Help me determine the power consumption of my cameras and video system

[Maudlin]

I am trying to figure out the electricity consumption of the video surveillance system I have at home. Recently I have gotten higher electric bills and I started wondering what part of it is because of the video cameras.
I have 6 Hikvision cameras, one DVR (Hikvision) and one UPS as well (pictures attached). I understand it is relative and could vary from model to model but could you give me a rough estimate of the watts/kilowatts per 24 hours (or 30 days) combined of all components mentioned?

 

[Teken]

I am trying to figure out the electricity consumption of the video surveillance system I have at home. Recently I have gotten higher electric bills and I started wondering what part of it is because of the video cameras.
I have 6 Hikvision cameras, one DVR (Hikvision) and one UPS as well (pictures attached). I understand it is relative and could vary from model to model but could you give me a rough estimate of the watts/kilowatts per 24 hours (or 30 days) combined of all components mentioned?

If you had absolutely nothing in terms of energy monitoring hardware. You can simply add up the (maximum) wattage from the data sheet for the specific camera / DVR.

Take that combined total and punch it into any of the online energy calculators with your utility costs per KWH.

The next step for better insight is to purchase a Killiwatt meter:

https://a.co/d/53ceJot

From there if you become more serious about energy monitoring and lean to energy management.

You can install a whole house energy monitoring system that monitors every branch circuit in the electrical panel.

Once in place you’ll know 100% what circuits / devices are consuming what. You’ll know everything from when it started, how long it ran, peak wattage / inrush current, PF, RMS, high / low, etc.

If selected properly you could than integrate with Home Automation. This is where the energy management comes in to to turn things on / off for TOU (Time of Use) or to reduce electrical costs for peak hours where the POCO charges more for a specific period of time.

 

[biggen]

What do you pay per kWh?

If you have more than 100w there I'd be surprised. Those cams use about 6w when they aren’t running IR. The DVR might use 50w.

 

[anotherone]

search for kilowatt usage meter on amazon. these just plug into an outlet and you plug your device into the meter. It will give you an idea of what each component in your system is using

 

[MTL4]

You can open up your breaker panel and they make relatively cheap multimeters with an ammeter clamp. You just go down each wire attached to a breaker, clamp on the ammeter and note the number of amps. Then power consumption is simple it’s just Amps X Volts (120v) = Power (watts). This shouldn’t take you long to figure out which load(s) on the circuit is/are the culprit.

 

[abita_brewing]

I am trying to figure out the electricity consumption of the video surveillance system I have at home. Recently I have gotten higher electric bills and I started wondering what part of it is because of the video cameras.
I have 6 Hikvision cameras, one DVR (Hikvision) and one UPS as well (pictures attached). I understand it is relative and could vary from model to model but could you give me a rough estimate of the watts/kilowatts per 24 hours (or 30 days) combined of all components mentioned?

 

[bigredfish]

What do you pay per kWh?

If you have more than 100w there is be surprised. Those cams use about 6w when they aren’t running IR. The DVR might use 50w.

Agree with above. Very doubtful this is the source of your higher electric bills

 

[MTL4]

Agree with above. Very doubtful this is the source of your higher electric bills

Totally agree, that’s why I’d go right to the panel with an ammeter, should be pretty easy to track down from there.

 

[Maudlin]

Alright, cowboys! I will certainly buy one of these electricity measurement devices just to be precise with the calculation. Meanwhile, this is my approximate calculation. Let me know if I am on the right side.

6 Hikvision cameras * 5W per camera = 30 watts
1 Hikvision DVR * 20 W = 20 watts (the manual says it consumes less than 20 watts but without HDD)
1 UPS * 10 watts (I really am puzzled here. The model is Eaton 5E650iDMI but it never shows the power consumption, so I leave it at 10, could be more though.)

So 60 watts per hour, 43.2 kW per month. This is my rough calculation. Am I missing anything?

Thanks.

 

[MTL4]

So 60 watts per hour, 43.2 kW per month. This is my rough calculation. Am I missing anything?

Yes, 60w running 24/7 should be around 43.92 kwh per month. If you want precise measurements on individual low power loads then the Kill A Watt linked above can definitely help with that (works well on anything with a plug). Combine that with the meter at the panel and you should be able to get to the bottom of any power usage mystery pretty easily.

 

[abita_brewing]

Alright, cowboys! I will certainly buy one of these electricity measurement devices just to be precise with the calculation. Meanwhile, this is my approximate calculation. Let me know if I am on the right side.

6 Hikvision cameras * 5W per camera = 30 watts
1 Hikvision DVR * 20 W = 20 watts (the manual says it consumes less than 20 watts but without HDD)
1 UPS * 10 watts (I really am puzzled here. The model is Eaton 5E650iDMI but it never shows the power consumption, so I leave it at 10, could be more though.)

So 60 watts per hour, 43.2 kW per month. This is my rough calculation. Am I missing anything?

Thanks.

My wiring closet runs from an apc smart ups 700.




The reported load by the UPS, 47% of 700, or 329va.

The measured load by the kill a watt is 211 watts @ .9 power factor (about 230va). Based on a lot of experience w/ the KAW meter, I'm believing its numbers.

This is running:

(1) sonicwall 2650
(1) 3" cooling fan
(2) fiber internet feeds
(1) i7 mini pc w/ extra hdd
(1) voip to analog converter
(1) 48 port poe switch that runs:
(3) voip desk phones
(2) wifi AP
(1) wifi bridge
(13) cameras

Costs $17/month

This does NOT count the extra heat load introduced by the equipment. This does not count nighttime IR load also.

You can calculate a total from the bottom up all you want... or just measure at a point where it all comes together. I would not go with the ammeter at the breaker panel due to 1) other items on that circuit you may have missed 2) danger from removing the cover unnecessarily 3) bad readings from so many wires in one place.

Buy a kill a watt meter.