On 3 Feb 2005 17:00:34 -0800, (Greg) wrote:

Hello,

I have become embroiled in a discussion with government
representatives from many agencies about whether or not items such as
TVs, VCRs, DVDs etc should be turned off to conserve electricity as
opposed to leaving them turned on in standby mode.

Can someone PLEASE tell me why standby mode is used?

Why should such appliances be left in standby mode instead of turned
off?

If the appliance is turned off instead of being put into standby mode,
will the appliance's life be shortened, by how much and why?

I have seen sums on the energy savings if appliances are turned off
instead of being placed in standby, but I suspect that there is more
than this than meets the eye.

Many, many thanks,
Greg
Brisbane
Australia


It depends on what they are.
Sometimes, such as with satellite receivers, standby just turns off
outputs and the display, as it often has to keep the LNB powered, and
receive guide and authorisation updates (and system firmware updates,
which often need the receiver in standby to take). If you were to
often remove power from a satellite receiver, it would lose the guide
data (as that is kept in DRAM), and would miss authorisation updates,
meaning you'd lose programming.

Some DVD players "standby" is no different. (and have hard mains
switches, which I use if they are not used for extended lengths of
time).

Microwave ovens could be made to go "dark" and opening the door
activating the PS for the micro (I had one that did that, and it
wouldn't take a heck of a lot to re-work a modern oven to do the
same).

VCRS I think turn off the motors and the tuner/analog processing.

Otherwise most of the standby systems in electronics are for user
convenience.