[Hidden-tech] what uses electricity when it is plugged in?

[Robert Heller]

At Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:37:57 -0400 "B. Melville" <bobbimelville at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
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> 
> >    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
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> Next question: The guy who installed our DirecTV 
> setup told me that it shortens the life of the 
> units if you keep unplugging them. The power 
> needed to "power up" negates the power you saved 
> by turning them off. Is there any truth to this?

Depends on the device.  Some devices do have shortened lives due to
power cycling and for other devices it makes no difference.  Power
cycling (older) *SCSI* disks stresses the drive motors.  Leaving
(older) *IDE* disks on all the time wears out their bearings.  I don't
know if this applies to *modern* disks (esp. SATA disks).  OTOH,
spinning up disks takes *more* power than keeping them spinning, so
*frequently* power cycling disks may result in *more* overall power
usage than leaving them spinning all of the time.  This is probably more
of an issue with large scale servers.

> 
> 
> 
> >Everything that has a "remote control" uses juice when the box that is
> >controlled is lugged in. Here's why...
> >
> >Every remote is a transmitter. Either Infra-red, or by radio. So the box
> >that is controlled must have a receiver to get the remote signal. This says
> >it must have a power supply, hence AC power is used.
> >
> >A little known secret is the transmitter uses much less power than the
> >receiver. Why? Because the receiver must be "on" all the time, the
> >transmitter is only "on" when a button is pressed.
> >
> >Is your computer using electricity when it is plugged in? Mayby. If it is
> >on "standby," os "asleep," then it surely is. If you shut the switch off on
> >an older computer, probably not.
> >
> >Are other appliances consuming power? Possibly. The microwave, more than
> >likely. Why? It has a microcontroller that has to be up & running when you
> >press any button. Many othet microcontroller devices also have this problem.
> >
> >The recommendation of using a "Kill-a-watt" works. I place everythhing,
> >including the printer, on a power bar.  Off it goes when the my stuff is
> >not in use. (Yes, many printers are always on standby.)
> >
> >All this has two virtues:
> >
> >1. Lowers electricity useage, and
> >
> >2. Reduces noise pickup on your radio.
> >
> >This noise is a very real issue. Many, many modern power supplies generate
> >radio noise. The FCC is supposed to certify a test for this if the item is
> >sent to a testing lab. Much of that Chinese stuff isn't sent to a lab.
> >
> >Customs is supposed to intercept that which doesn't have certification.
> >They have one inspector between the East and Gulf coasts, so you know what
> >occurs.
> >
> >Finally does all this stuff use 15% of the power generated? That's a bit
> >much. I don't know the answer, but have heard in my EE trade mags that
> >standby power uses about one nuke plants worth of power in the country.
> >That's believable.
> >
> >
> >
> >Jim Ussailis
> >
> >ussailis at shaysnet.com
> >
> >
> >
> >Original Message:
> >-----------------
> >From: Robin MacRostie rmacr at choreographicdesign.com
> >Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:12:40 -0400
> >To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> >Subject: [Hidden-tech] what uses electricity when it is plugged in?
> >
> >
> >    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> >    ** If you did, we all thank you.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>                                                                               

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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