INTERACT FORUM
Devices => Engen -- Home Automation with Z-Wave => Topic started by: JimH on May 27, 2016, 01:54:28 pm
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I've known about the electricity used by Standby Power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power) for a long time, but I've just put off doing anything about it.
Because we're working on a Z-Wave project, I bought an Aeon Labs Smart Power Strip (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=105140.0). I thought I'd try it as a power switch for my AV equipment.
I also put a Kill-a-Watt meter on it, so I can measure the power consumed.
It turns out that the receiver and the TV use 40 and 11 watts respectively when they are in standby! That's 1.2 KW per day or about 440 KW per year. It has been costing about $5 per month or $60 per year for those devices doing nothing.
The Aeon Strip is about $90, so it has about a 1.5 year payback.
Pictures (http://www.pix01.com/gallery/8D12431D-7EA0-495D-9EA2-775091458CB9/Aeon_Power_Strip/thumbnails.html)
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I've been thinking about getting something like this.
I assume you then use your programmable remote to first power on the "Power Strip" then send a command to power on the TV and AVR (and wake the HTPC)?
How fast does the TV and AVR power back on from a cold start?
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I'm using OneRemote to send URL's to Engen, so it's all in software at this point. It's explained on the JRiver Smart Theater board. You can see the OneRemote screenshot in the fourth picture posted above.
We can probably find a way to allow MC Remote buttons to do this.
Here's an example of a link that turns on the 2nd outlet on the power strip:
http://192.168.0.3:52110/alpha000/basic_set?node=13B,value=100
13 is the node number (Z-Wave)
B is the sub-node that corresponds to the 2nd outlet
Value is % of "on". 0 is off.
You could send this from any browser.
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Here's the power strip. Two outlets are always on. The other four are individually controllable. It's about $85.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41IvBmk1AfL.jpg)
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This is an issue that is going away.
EU regulations mean that any equipment sold since 2009 consume less than 1W in standby, equipment sold since 2012 consume less than 0.5W. I'd guess US regulations will be similar.
Recent equipment that I've bought does indeed use very little power in standby. My audio equipment is switched off with a couple of Z-wave modules, as it's old and wastes a few 10s of watts in standby, but I don't bother with newer and leave it in standby (including computers) - the (old) Z-wave modules consume more than the equipment does!
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This power strip consumes about 0.7 of a watt. You can see it on the meter in one of the photos.
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This is an issue that is going away.
EU regulations mean that any equipment sold since 2009 consume less than 1W in standby, equipment sold since 2012 consume less than 0.5W. I'd guess US regulations will be similar.
I'm with BillT on this. I'm not that concerned by 0.5W on standby per item of electrical kit.
Most of my place is lit with LEDs, so it's major base load consumers that are where the dollars are at for me.