How much power does standby use?

[Anonymous]

I've got a roomate who is obsessive compulsive about keeping the power down. He likes to blame me (but turns a blind eye to his own constant use and subsequent neglect to turn off the electric heat) for our electric bill (which are lower than all our friends despite our living in a house. sigh.), and has resorted to turning off the two power strips that all of my games are attached to. This naturally leads to me losing my date/time data on some things, it resets the 'evolving' screen on my PS2, and it's just plain bad for the hardware.

Does anybody know how much energy the various consoles use when in standby? The PS2 is the only device I can think of that actually has a standby mode, but if I remember correctly they all have internal batteries that charge while turned off and plugged in. Is this correct?

[davidbrit2]

Well, if you can find a multimeter that measures AC amperage, that would be an easy way to find out. Don't fry yourself, though. Heh.

And what's this "evolving screen" you speak of?

[Anonymous]

When you first turn the PS2 on and 'Playstation 2' floats on the screen, the cubes and mist fly at you, then it goes to the Browser menu (with the eight flying light balls). The longer you leave the PS2 plugged in and on, the floating cubes multiply and change.

[l_lamb]

And what's this "evolving screen" you speak of?

The main title screen on power-up changes - more cubes and light. I don't know what parameters the system uses to determine the look of the screen but it seems a system that's been completely powered down usually has only one or two cubes on power-up. Mine right now has about 30.

[Anonymous]

*BUMP*

I would be surprised if no one here knows how many watts game systems draw in standby mode. I don't know how to check, nor do I have a multimeter, so any info is appreciated.

[Starcade]

wow, your roomate must be a loser, tell him you'll give him a dollar every time the power bill comes, because the standby mode dosn't take any more than that. LOL

[Raedon]

When you first turn the PS2 on and 'Playstation 2' floats on the screen, the cubes and mist fly at you, then it goes to the Browser menu (with the eight flying light balls). The longer you leave the PS2 plugged in and on, the floating cubes multiply and change.

I thought the buildings on the PS2 were have many saved games you had in the memory card inserted?

[Anonymous]

hmm, could be. I always thought it was based on time. I can't say for sure because I'm always swapping memory cards, and there's rarely one in the PS2 when I turn it on, but I'll try it out when I get home.

[wberdan]

if you left the ps2 on 24 hours a day for a month i doubt you would see much difference in the power bill. standby uses VERY little power, and it generally is better for your electronic components to be on standby when possible. i never shut of my stereo components because if i do it takes several hours before they warm up again and sound as good. circuits in components take a while to stabilize.. leaving them on will make sure they perform at their best. my stereo uses very little power on all the time

willie

[Quazick]

Yeah I agree with wberdan on that one..

I leave my computer running 24/7 mostly...that's why my online time for AIM is usually VERY high...like 3-7 days!

For some reason my idot computer allways makes these 2 errors everytime I boot up and they take FOREVER to do it so it take a while to log on...

So I just leave it running and avoid the mess! :)

Rock On! :rocker:

[bargora]

Based on the heat it generates, I'd say that the PS2 on standby uses 10 watts or less. And I'd imagine that any of your "wall wart" power supplies suck less than 5 watts each. So if you have your PS2 and your 5200 and your 2600 and your Genesis and your NES and your SNES all hooked up to the wall, then you're probably burning, at most, 40 watts, or about a killowatt hour per day. Since a KWH costs about $0.15 (guessing on the high side for your area), that would mean that you're spending about $6.00 at the most per month to keep stuff plugged in. And I'm probably misoverestimating by a factor of two to three.

So tell him either (1) that you'd be happy to chip in the first fiver on the electric, or (2) BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASSHOLE; BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASSHOLE; RAM IT UP YOUR JAM IT UP YOUR...

I LUV RUM

[ddockery]

Does he unplug all the alarm clocks and microwaves and such too?

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bargora!

Ahh, I love it when valued DP regulars drunkenly tirade their way through the forums. God Bless 'em!

[Sylentwulf]

Standby uses as much electricity as a watch battery, since that's all it's DOING. it's just keeping enough juice going to keep settings in effect. I would guesstimate electricity useage at $.10 a month.

Computer usage is a whole other matter. Fans cost a lot.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I turn my computer off all the time, which I hate to do. His computer just fried, and he doesn't seem to get the fact that he turns it off an on like it's a bathroom light might have had something to do with it.

He's the kind of roomate that leaves lights on all the time, and then blames the other roomate (me) when the power bill goes up. The power strip thing is mostly a symbolic move, kind of a "stop using so much power, ass" move by him. It does suck, and I'll be moving out in August, thank god.

[wberdan]

Yeah, I turn my computer off all the time, which I hate to do. His computer just fried, and he doesn't seem to get the fact that he turns it off an on like it's a bathroom light might have had something to do with it.

He's the kind of roomate that leaves lights on all the time, and then blames the other roomate (me) when the power bill goes up. The power strip thing is mostly a symbolic move, kind of a "stop using so much power, ass" move by him. It does suck, and I'll be moving out in August, thank god.

leaving a (non florescent) light on for a few hours will probably use more power than your equipment in standby for the whole month.