Optical mouse -- power consumption

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I just got my first optical mouse to use with my old laptop that I
never use on batteries, always plugged in. I was surprised to see how
many lights there are in the mouse (my mouse has a clear housing and
it's constantly flashing red and also has a steady blue light). As I'm
a frugal sort, I naturally started wondering how much power this mouse
is going to pull. I have it on the USB port. Can anyone estimate how
much this thing is going to eat in electricity every month? I use the
computer around 12 hours a day. Maybe I should have got a ball mouse.
Also, is there any low level radiation hazard from this thing?

Thanks.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

<arvo@goggo.com.au> wrote in message
news:1106682250.003992.321840@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Okay, I see that the mouse says it has 5 volt, 100 milliamp power
> consumption. What does that translate into in kilowatt hours using it
> 12 hours a day?
>

5 x 0.1 = 0.5W
so to consume 1 kWh
1000 / 0.5 = 2000h

12 h per day for x days = 2000h
2000 / 12 = 166.67 days of use.

So to approximate 2 kWh per year, is consumed by your mouse.
Presumptions
1. Its continuously uses 100ma (Unlikely)
2. 12h every day with no breaks

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

arvo@goggo.com.au wrote:

> I just got my first optical mouse to use with my old laptop that I
> never use on batteries, always plugged in. I was surprised to see how
> many lights there are in the mouse (my mouse has a clear housing and
> it's constantly flashing red and also has a steady blue light). As I'm
> a frugal sort, I naturally started wondering how much power this mouse
> is going to pull. I have it on the USB port. Can anyone estimate how
> much this thing is going to eat in electricity every month? I use the
> computer around 12 hours a day. Maybe I should have got a ball mouse.
> Also, is there any low level radiation hazard from this thing?

Consider, an optical mouse has one LED that illuminates the surface on which
it runs, while a ball mouse typically has two LEDs that illuminate the two
position sensors. So all else being equal the ball mouse will draw twice
the power and present twice the radiation hazard.

However, the power consumption of an LED is negligible and the only
radiation is red light.

The steady blue light is probably there just for pretty.

> Thanks.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)