Can a switched on empty mains socket use power?
- Thread starter Phil2008
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Well no, because in my experience at least they often schedule it so the device checks (or the update is pushed) to devices overnight.
In any case, I still don't understand why people get so worked up about leaving things on standby. As has been said earlier in the thread, things like boiling more water in a kettle than you actually need, or leaving a light on in a room will use far more power than just leaving a few red LEDs lit up. Unless your entire household is as energy-efficient as it can be, it's really not worth worrying about.
Soldato
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The reason the standby pedants annoy me is because it's like trying to tackle a house fire by chucking a thimble of water on it.
I gave the example of reboiling the kettle because you left the room when the button clicked, or leaving the bathroom light on for just a few minutes longer than needed. Those things use far more power than leaving a modern TV on standby (which is using almost zero electricity). I also don’t appreciate being guilt tripped by the green brigade when businesses and factories waste far, far, far more energy than I ever will by leaving my TV on standby. For example I often walk past a business park near me at night and every single building is empty yet lit up like a Christmas tree, and I don't just mean around the entrances/exits for security, I mean every floor and every office.
We seem to get a bit OCD and extreme over the tiniest things like stand-by yet ignore stuff like that. I’d bet if a large office building was to turn all its lights off for just a month, the rest of the city could leave their TVs on standby for a decade because the difference is power usage really is that large.
The whole being anal about tuning off stand-by is nothing but a placebo effect IMO, so people can feel and warm and fuzzy that they are actively doing something to help the environment. The truth is, you are making as close to no difference at all as can be.
I gave the example of reboiling the kettle because you left the room when the button clicked, or leaving the bathroom light on for just a few minutes longer than needed. Those things use far more power than leaving a modern TV on standby (which is using almost zero electricity). I also don’t appreciate being guilt tripped by the green brigade when businesses and factories waste far, far, far more energy than I ever will by leaving my TV on standby. For example I often walk past a business park near me at night and every single building is empty yet lit up like a Christmas tree, and I don't just mean around the entrances/exits for security, I mean every floor and every office.
We seem to get a bit OCD and extreme over the tiniest things like stand-by yet ignore stuff like that. I’d bet if a large office building was to turn all its lights off for just a month, the rest of the city could leave their TVs on standby for a decade because the difference is power usage really is that large.
The whole being anal about tuning off stand-by is nothing but a placebo effect IMO, so people can feel and warm and fuzzy that they are actively doing something to help the environment. The truth is, you are making as close to no difference at all as can be.
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No I don't worry about it either, but I know I should. But I can understand why people get worked up about it.
Awesome....
a device marketed to reduce your energy consumption that talks about how many watts per hour a tv on standby uses, and how many watts per hour this device uses! A Watt is already a measure of energy per hour.... Watts per hour is some kind of energy acceleration! (I don't know what exactly that is but i'm sure some clever bod here does
)Plus, i reckon you'd need to use that thing for 4 or 5 years to recoup the cost of buying it by saving the electricity used to keep your tv on standby when you're not using it!
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Soldato
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But that is deliberately playing with stats to make things seem worse than they are.
If you're going to add up every house in Britain, then why not calculate every office in the country that leaves it's lights on, or every household that boils a full kettle just to make one or two cups etc.
Individually those thing use way more power than standby does, thus multiplying it up retains that ratio.
Awesome....
a device marketed to reduce your energy consumption that talks about how many watts per hour a tv on standby uses, and how many watts per hour this device uses! A Watt is already a measure of energy per hour.... Watts per hour is some kind of energy acceleration! (I don't know what exactly that is but i'm sure some clever bod here does
Plus, i reckon you'd need to use that thing for 4 or 5 years to recoup the cost of buying it by saving the electricity used to keep your tv on standby when you're not using it!
Aye it's a false economy, like lots of things someone starts promoting a principle and forgets about the actually net result. Like when our local council sent everyone a posh glossy leaflet telling people to not leave things on standby forgetting that even if that advice was followed it would take years to recoup the energy used in producing those leaflets and delivering them.
It's the same as when I worked for them in the office of their refuse department. Everything revolved around the recycling percentage, which is silly because it should be the amount going to landfill. They would rather collect 100 tonnes of landfill waste and 100 tonnes of recycling so they could report a 50% recycling rate than pick up 90 tonnes of landfill and 80 tonnes of landfill even though the latter situation would be better for the environment.
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Not to mention the energy cost of making that contraption, if the environment is a primary concern
No its not.
But... TV on standby on its own = 35 watts and hour.
Clever socket uses 0.4 watts an hour. That's 34.6 watts less.
Device costs £30 average annual cost of leaving TV etc on standby £80 so cost recoup time just under six months.
Turn your modem off at night and your sync rate will drop as it'll assume theres something wrong with your line. I wouldn't do it anyways because I'm too lazy, but theres still a legitimate reason.
Soldato
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From the website for this:
"With a twenty second reaction time, you won't be left waiting around for your equipment to power up."
Sorry what...20 seconds, that's way longer than it takes for my TV to turn on from standby and be ready to watch...so I would indeed be waiting around...
Not to mention the fact that my TV when switched off then on at the mains come on in standy by mode so I'd then have to press standby agin to switch the tv on...pointless!!!
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The gas engineer said that unused mains sockets that are switched on could be costing about £50 a year extra
That's why he's a gas engineer and not an electrician.
Soldato
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Old TVs used to. Not any more though.
Soldato
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Soldato
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Just looked up the Standby power consumption of my 3 year old 42 inch plasma...anything like 35 watts???
Nope a mere 0.7watts!!!
I imagine a newer set would be the same or better!!