U sure it is as much as 240w per DAY?
Most units use less than 1 or 2 watts on standby.....
Leave on Standby/Off at Main?
- Thread starter Marky
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U sure it is as much as 240w per DAY?
Most units use less than 1 or 2 watts on standby.....
Agreed - 240W is all but impossible.
If I turned everything off that I normally leave on standby when not using it, I'd save about 20 watts in total. Frankly it's worth the slight additional cost of that for the convenience.
I generally switch off at the plug. In addition to AV kit have quite a few computers. All the devices together don't use anymore than a lightbulb (have measured using a metering device) and whilst this equates to just a few pence a day I'm just happier if it is all switched off.
If people want to go around switching things off to save a few pennies then good luck to them - personally I can't be bothered. In the grand scheme of things the savings amount to virtually nothing. When it costs me a quid in fuel just to drive the few miles to and from work each day, who cares about a few extra pennies?
Yes.
It's all measured with a power consumption meter.
Here are the standby readings for my kit (before changing my HTPC):
- HTPC: 12w
- TV: 2w
- Amp: 5w
- TV signal booster: 2.5w
So that's 21.5w/hr. Assume they are on standby for 16hrs a day, that's 344w/day.
I changed my HTPC to a low power version and that now draws 5w on standby. This would give 232w/day.
Remember that i do not have much kit, just a HTPC, TV, HiFi amp, and tv signal booster. Most people will probably have more than that... Sky/freeview box, games consoles, more powerful hifi, etc...
So yes, 240w/day is not 'impossible' it is infact quite low.
TV has a proper switch so I just use that so it's not left in standby. PS3 gets turned off at the plug. Amp also has a proper mains switch so never in standby. Finally my V+ box now gets turned off at the plug if not setup to record....this thing uses 31W in standby if the HDD is spinning (sam as switched on) and 23W if the HDD isn't spinning and in standby. I also turn off my gigabit switch and squeezebox at the sockets when not in use.
Screwfix sell some 6-way individually switched sockets which are damned useful!
Screwfix sell some 6-way individually switched sockets which are damned useful!
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Always on standby
Soldato
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i just bought an extension with a power switch on it,
Speakers, amp and tv are plugged into this so i can turn it off from the mains without having to do it from the plug itself (which is behind everything so awkward to get to)
Speakers, amp and tv are plugged into this so i can turn it off from the mains without having to do it from the plug itself (which is behind everything so awkward to get to)
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Everything on standby; I'm a lazy bugger
Leaving kit switched on can cause premature aging of electrolyte capacators, overheating resistors, and even heat damage to PCB's the traces can literally come away from the board, and crack. Light bulbs are a rather extreme example, as the filament reaches white hot temperatures, so repeated fast switching on/off can cause bulbs to blow, but they can also blow while already on. Hard disk bearings wear faster when the disk is spinning.
Its not fair to compare with a car, a car engine wears faster when cold, largely because most of the oil has settled in the sump, and when cold auto oils are not quite as viscous as when they are hot, so the engine isnt getting optimal lubrication, as for turning off a car at a red light, thats not actually so bad, as the engine is still hot, and well libricated, infact some modern cars will turn off the engine to safe fuel, unless you leave your foot on the clutch (not recommended).
After 12+ years "on" my hifi power amps needed quite a bit of rebuild due to heat damage, and the repairer's first question was did I leave them on all the time, as that was the most likely cause of the damage. And yes, the amps do sound better warm, but it only takes 10 minutes for the bias / idle currents to settle, and at that point they sound pretty much perfect.
TV.. Standby, Panasonic plasma's have a power saving option in the setup menu, with this turned on, they use less than 1 watt in standby according to my plugin power meter.
Its a comprimise... My personal guideline is use again in under 30 minutes leave on, more than 30 minutes turn off.
Properly designed electronic devices dont mind being turned on and off, unless you get silly and start flicking them on/off/on/off/on in fast succession etc.
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That doesn't make sense. The watt is a measure of the amount of power that's needed to do work - it measures the rate at which energy is consumed, not the total amount of energy which is used. It's like the difference between the speed at which water comes out of your tap and the amount of water that collects in the sink.
Your leccy supplier will bill you for the number of kilowatt hours (kWh) that you use. If your gear uses 200w and you leave it on for an hour, you'll use 0.2kWh of leccy. If you leave it on for a day, you'll use 4.8kWh.
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What doesn't make sense?
Me turning my HTPC/TV/HiFi/etc... off at the plug saves me approx 240w/day. Which is a saving of about 3.5p!
If something draws 5w/hr and is on for 16hrs a day that is 80w over a day, or 0.08kWh.
I might not have the terms exactly right, but i do know exactly how much power my flat uses each day, and what it costs me to run. I also know almost exactly what each item costs to run, and can very easily predict power consumption.
This comes from getting an obscene electricity bill and over analysing everything
If we take my HTPC as an example i can tell you what it costs me to run, and how much i save per month turning it off at the wall. The machine is 5w standby, and approx 60w in use (60w is an average taken over a long time period).
Therefore per day (say it's on for 8hrs) it will use: 5x16+60x8 = 0.56kWh. This over a month gives a cost of about £2.40.
If i turn it off at the wall: 60x8 = 0.48kWh. Which over a month is £2.04.
So me turning if off saves me about 36p a month!.
Soldato
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TV goes off as power switch - I assume it's off off and not standby as there are no lights on the front. HTPC is powered off as is the amp. CBA to get around teh back to flick plugs switches off
What doesn't make sense?
Me turning my HTPC/TV/HiFi/etc... off at the plug saves me approx 240w/day. Which is a saving of about 3.5p!
If something draws 5w/hr and is on for 16hrs a day that is 80w over a day, or 0.08kWh.
I might not have the terms exactly right, but i do know exactly how much power my flat uses each day, and what it costs me to run. I also know almost exactly what each item costs to run, and can very easily predict power consumption.
This comes from getting an obscene electricity bill and over analysing everything
If we take my HTPC as an example i can tell you what it costs me to run, and how much i save per month turning it off at the wall. The machine is 5w standby, and approx 60w in use (60w is an average taken over a long time period).
Therefore per day (say it's on for 8hrs) it will use: 5x16+60x8 = 0.56kWh. This over a month gives a cost of about £2.40.
If i turn it off at the wall: 60x8 = 0.48kWh. Which over a month is £2.04.
So me turning if off saves me about 36p a month!.
Mattus is right I'm afraid, you can't "use" any amount of watts in a day. A Watt is a rate at which you're using electricity (IIRC its joules per second), if you're drawing 5W it makes no differance what timescale you measure it over, its still just 5 watts. The problem is that the electricity industry has invented a nonsense term kWh, which really just 3.6 megajoules.
You're general sums are ok, you will save that money, it just makes no sense to say that you're using 240w per day.
anyway, thats enough pedantry, I know what you mean.
And for the record, I leave everything on standby/sleep, as I reckon it saves me many joules in getting off my fat arse and walking to the TV cabinet
I turn everything ON at the mains when i wake up and turn everything OFF at the mains when i go to sleep.
It makes no sense to leave it on overnight (unless you want it on for a reason)
I Have:
HTPC
Virgin Box
Virgin Box
Sky Box
Harmony 1000 Remote
50" Panny Plasma
42" Panny Plasma
Sony AV Amp
NAD Stereo Amp
Subwoofer
PS3
PS3
PC
I would love to know how much im saving by turning them all off at the mains....?
It makes no sense to leave it on overnight (unless you want it on for a reason)
I Have:
HTPC
Virgin Box
Virgin Box
Sky Box
Harmony 1000 Remote
50" Panny Plasma
42" Panny Plasma
Sony AV Amp
NAD Stereo Amp
Subwoofer
PS3
PS3
PC
I would love to know how much im saving by turning them all off at the mains....?
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It might make no sense, but when all electricity companies measure everything in kWh and all power consumption meters work in this way, that's how people will measure it
So my points all still stand, and measuring things in kWh is how most people will guage things.
People understand that if you save 1kWh per day then that's going to save them about 14p.
Personally by changing my habits and getting some new bulbs, i have managed to cut 1/3 of my electricity bill. Which is a very significant saving. When i measured everything and worked out the daily usage of everything i found that my toys (computers, tv, etc...) are way down the list of expensive things to run! Cooking my food each day on an eletric hob and oven uses more power than running my computers and tv for example.
Buy a power consumption meter (they are £10-£15). They go between the plug and the socket and let you measure power usage.
I cut massive amounts off my bill by analysing my usage