[Tom911]

I’ve got smart plugs and chargers all over the house and I’m curious how much they actually pull when nothing’s on. Is there a simple way to check without buying a bunch of extra gear? I have one of those basic plug-in meters but not sure if it’s accurate for tiny loads. Just wondering where to start really.

[no_sleep]

Mine was way off on the tiny stuff. I tried checking a couple of phone chargers and a smart plug with one of those basic plug-in meters and it just sat there reading zero or flickering between values. Pretty useless below a few watts. What actually helped was plugging the suspect stuff into one smart plug that reports power and letting it sit for a day with nothing turned on. The number was small per device but seeing it added up across a handful of them was the part that got me. So if you already have a smart plug that shows usage, just use that as your meter instead of chasing a separate gadget. The basic meter is fine for bigger stuff, not for standby hunting.

[SarahM]

I wouldn’t stress about chasing every tiny load with a basic meter. Mine was good enough to spot the obvious offenders like the old cable box, and the rest was noise. You’ll drive yourself nuts trying to get exact numbers on stuff that barely registers.

[Derek Sloan]

My basic meter showed basically nothing on the small stuff.

[Ben Harlow]

Just unplug the whole strip and see if the meter moves at all over a day. That tells you whether the pile is worth chasing. Half the time the answer is no and you can move on.

[Sam Writes]

I went the other direction and just added up the small stuff over time. A handful of plugs and chargers each sipping a little adds up to more than you’d expect, like a slow leak in a tire. Checking each one separately is kind of a rabbit hole though.

[Ella Voss]

I went through a similar thing when I got a batch of cheap smart plugs. My take is the opposite of what seems to be the popular approach here: I don’t think the pile matters nearly as much as which specific thing is actually running. My basic meter was useless on the low stuff too, so I stopped trying to measure every little adapter and just paid attention to what stayed warm and what had a light on all the time. The plugs with a little LED and a relay that clicks were the ones that actually added up, not the phone chargers sitting in a drawer. I’d rather put one decent meter on the whole strip at the wall for a week than chase individual plugs with the cheap one. But that’s just my preference. I also don’t like the “add it all up over time” method because it makes everything sound worse than it is. A few milliamps here and there is not the same as a box that’s genuinely drawing power. So if you want my blunt answer, start with the stuff that has a display or a motor or runs warm, and leave the little wall warts alone. The basic meter will tell you enough there.

[MarkD87]

I have a couple of those cheap meters and they’re fine for spotting something that’s actually pulling a few watts, but on tiny stuff they basically just sit at zero for me too. I ended up treating the meter as a rough yes/no thing and not a real measurement.

[Jordan M.]

I’d pick one room and just go outlet by outlet for a few minutes. It’s kind of like checking which lights are left on before bed, except the “lights” are little boxes that never really turn off. That gives you a rough idea without dragging every plug into one big pile.

[Mike Harry]

I’d start by just checking whatever’s easiest to get to and not worry about getting perfect numbers. The tiny loads mostly read as zero on those basic meters anyway, so you end up guessing more than measuring. I did it for a bit and mostly learned which chargers felt warm when nothing was plugged into them.

[T_Holloway]

My preference is to skip the cheap meter entirely and just swap the smart plug for a plain one on whatever I actually care about. Those little loads are so small that chasing exact numbers is a waste of time. If something still feels warm when it should be idle, that’s my signal, not a reading.

[Brooky]

Check the ones with little lights or displays first. Those are usually the ones quietly costing you something, and it feels good to finally unplug a charger that’s been glowing at you for two years.

[HanSolo]

I mostly just unplug stuff I don’t actually need plugged in 24/7. The smart plugs themselves still sip a little even when off, so if it’s not something I use daily, it just gets pulled from the wall.

[Rivers]

Those basic meters are useless below a few watts in my experience, the needle just sits there. I ended up borrowing a kill-a-watt style thing from a neighbor and even that was iffy on the really small stuff. Half the junk in my house wasn’t worth the effort of chasing down.

[Chris Reed]

I grabbed a cheap meter from a friend and it was basically useless for the small stuff, so I just started unplugging things I don’t use daily and calling it good. The little wall warts for old phones were the ones that surprised me, not the smart plugs themselves.

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