Watching real time power draw changed how I see my setup

[LeonGalar]

I started watching real time power draw on a few devices out of pure curiosity and now I kind of can’t unsee it. Once you watch numbers move live, it’s hard to go back to guessing what’s actually using power and what isn’t.

At first it was just for fun, but then I caught myself checking different devices at different times of day. Stuff I assumed was quiet was pulling more than expected, and other things barely moved the needle. It didn’t make me panic, just more aware of what’s actually happening behind the scenes.

Did anyone else fall down this rabbit hole once they started watching real time power draw?

 

[Alan]

That’s one of those moments where curiosity turns into awareness really fast. Once you see the numbers move in real time, it changes how you think about everything plugged in. Was there a device that surprised you the most?

 

[barfle]

That’s one of those moments where curiosity turns into awareness really fast. Once you see the numbers move in real time, it changes how you think about everything plugged in. Was there a device that surprised you the most?

The dryer! My Tesla solar app shows me a graph of power usage over time, imcluding grid, solar and battery. We have an electric furnace, and of course these days it comes on before there’s any sun, so it’s 100% grid on that. But when we’re soing laundry, the spike is right around half of what the furnace is drawing. I expected a lot, but having it in front of me was quite a revelation.