Is leaving the charger plugged in costing me money?

[Esmith]

I've a Heinzmann lithium ion retrofit that I plug in after every use or so. I understand it has a trickle feed so can't overcharge but with the rise in electricity prices is it still consuming electricity and thus costing me money once it is fully charged? And if it is what can I do about it without traipsing outside and unplugging it? I was wondering about some sort of smart plug I can turn off with Google home but since the plug has to be consuming electricity to be considered "smart" would I save anything?

 

[Fordulike]

I'm no expert, but I would say the power consumption on trickle is negligible.

 

[simonsays]

You need an energy monitoring plug to tell for sure. But probably not. My Bosch charger doesn't.

More significant is leaving your battery at 100%; this isn't helping battery cycle life at all. https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-808-how-to-prolong-lithium-based-batteries See Table 4: charging to less than 100% has a big impact on extending cycle life.
Unless you need every last bit of capacity, avoid 100%. You can do this by using a timer plug, and estimating how long you need to charge for.

 

[Andy-Mat]

I've a Heinzmann lithium ion retrofit that I plug in after every use or so. I understand it has a trickle feed so can't overcharge but with the rise in electricity prices is it still consuming electricity and thus costing me money once it is fully charged? And if it is what can I do about it without traipsing outside and unplugging it? I was wondering about some sort of smart plug I can turn off with Google home but since the plug has to be consuming electricity to be considered "smart" would I save anything?

As someone else mentioned here, its not doing anything good for your battery leaving it plugged in all the time.....only a charger that switches itself off and never switches on again, till you need to charge again.
An easy and cheap fix, is to buy a cheap, mechanical 24 hour timer.
Simply swap the phase motor lead from the external plug (the pin where the fuse is for UK households), to the internal socket same position.
This means that it will stop supplying power to your charger completely when the time you set is up, and not simply run on to power the charger another day! another day! another day! another day!
These cheap ones usually have a lever as reset, to start power to the tiny synchronous (clock) motor again.
I use 12 o'clock as zero, and set the end time to my best guess of when the charger will be finished. Set it to a shorter time if you only need a partial charge.
Its the most simple way to protect your battery, and possibly save a few pennies on your mains bill as well!
Regards
Andy

 

[Nealh]

Once fully charged it can't charge more then 100% or what ever the BMS deems as full, so the charge will cease. Simply use a wall timer or traipse outside to disconnect it, after all going outside to the out building isn't exactly an onerous task.
Leaving it on charge constantly can and does lead to issues and ebike battery fires ae started in this way, it is a procedure that many of the esteemed users on the forum do not carry out.

 

[Benjahmin]

Whilst there will be no charge current, there will be inherent losses with any device left plugged in and switched on at the wall socket. The amounts are very small but, as you say, with costs going up any waste is expensive.

 

[GLJoe]

You're over thinking this.

Plug it in to charge. After a good few hours when you're 100% certain its finished and its convenient for you, go and unplug it.