This weekend I purcased a few bits and pieces to help reduce the amount of standby power my computers and HT gear was using. It's debatable how much value ther eis in terms of $$, but there are lots of other good reasons not to waste power.

BTW: I got all of these from JayCar

Watt Meter
I tested this against known loads like lights and fluro tubes and it seems to be fairly close. It allows you to measure volts, watts as well as peak and average watts. It also allows you to enter a price per watt and gives you a price est.

DanData has a review of the same product here;
http://www.dansdata.com/quickshot041.htm

My media-PC uses 60w when on, and (more concerning) 12w when off (I do mean OFF, not standby). It's a simple P4 2Ghz jobby with 2x hdd, tuner and gfx card.

My HiFi setup used 26w when on standby

My wifes PC setup used 20w on standby (laptop, speakers, usb hub, wireless m/k, printer)

USB triggered power-board
These are simply a powerboard with a USB port. When there is power aviliable via the USB, it turns the board on. I used this on my wifes setup, the powerboards usb pluging into laptop, the usb hub then pluging into the passthrough on the powerboard (so only one usb plug attached to the laptop).

Every device was then powered off the usb triggered powerboard apart from the laptop and the wireless mouse charger so they could both charge.

When the laptop is off, the standby power is now reduced to zero (assuming the mouse and laptop are charged), a saving of 20w.


Master/Slave powerboard
This means that when a "master" device is on, so will be the "slave" devices. This is done by monitoring the power use of the Master and switching the Slave power-points based of that. There is 1xMaster, 3xSlave, and 4x standard power sockets. The powerboard delays shutdown of the slaves by 5 seconds in case you change your mind.

I used it for my HiFi setup which consts of a AVR, TV, DVD-R, DVD-C, CD-C, PVR, VCR. Standby was 26w.

I pluged the AVR in as master and everything else in on the slaves (via a extra power board!). The only exception was the PVR which needs power so it can record on schedule.

The result was a drop from 26w to 14w. The remainding 14w is more or less the PVR's standby... the AVR doesn't pull a measureable amount when in standy.


Overall
So... not a lot saved but every bit counts. All in all you are much better switching to energy efficent bulbs, turning off spare fridges, etc...

USB triggered power-board notes;
- 6 ports, 1 manual "off switch", surge protector
- usb port and passthrough.
- PCs often leave their USB ports on when in Standby mode. So unless you turn your PC off the board often doesn't.
- Xbox 360's leave their USB ports on... so this is useless for a 360

Master-Slave
- 1x Master
- 3x Slave
- 4x always on
- 5 second off delay

the usb trigger board sounds useful. How much did you pay for it?

Currently the USB powerboard is $49.95 as it's on special. http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MS4032

Oh, and just a note on the Master/Slave powerboard.... don't use a device that pulls a heap of power in standby as master. Not so oddly the power-board will not detect it's powered off!

A old NEC CRT I have can't be used as a master, as well as a SD DTV receiver (very cheap). They both pull way to much power in standby

However Yamaha AVRs (even very, very old ones) seem to be just fine. Mine (4-5 years old) is fine as is a mates (err... probably 10 years). They pull practically no power when in standby.

Hi Bevan

With the master/slave board, how quickly do the slaves power up after firing up the master (in your case the AVR)?
I'm wondering how it would go with a harmony remote that switches various devices on from standby according to the activity...

The master/slave starts up almost instantly.

The 5 second delay is for shut down, probably in case you made a mistake or change your mind you can turn the master back on before everything shuts down.

It's worth noting that not all devices are suitable to be masters, you need a device that have very low standby. The power-board doesn't have an adjustment, so if a device pulls move then 5-7 watts on standby it will probably keep the power-board on.

On the universal remote q, I use a remote and adding the power-board didn't really change any of the programming. Most devices load almost instantly into standby (as they should) and will be ready to receive signals from your Universal.

Some devices remember the state they where last in, so you can short-cut some of the programming. I.e. my TV (just a LG) remembers if it was on or standby when the power goes off and returns to that same mode. So we don't bother telling it to turn off/on now.

I'm using a URC remote though, a harmany might not allow such fine controll??

Digging up an old thread, does anyone know where I can get something along the lines of the switched USB powerboard? It seems the Jaycar one has been discontinued (I found a thread saying they weren't the most reliable things although this was possbily due to being overloaded).

I need one just to switch power to my sub. The "standby" mode of my sub uses >20W which I find unacceptable and it's a nuisance to turn on or off. I can either use one of the 12V outputs from my Denon amp or I can just use it's USB port. This could be even some kind of infrared device perhaps. Or different again, an audio level device that switches power (like the sub amp is supposed to do)

I also would like to get one for a PC to switch a couple of peripherals off with the PC. This one kind of has to be a USB type device.

In both cases, cost is an issue. I think that $70 for a USB switched power board is a bit rich to be honest. I also don't need 6 ports. 1 and I can supply a power board if necessary would be fine.

Hey Shonky, there was a thread a few months ago about Master Slave power boards, also some other remote controlled on/ off devices. Not sure if it's in the same ball park as what you are after, but THESE remote controlled numbers come in doubles, and pretty sure singles from memory (at least in my Origin catalog at the time)

HERE is the rest of the thread. The bits you may be interested in are towards the end I think.

TB

Thanks,

Yeah those master/slave powerboards are a little overkill. Any power board is really overkill. I only really need a single outlet. Also the sub is a little way away from everything else. So looks like running a power cable from the front of the room to the sub down the side. It does mean one or two other things could be switched but they have very low standby already.

One thing with the infra-red ones is that they will be at the back of the room so I may have an issue with my Logitech Harmony reaching them.

Might have a bit of a better hunt on ebay. Getting the right keyword can be tricky.

The Jarcar ones (PowerTech I think) seem to be the cheapest option. They still sell them at JayCar and a few other places.