.

My personal household electricity saving efforts during this difficult time are hand washing and outside drying smaller clothing items, hand washing & drying dishes after every meal and avoiding electrical heating if at all possible, this will show an immediate reduction in period usage.

TBH, I worry much more about the domestic heating situation approaching autumn/winter, my area has had major migration from oil to gas over the last two years and we all know what's happened to gas prices!
I'am still on oil central heating which is now £1/ltr for larger quantities, more for smaller quantities.
It's going to be a cold, cold winter regardless of the weather!   

[Ronski]

Another government rule from what I gather, they don't want councils having an independent income from the feed-in tariff (which is stupid really, surely they could allow solar and just demand any profit goes back to central government).

There is no feed in tariff for new installations, that finished on 1 April 2019, it was replaced with SEG (smart export guarantee), but I think replaced is the wrong word as on the FITS system you got paid for what is generated (even if you used it all) and for what your exported, although in most small systems they assumed you exported 50% of what you generated. Under SEG you get paid for whatever you export, and in a lot of cases its pennies per kWh.

[craigski]

If the objective is to save money, is it worth looking at alternative broadband provider that provides a cheaper service and/or cashback deal and use that money towards paying the electricity bills?

[Alex Atkin UK]

My personal household electricity saving efforts during this difficult time are hand washing and outside drying smaller clothing items, hand washing & drying dishes after every meal and avoiding electrical heating if at all possible, this will show an immediate reduction in period usage.

TBH, I worry much more about the domestic heating situation approaching autumn/winter, my area has had major migration from oil to gas over the last two years and we all know what's happened to gas prices!
I'am still on oil central heating which is now £1/ltr for larger quantities, more for smaller quantities.
It's going to be a cold, cold winter regardless of the weather!   

We've been drying clothes in the bathroom thanks to the fan being on 24/7.   Mum has too many allergies for me to hang clothes on the line (plus looking upwards to reach above me tends to set off my vertigo) and she physically can't do it any more.  We heated the house from Folding@Home on the PCs, not efficient but at least its helped science while doing it rather than merely filling the pockets of the energy companies.  I probably should have been mining cryptocurrency but I can't stand the idea of all that energy being effectively wasted, the last thing we should be doing.

With the current energy prices, I do wonder if Gas micro-generation might work out cheaper than the actual supplier.  Trouble is they're not common, no idea where to put one and I don't fancy doing oil changes.

There is no feed in tariff for new installations, that finished on 1 April 2019, it was replaced with SEG (smart export guarantee), but I think replaced is the wrong word as on the FITS system you got paid for what is generated (even if you used it all) and for what your exported, although in most small systems they assumed you exported 50% of what you generated. Under SEG you get paid for whatever you export, and in a lot of cases its pennies per kWh.

Yes I thought the FITS had finished but wasn't sure what it was replaced with.  It just makes it all more silly though.

I'm confused how that was metered though, my friend has solar and there is just one meter that measures (presumably) what is coming out of the inverter.  So how does it measure exported separately?

[tiffy]

As we are now on "Tech Chat" topic, thanks b*cat, thought I would attach a snap of my DIY energy meter which may be of interest, I don't have a smart meter fitted.
Built around a Shelly EM with Mosquitto, InfluxDB, Node-RED and Grafana all running on a RPi-3B+ with 128Gb SSD as MQTT broker.
Shelly EM RPi-3B+ connection is by inbuilt Wi-Fi.

My meter is read quarter yearly when I manually reset the unit reading to zero.
Unit tarriff is entered into Node-RED equasion and can be changed at any time mid period, increases unfortunately being all too common just now!
Absolute period cost accuracy can be slightly effected by mid period tarriff changes.

With close to a year service have found the quarterly readings and costs have been very close to my suppliers bills and of course it's very easy to keep an eye on daily usage.
Works well for me as someone who still uses a desktop PC on a daily basis with the RPi-3B+ ethernet LAN connected, perhaps not so well for someone using only a tablet or smart phone.
The project was a product of Covid lockdown and my interest in all things RPi.

The attached Grafana snapshot is shown on a 6 hour timescale which can extend to years dependant on amount of data stored in InfluxDB.

[Alex Atkin UK]

What annoys me is we DO have a smartmeter but the unit they provide to read its output leaves a lot to be desired.  Our central heating also has a wireless thermostat.

With the rise of home automation, what really annoys me is I can't interact or log the data from either of these things.

[craigski]

What annoys me is we DO have a smartmeter but the unit they provide to read its output leaves a lot to be desired.  Our central heating also has a wireless thermostat.

With the rise of home automation, what really annoys me is I can't interact or log the data from either of these things.

You can download historical data from your smart meter here, after you have registered. Not real time though.

https://data.n3rgy.com/consumer/home

[tiffy]

Our central heating also has a wireless thermostat

Other than the ability to remotely adjust temperature set point, display local temperature and indicate heat demand, a wireless thermostat will do very little to make central heating systems more efficient unless they are used in conjunction with other control devices such as zone control motorised valves.
Yes, modern stats usually have slightly adjustable differential but at the end of the day are just on/off devices with variable band width.

Most new build CH installations now incorporate multiple zone control MOV's (motorised valves) which makes more efficient temperature control possible.
My 40 year old CH installation did not incorporate any MOV's or any area stat's, radiators went flat out until the boiler stat cut the boiler & circulation pump.
If a basic room stat was added, this usually just controlled the circulation pump which when stopped resulted in the boiler cutting out due to fast temperature rise (lack of water circulation).
When my hot water reservoir tank developed a leak, on replacement, I had the plumber fit two MOV's which basically segregated the HW and CH systems, big improvement to original but still very basic temperature control with HW tank stat closing the HW MOV (stopping pump & boiler if CH was not active) and CH room stat closing the CH mov (stopping pump & boiler if HW heating was not active).

Did fit radiator thermostatic valves (TRV's) but to be honest think they are a waste of time as they just end up chasing their tails by virtue of being too close to the heat source they are trying to control especially as most plumbers seem to fit them upright with the sensing element as close as possible to the radiator!

With the rise of home automation, what really annoys me is I can't interact or log the data from either of these things.

Don't know anything about smart electricity meters so can't comment.
Remote (Wi-Fi) access to a smart CH stat will only enable remote set point adjustment, may be important if mobility is an issue, display the area temperature and advise if the stat is "in demand" (calling for heat) or not.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Can't see anything that looks like an MPxN code on either meter.

I believe our meters are the v1 that need to be replaced by the v2 standard at some point, possibly why?

Other than the ability to remotely adjust temperature set point, display local temperature and indicate heat demand

I moved it upstairs where my mum spends most of her time, as her diabetes causes her problems regulating her temperature whereas I have my room downstairs with the radiator stats on low as I get drowsy at anything over 21C and can't sleep above 18C.  Having remote access would be useful when say I'm running Folding@Home as if it was getting too hot upstairs I would know to stop folding, plus I could monitor how often the heating is turning on/off.

[tiffy]

I think you CH "wireless stat" may not be a "smart stat" as such.
My understanding, a remotely located wireless CH stat will enable CH boiler/pump control via an interface relay box mounted near the boiler/pump the object being to eliminate the need for hard wiring between the stat and the boiler/pump, connection between the stat and interface control box being wireless.
You would likely have to upgrade your stat by a few models to achieve "smart" features, ie., Wi-Fi access to the stat's parameters via smart phone, tablet etc..

I personally don't use smart stat's, there is lots of information (as always) on line.
Screwfix were recently running a promotion on Hive smart devices although still not cheap.
Some of the more costly units even offer WAN remote access/control via a router connection.