Question

Power management

  • 29 June 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 1456 views

I’ve just been looking at standby power use at our place.

Very Rough calcs for us: 1xsoundbar + 2x ones = around 14 watts/hr.

8 hours sleep @ 14 watts x 365 days = nearly 41 Kw every year.

Annual cost @ 30c/kw = approx $12/year of standby power while we sleep. And then there’s the greenhouse gas emissions.

this sound absolutely nuts to me. Am I missing something?

is there an option to automatically turn off at night say from 11-6? Surely a simple bit of coding for such a sophisticated piece of kit?

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3 replies

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I'm thinking more CO2 will be good as we get deeper into the current solar minimum. Hit 115 F / 46 C here today so we aren't there yet.

The Sonos power draw numbers are here:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/256?language=en_US

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3515?language=en_US

Sonos doesn't say much on powering off:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/985?language=en_US

Personally I leave mine on 24x7 and connected through a good quality surge suppressor. First to avoid the surge stress when powering on, many posts here go like "I unplugged my Sonos and when I plugged it back in it died." Second to avoid power surges from hitting the Sonos power supply bits, they will only take so much before they die. I do pull the plug on most everything in the house if leaving for a week or more though. Not to save power but to reduce the risks associated with powered on equipment.
Thanks Ratty.

Yep I fly a lot but I offset every flight. I haven’t done the math but if every sonos unit is doing this then sonos standby is probably the equivalent of x,000 cars on the road. No doubt someone will math that at some point.

Sounds like a software solution would be the best answer here. Thanks for the tip about excessive power cycling. I hadn’t considered effect on product life.

Much appreciated
Very Rough calcs for us: 1xsoundbar + 2x ones = around 14 watts/hr.
Sounds about right. Watts that is. Watts is power consumption. Watts times hours is energy.

Annual cost @ 30c/kw = approx $12/year of standby power while we sleep.

Per kWh. Around one quarter per week? Considering they're network devices, just like your router, that's vanishingly small.

And then there’s the greenhouse gas emissions.

Whilst every ton of CO2 matters, let me just ask this: do you ever fly anywhere?

is there an option to automatically turn off at night

No. Like many network devices they're designed to be left on 24x7, ready to go at a moment's notice. They do consume less power when idle. There is of course nothing to stop you using timer switches on the electrical connections, but regularly powercycling the units is likely to reduce their life expectancy owing to thermal and electrical stress.