Power consumption - Power off / Deep Standby Request

The instant of power-up is one of the most stressful events in a unit’s life. After a certain number of cycles the unit will fail. Implied with the power-up is a temperature cycle, starting at ambient, rising to operating temperature, then back down to ambient after power-down. Deeper temperature cycles are more stressful. Power-up for months or years is a single cycle.

Don't expect a manufacturer to publish any data about this. My strategy for all electronics has been to power-up when needed and keep the unit powered for the remainder of the day, rather than cycling as I move from room to room. This minimizes the number of cycles. Over the years this has served me well.

We have put switches on some Sonos and power down any that aren’t going to be used for a week or more.

We used a dumb switch that uses no power and needs no outside connectivity to work. We plug our surge suppressors into the switch then the switch to the wall.

@buzz, @Stanley_4 

Thanks for explaining, makes sense. My case is similar to buzz. Some rooms may remain off for days or weeks. Others are turned on more regularly, a few times a week. If they are needed again on the same day, power usually stays on. I guess no more then 300 on/off cycles per year. My very first Play 5 is 12 years old. Still works. So I'm rather concerned that it's no longer supported by S2. Before devices die of temperature issues, Sonos will probably retire the hardware.

I noticed that power consumption in standby is only slightly lower than in operation. Temperature will probably be fairly constant if you leave it plugged. I doubt though, that lifespan due to on/off is a concern for the Sonos ppl. Since battery speakers implement automatic power off (have to).

Most Sonos users I talked to, including you, have some kind of workaround for 'Power-Off'. Dumb Plug, Smart Plug... Considering high standby consumption, hassle for reconfigurating grouping/volume/playlist after power up, I think it's unworthy for the market leader's products. Lots of use cases obviously, but we have to live with such a crutch. Understand their point, they also want instant response. But it's not necessary in all situations. Why not make power-off (deep standby) an option with some more comfort, and leave it to the users. I guess there's no official answer, but I hope they consider some solution for the future.

At increased cost it is possible to incorporate very low power technology, similar to that used in remote power switches, to wake the larger functions. Unfortunately, there is usually a delay while the unit starts. For the ‘Instant ON” group, this is impossible to live with technology. For the cheap crew, even a small increase in cost is a deal breaker -- even if it will save money in the long run. EU laws are forcing manufacturers to rethink their standby power requirements.

Technology marches forward. Functions that were at the edge of imagination a few years ago are now a given.

Consider the original IBM PC with it’s 4.77 MHz processor, 160K floppy drive, 64KB RAM, and simple serial port -- costing a few thousand dollars. Compare this to a $15.00 Raspberry Pi Zero. True, you need to add a cheap power supply for the Pi and the PC was bundled with a case, monitor and keyboard, but many of us now have these things in our junk box. 

But, that expensive PC is virtually useless at this point. Sadly, that PLAY:5 will fade into memory at some point. Yes, I know that a few audio systems from the 70’s and maybe older have survived (the units that have not survived are cluttering our landfills), but where is their HDMI port and network connection? Do they have a remote control?

@buzz

Yes, of course. I don't blame Sonos for discarding older devices, there's no choice. This wasn't my point. Wanted to say that devices are robust. Concerns regarding durability with power on/off may be unfounded. My 12 year old 5 is still fine, heavily used. Before they may break, they have long since been retired anyway. However, I still use it in the garage with S1. It is in fact still supported, just no longer integrateble with newer devices in the house.

Regarding costs for extra Low Power Technology, Sonos is in a lucky situation yet, I guess. I'm not aware of a lot of capable competition who may force them. Sound quality, at the same time ease of use and multiroom integraton is still pretty unique. Idle consumption is not a major showstopper, while there are workarounds for those who use a calculator.

But as you said, EU may come up with new rules. All the systems out there is a lot of wasted energy.

I suspect there is a constant frisson in the engineering department and other parts of Sonos with regards to how ‘robust’ parts need to be. In order to make sales, the pressure would be to keep prices down, and use less expensive components. Pennies matter when you’re dealing with volume production.
 

Engineering, of course, wants the best, so the device stands up to the rigors of time, power cycles, etc. And I suspect there’s always learning to be done. I wouldn’t have thought that the BRIDGE’s power supply to have been as significant source of failure, for instance. Or the lack of memory in the CR100/200 remotes…

I’d really like to see an option for deep-sleep and far lower power consumption paired with something like Wake On LAN tech to revive the Sonos to active operation.

That would need a hardware redesign though, the Ethernet port and minimum supporting hardware would have to be moved to a separately powered circuit to see big power reductions.

https://infogalactic.com/info/Wake-on-LAN#Hardware_requirements

Hardware requirements:
Wake-on-LAN support is implemented on the motherboard of a computer and the network interface (firmware), and is consequently not dependent on the operating system running on the hardware. Some operating systems can control Wake-on-LAN behaviour via NIC drivers. With older motherboards, if the network interface is a plug-in card rather than being integrated into the motherboard, the card may need to be connected to the motherboard by an additional cable. Motherboards with an embedded Ethernet controller which supports Wake-on-LAN do not need a cable. The power supply must meet ATX 2.01 specifications.

@Airgetlam, I had to google CR100/100. I was not aware of any remotes all those years. :) I use phone and Ipad. Has it been discarded, not available in the store?

Other then a couple of setup issues, I’ve never experienced serious problems with sonos itself. More Issues with IFTTT for Sonos recently. Not very stable. My perception of Sonos always has been high end quality, for a serious price though. I’d support the engeneers. I’d rather pay more for the best quality, including low power technology. Saves money anyway in the long run.

Stanley_4, not sure if I understand. Wake on LAN by Wifi? I don’t think many users have LAN cabels for their SONOS speakers. There must be minimum power consumption to check for some Wifi Signal.