Now let’s talk about the blame-shifting campaign behind “vampire power”, as if your coffee maker or tv using .5 watt on standby is going to make such a big difference that we need changes to its design.
To be fair, some devices sit there drawing a lot of power. I saw close to 50w while my (mostly sourced from Goodwill) AV setup was plugged in and “off” and quickly started turning off the power strip they were all plugged into after seeing that
Same. I’ve got a TV in my basement. It’s got my 5.1 receiver and speakers and stuff on it. Not a great system, by any stretch (I’m sure my 3.1 soundbar is actually much better for most use and especially my living room layout), but it’s there.
We don’t use it very much. One day I went down there and the receiver was hot to the touch. Apparently someone had left it on. I’m not really sure what it was doing to make that much heat, but we all know that heat is a waste product for electronics.
Immediately put a smart power strip on that sucker.
Also got one on my desk. I keep a bunch of laptops at-the-ready for work (one daily-driver and 4 test systems), on USB-C docking stations and a KVM. Used to be I heard the fans on those docks spinning all the time, and my office was much warmer. Not so much anymore.
Vampire power used to be a big deal. If you have any old time power supplies that feel solid and heavy, they’re analog, transformers, and used significantly more power. While it was little compared to the appliance, it would always draw power and that adds up as we got more devices.
Yep.
Now let’s talk about the blame-shifting campaign behind “vampire power”, as if your coffee maker or tv using .5 watt on standby is going to make such a big difference that we need changes to its design.
To be fair, some devices sit there drawing a lot of power. I saw close to 50w while my (mostly sourced from Goodwill) AV setup was plugged in and “off” and quickly started turning off the power strip they were all plugged into after seeing that
Same. I’ve got a TV in my basement. It’s got my 5.1 receiver and speakers and stuff on it. Not a great system, by any stretch (I’m sure my 3.1 soundbar is actually much better for most use and especially my living room layout), but it’s there.
We don’t use it very much. One day I went down there and the receiver was hot to the touch. Apparently someone had left it on. I’m not really sure what it was doing to make that much heat, but we all know that heat is a waste product for electronics.
Immediately put a smart power strip on that sucker.
Also got one on my desk. I keep a bunch of laptops at-the-ready for work (one daily-driver and 4 test systems), on USB-C docking stations and a KVM. Used to be I heard the fans on those docks spinning all the time, and my office was much warmer. Not so much anymore.
My old ISP-supplied cable box/DVR would be pretty toasty when it was on standby. That thing was vampire for sure.
Now, my phone charger, not so much.
Vampire power used to be a big deal. If you have any old time power supplies that feel solid and heavy, they’re analog, transformers, and used significantly more power. While it was little compared to the appliance, it would always draw power and that adds up as we got more devices.
And landfill the old ones, of course.
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