Hi,
Aim is to minimise Standby Power without switching off devices when not in active use from the power plug everytime.
I currently switch off everything from the power plug, use a Belkin Timer/Adapter to charge devices at night.
I wonder if there is any power board that automatically senses when devices are in standby mode and cuts the power off completely? Will be especially useful for multiple household kitchen devices that can be plugged into a single power board.
Senses the demand.
There is no demand if they have no power, they can't turn on.
I am pretty sure most device use very little if any power in stand by mode which is why they go into stand by mode and that I think you have properly spend more money on expensive Belkin adapter than you will ever save on your power bill. I personally think most people time is more valuable than worrying about very minimal power usage I mean you could save more money and time getting off Ozbargain and never doing anything at all by stop using energy on your phone or computer. If you want to save power just plug out or switch off those device you do not use or not using frequently.
Even going by these two articles 1 and 2 which I think they overestimate the actual costs of stand by power usage the only ones that will have high yearly costs are things that are actually used ie router most people generally want this on all the time and do not want to turn it back on even time they use it, printers in particular ink jet needs to remain in power otherwise you will probably waste most of your ink which might be expensive than power cost you save and some other you can easily just pull the plug out or turn it off.
I don't have this, but I have seen it in action. Essentially will turn off whatever devices are plugged into it. https://embertec.com.au/vic/products/embertec-smartswitch/ (available second hand on ebay, but was once free).
The Victorian Goverenment used to give away similar things, but it was mainly for TV's etc, I have one somewhere, it didn't detect if it was in standby, but was on a timer, you had to press something on a remote…TV volume up or something every hour, otherwise it would switch off. It was a real PITA.
But if it's just for kitchen devices, could you not just turn the powerboard off at the wall when not using? Or is it hard to get to?
I still use one of these for my TV. Yes, it can be a PITA, but it beats paying for the electricity used by my 60-inch plasma every time I doze off for a few hours or longer, which I regularly do, of an evening/night.
What kitchen devices did you have that use standby power? Microwave?
Also, standby power is a tiny tiny piece of overall consumption.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/hardtalk/id494517111?iā¦
"A trillion here and a trillion there, and all of a sudden you are talking real money"
Sorry I don't do podcasts. You are talking about at home power consumption, it's really only affecting you. If you want to save the world or really cut power bills, chuck solar on.
š, thanks for very specific advice. Never thought about it ;-)
You want a master/slave power board.
I guess the people people replying either aren't old enough to remember when they were popular (was a while back) or don't use power tools. You can get vacuum cleaners that turn on/off when the power tool (like a saw) is used.
Example from Jaycar: https://www.jaycar.com.au/master-slave-powerboard-with-auto-ā¦. You need to check how much current the master needs to draw before it powers the slaves, no point if standby power is enough to do it.
Huh, not for NSW customers, I wonder what that is about.
$5.00!
I usually never recommend Jaycar because I find the majority of their stuff overpriced utter junk, but for $5 this is a no-brainer to start with.
Edit: discontinued and out of stock.
Jaycar is a no for me as well, but first hit on Google.
$5 would have made me temporarily reverse my policy though.
Hehe. We all have our price.
I do not think a master/slave power board would actually help OP for his kitchen appliances as this requires you to have to decided a master device which I cannot think of good device that you will turn on in additional to a kitchen appliance. I believe I once used them for TV setup which had master being receiver so turn it on and other device turn on at same time TV, consoles etc which is one valid reason for master/slave power board and could be used with a computer setup.
The problem with kitchen appliances is you will need to have master device which you will have to turn on and possibly waste power if you not even going to use this device and then turn it off to turn the slaves off at this point it feel like you might as well just get power board with switches on them and manually turn them off and on where you only turn on things you are going to you use.
I do not think a master/slave power board would actually help OP
I'd agree, he's better off with a timer or just switching the power board off at the wall (which is an OzBargain-approved freebie).
Nothing in my kitchen draws any stand-by power anyway, bar the microwave. Be a bit awkward if you need to turn the blender on before you can use the toaster.
If you're handy with assembling electronic kits I'm pretty sure Silicon Chip magazine described at least one project that monitored a device for power consumption and switched off an outlet when that power was below a definable sleep level.
I read a blog recently which measured and found that the master/slave circuitry consumed more power than what the standby devices were using. Can't find the blog but it was written by an Australian.
The Belkin timer that you are already using is your best bet.
don't waste money on these junk, you'll end up saving pitance amount of money that takes probably 20 years to pay for itself, if you own the place, better spend $5000 to put solar and never have to worry about this, and it'll pay back itself, guaranteed within 5 years.
Could buy a Smart Switch, and then link in your location, or timer, or voice assistant.
Master/slave is what you want for your speakers to turn off with your TV, etc.
However this is stupid for a couple ways, including:
Standby power of things like toasters, kettles, USB chargers is so absolutely minuscule that even spending $20 on a bargain basement power plug to do something about it is putting you behind financially. If you care about the earth, just take this minuscule usage and compare to any corporation who has 1000x the power usage for no particular reason.
Remember you pay almost a dollar a day just for access to power.
I commit the crime of number 1 all the time by turning off my TV at the wall! However, I have only been doing this because the standby button on the remote is faulty but I could use the one located on the side of the TV. Thanks for highlighting this point. I will be sure to change my behavior.
And how to do you plan to turn them back on again?