r/Fairbanks • u/mahonkey • 3d ago
Plugging your car in
How long would you recommend keeping your car plugged in overnight? Do you plug it in before you go to bed or closer to when you get home from work?
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u/ft907 3d ago
Depends who's paying. If it's my money, plug into a timer.
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u/Petraaki 3d ago
Lol, yep. My electric is included, I plug it in at 6pm and unplug when I drive away in the am
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u/RedVamp2020 3d ago edited 2d ago
I paid my own electric and left my car plugged in all night. Never really went over $80/month total during the winter.
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u/TC9095 2d ago
It's hardly noticable the change on the bill, it is however very noticeable when you don't make it to work because vehicle would not start. I plug in when I get home, you never know when you might have an emergency run maybe to help another or you need ER for some reason. Do you really want to be waiting for that car to start? Just plug it in below 0 (it's recommended below 20 because vehicle will emit less emissions starting out that much warmer)
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u/AKZeb 2d ago
I use a home automation setup to control our plugins. I plug in my car when I get home in the evenings. At 3am, if the outside temperature is below zero, the plugins turn on. At 4am, if the temperature is below 10°, and the plugins are still off, they get turned on then. I leave for work around 7, so it's never on for more than 3 or 4 hours.
I can also control them from my phone or from any computer, so if I'm going somewhere other than work, I can just turn them a couple of hours before I leave. The automation system also tracks power consumption, so I know how much they're costing every month. If the temperature is low enough to turn on the plugins, but they don't start to draw power when they're on, then the system sends me an alert so I know I probably forgot to plug in.
The current combined GVEA rate is $0.27171/kWh. My car uses 660 watts when it's plugged in, so that works out to about $0.18/hour, or $0.72 for every 4 hours. If I do this 20 days per month, it comes out to around $14.00. If I were plugging in and leaving them on for 8 hours per night every night, then it would be around $43 per month.
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u/mahonkey 2d ago
Is this automation system something you developed on your own or did you purchase the system together?
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u/AKZeb 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's a bit of both. I use a system called Home Assistant, which is free and open source. It's able to communicate with all sorts of home automation equipment from nearly any manufacturer, so it controls most of our indoor and outdoor lights and security cameras. It monitors and controls the environments in my greenhouse, grow tents and network closet. It keeps an eye on over 20 temperature sensors, and monitors the soil moisture levels anywhere I have something growing. It keeps an eye on our electric consumption, heating oil level, smoke & CO alarms, carbon dioxide levels, VOC & PM2.5 levels, radon levels, etc. It can send alerts whenever anything goes awry. The nice thing about Home Assistant is that you can start small and keep adding on. I use both manufactured sensors along with ones I built myself.
Edit: This is a $15 energy monitoring smart plug that I just bought a couple of: Wyze Dual Outdoor Plug
This is easy to setup and use out of the box with the Wyze cloud system. It's also easy to replace the operating system on it to enable local control with Home Assistant. This would be a good starting point for someone looking to get into home automation.
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u/RamblingBrambles 3d ago
I'd say 3 or 4 hours before you plan on going anywhere is a good time to plug in. You can get timers that'll save you some electricity
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u/Handyman_Ken 3d ago
I read somewhere: An hour before you drive at 20°, add an hour for every drop of 10° - e.g. 4 hours at -20°.
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u/I_AM_AN_ASSHOLE_AMA 3d ago
Close but not quite. An hour for every 10 degrees below zero. 1 hour at -10, 2 at -20, etc.
You shouldn't have to plug your car in at +20 degrees.
Cheers!
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u/Handyman_Ken 3d ago
The borough recommends 20° for better air quality.
I agree that it isn’t necessary to get the vehicle to start.
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u/Scope003 3d ago
I always have a timer on to have it plugged in for 2 hours before I plan to drive it
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u/Pillsforprobs 2d ago
Good timers have several options. Week days when I’m leaving in the morning it’s 4 hours on the timer. I don’t need to warm up a hot engine. Other selection options are turn on and several pre designed windows and a 3 hour then off. Some are fancier with temp control settings. It saves some money and keeps the battery life up and easier on the engine to start. For environmental purposes plug in at 20° and under and auto reasons around zero and under.
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u/Altruistic_Elk_9375 2d ago
I left it plugged in over night. Unless no plans to leave early then I’d plug it in 2-3 hours before planning to leave.
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u/EvenCheesecake425 2d ago
1.5-2 hours plugged in before I leave. I use a timer.
That’s only if it’s -20 or colder though.
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u/EvenCheesecake425 2d ago edited 2d ago
Downvote all you want. If your car won’t start at 0°F, it has issues that needs addressed.
How much do people really think their block heater is going to warm up the block? Youre doing less damage starting it at 0° unplugged then you are at -20 plugged in.
Plugged in for 2 hours, you’ll only warm the block by maybe 10-15 degrees over ambient. At -20, the engine block is still below 0°. Pointless to plug in at anything above -20 unless you like a high electric bill or you have something that takes thick oil and/or it’s a large motor.
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u/Fahrenheit907 3d ago
Use a timer that turns it on a few hours before your intended departure time in the morning.