UPC box energy consumption?

thirtythirty

Hi all,

Just wondering how much energy / €€ UPC boxes use?

I've given up asking my housemate to turn his box in his room off - it's enough having to actively manage the living room box which is always left on!

Just wondering if having a box running 24hours a day, 7 days a week is actually adding up to anything, or is it simply the difference between one washing machine use extra a week etc.

Cheers.

Alun

My silver Thompson DVR uses 20W in standby, and 25W when operating, hardly any difference at all which is surprsing. If you plug it out, of course, it uses exactly 0W!

So if you left it on 24/7 it'd be using 25*24*7/1000, or approx 62kWh per week. At an average 14 cents per kWh, that equates to €8.68 a week or €451.36 a year. Putting it in standby when not being used would make some difference to that but not a huge amount, switching it off at the mains or unplugging it would make quite a difference although if you have a DVR and are using it to series link record programs that come on at odd hours of the night then this obviously won't work.

EDIT: Should be 25*24*7/1000 = 4.2kWh per week = €0.59 per week or €30.56 per year, don't know what went wrong there

ronkmonster

I have the black UPC box and it uses 20w in standby or switched on. I switch it off at night and turn on when i'm back from work. No point to leave on for 18 hours when nobody using it, unless you have something set to record during day. Maybe that's what your housemate is doing, recording stuff for later viewing. Can't really ask to turn off then.

thirtythirty

The UPC boxes actually record when they're off too.

I was just interested to know if there was a large difference between standby and on. That's crazy that the black UPC is exact same power usage both on and off! His bedroom one is the skinny silver one though, so don't know if that's any different.

Interesting calculations too Alun - half a grand just to watch tv!

I read somewhere that UPC were looking into uploading auto-standby after a long time of no activity, so hopefully that'll come through anyway.

Alun

spottyelephant wrote: »

The UPC boxes actually record when they're off too.

Only if they're in standby, no box can record when it's truly switched off at the mains, i.e. receiving no power at all. The so-called on/off switch on the box is only really putting it in standby, not actually powering it off, you'll have to physically unplug it or use the switch on the mains socket if there is one.

ronkmonster

spottyelephant wrote: »

The UPC boxes actually record when they're off too.

I was just interested to know if there was a large difference between standby and on. That's crazy that the black UPC is exact same power usage both on and off! His bedroom one is the skinny silver one though, so don't know if that's any different.

Interesting calculations too Alun - half a grand just to watch tv!

I read somewhere that UPC were looking into uploading auto-standby after a long time of no activity, so hopefully that'll come through anyway.

Yeah I'll take a look later to see if recording ups the amount significantly. I had just turned on too so it would be cool so no fans running.

ronkmonster

Alun wrote: »

Only if they're in standby, no box can record when it's truly switched off at the mains, i.e. receiving no power at all. The so-called on/off switch on the box is only really putting it in standby, not actually powering it off, you'll have to physically unplug it or use the switch on the mains socket if there is one.

On the black box there is a switch on the back left to switch it off fully.
There is a standby button on front too

Alun

ronkmonster wrote: »

On the black box there is a switch on the back left to switch it off fully.
There is a standby button on front too

OK, my silver box doesn't have that, but the box still won't record when switched off there will it? That sounds like a 'proper' physical on/off switch that breaks mains power to the PSU, so I'd be surprised if it did.

wench

Alun wrote: »

So if you left it on 24/7 it'd be using 25*24*7/1000, or approx 62kWh per week. At an average 14 cents per kWh, that equates to €8.68 a week or €451.36 a year.

Your maths are a little out
25*24*7/1000 = 4.2kWh per week = €0.59 per week or €30.56 per year

Alun

wench wrote: »

Your maths are a little out
25*24*7/1000 = 4.2kWh per week = €0.59 per week or €30.56 per year

OOOOOOPS! You're right, of course. Thought it sounded a bit high too!

I blame a bug in the Windows calculator myself

DingDong

The newer boxes(with the latest update) Cisco HD DVR, Black SD DVR and new Pace HD non-DVR have a "cold standby" setting were they only use 1W in standby. Downside(if you can call it that) is it take about 60 second to come out of standby. It will still come out of standby for recording etc. With the new update the box will also put itself into standby for dual record if your not there or if no commands have been issued to the stb within a set time.

ronkmonster

Alun wrote: »

OK, my silver box doesn't have that, but the box still won't record when switched off there will it
? That sounds like a 'proper' physical on/off switch that breaks mains power to the PSU, so I'd be surprised if it did.

No, its completely off. Still a draw of 1 from it but that would seem normal from plug still plugged in

Alun

ronkmonster wrote: »

No, its completely off. Still a draw of 1 from it but that would seem normal from plug still plugged in

If it's still drawing 1W, or even 1mW, then by definition, it's not completely off and the switch is therefore not a physical on/off switch but some kind of 'soft' switch like that on most PC's, where the front panel power switch isn't a real power switch at all, to facilitate things like wake-on-lan, and (in my case) the PSU draws about 3W in this state. At the rear of the PC, on the PSU near the power inlet, there's usually a 'real' physical power switch which cuts power completely to the PSU, and this case on my PC the power draw is exactly 0W when this is switched off, as expected.

It sounds to me like the rear switch on your black UPC box is putting it into the 'cold standby' that DingDong (who works for UPC, by the way!) is referring to in his post above. Otherwise, if it was a physical switch, then recording in this state would be a physical impossibility.

DingDong

AFAIK the new update hasnt been issued to the black SD DVR but it does sound like more of a mechanical version of the cold standby function.

ronkmonster

Alun wrote: »

If it's still drawing 1W, or even 1mW, then by definition, it's not completely off and the switch is therefore not a physical on/off switch but some kind of 'soft' switch like that on most PC's, where the front panel power switch isn't a real power switch at all, to facilitate things like wake-on-lan, and (in my case) the PSU draws about 3W in this state. At the rear of the PC, on the PSU near the power inlet, there's usually a 'real' physical power switch which cuts power completely to the PSU, and this case on my PC the power draw is exactly 0W when this is switched off, as expected.

It sounds to me like the rear switch on your black UPC box is putting it into the 'cold standby' that DingDong (who works for UPC, by the way!) is referring to in his post above. Otherwise, if it was a physical switch, then recording in this state would be a physical impossibility.

Actually, just home now and checked it again and its reading 0 watts now. It's been in the off position for around 5 hours now so it seems to be an actual switch.

I know I don't save that much turning in off each night but I'd rather have the €30 than giving it away so I can turn my tv on a bit faster.

Ranicand

DingDong wrote: »

AFAIK the new update hasnt been issued to the black SD DVR but it does sound like more of a mechanical version of the cold standby function.

The update is now on the small black DVR.:)

baldeagle

I too have the new 'energy saving' settings since an update last night (which actually somewhat failed as it wasn't cleanly performed and i had to enter the 'activation code' for it to finish.... oh, and my guess of 000 was correct).

So, what are these new energy saving settings all about, anyone know?

StanMcConnell

Does anyone know if it's possible to turn off the auto-standby feature?

StanMcConnell

Nevermind. I found the option in the power settings.