Reduce idle consumption energy level (currently around 5W)


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Sonos devices on average consume about 5 watts each if idle. Having 5 sonos devices around this means 25 watts on average idle consumption. Over a year this is about (25x24hx365) 219 kwh. In Germany where 1 kwh is about 0,30 Euro Cent this then means about 70 Euro (about 100$) just to maintain an idle system. This is just too much and could easily be reduced. Looking at the environmental aspect this gets even more critical: There are around 2.5 million Sonos devices around. This adds up to 110,000,000 kwh or 110 million kwh.

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Hi, moskito99. I have noticed that you have posted in two fairly dated topics. You're welcome to post in any thread that is still open, though you do stand a better chance of engaging in successful discussion if you start a new thread. I'll close this one now. Many thanks.
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Ill do someThis thread is 4 years old. The 5 watts thing is now under 3 watts for the Play:5 and One.

Are you referring to updated software? Or because of new hardware (new Play One, new play 5). My devices are all the old models (3x play1, 2x play3 and 1x playbar). Was there an improvement from software and if yes, when did it happen?
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My bad: I tested again the power consumption of my Play:1 with another wattmeter and in idle mode it draws 2.7W. Much better. But still a few watts x times the speakers....
I am looking for remote controlled switch so that I can easily turn on and off the speakers according to the needs. So thks to Stanley for the links, I will have a look tonight!!
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A simple switch can save the idle power use, this type is handy if the outlet isn't handy:
https://smile.amazon.com/Stanley-31324-CordMax-Polarized-Extension/dp/B003E46M60/ref=sr_1_4

This type works well if the outlet is easy to reach:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MYN3OO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Fancy and may well waste too much power you have ones like these:
https://smile.amazon.com/Etekcity-Wireless-Electrical-Household-Appliances/dp/B00FAII824/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

Sonos may not have a lot of options to reduce idle power further - the processor, Ethernet and WiFi all need to be available so the system can be contacted and told to wake up when needed. That doesn't leave a lot that could be powered down on a connect, on a player or connect amp there are the amplifiers, but I believe they are already being powered down at idle from looking at my (Play 3 and 5) power measurements.

Kumar: I would be interested in statistics about the lifespan of PSU plug in all the time vs one being unplugged regularly.
Then we could compare the two
Add up all the items in the house and all these tiny streams become rivers.

See what I wrote earlier - this isn't available, but the phenomenon is known. So the only sure way to avoid rivers is to have less streams to start with. Or do something like what I do - turn off power to only those units that are not used on a daily basis and turn it on only when needed. Hopefully, this leaves me ahead on the equation with rooms where the music is needed once a week or less.
I also walk instead of using the car, as much as I can. Saves on doctor's bills as well that way. Isolated environmental gestures are usually not worth the trouble.
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This thread is 4 years old. The 5 watts thing is now under 3 watts for the Play:5 and One.
Wrong: my wattmeter on which my Play:1 is plugged says 5w, on idle status, after few hours of non use, not playing. I am in Europe with 230v power.
Si if Play:1 is above the listed specs from Sonos, I don't expect the Play:5 to be more accurate..

Kumar: I would be interested in statistics about the lifespan of PSU plug in all the time vs one being unplugged regularly.
Then we could compare the two and see if what is the less costly for the consumer between power savings + replacement vs plugged all the time...we are talking of years of ownership... so until my house is powered by solar panel, I will continue to care about power consumption of the devices which are always on.
Add up all the items in the house and all these tiny streams become rivers.
This thread is 4 years old. The 5 watts thing is now under 3 watts for the Play:5 and One.
Before totting up savings and little bird love, also factor in the cost in money and environment impact of faster equipment replacement arising from shorter service life arising from power cycling it. No one can say what this is, but arguably it may cancel out leaving the little birds in the same place as before.

On the other hand, not covering the whole house has a more definite impact on little birds.
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Hi,

I am considering to by Sonos products to cover my house. Roughly 10 units to make stereo pairs. It represents 50w (5wx10) 24/24h x 365 so about 70 EUR per year, 200 kg of CO2 over the year.
This is non sense. For most of the people, between work and night, the system is consuming power for nothing.
For now I am holding from buying. Reading at this post, over 4 years old now, it is clear that Sonos does not mind a penny of power saving request from customers.
Corporate responsibility is equal to 0 on that regard.
Denon Heos offers deep Stand By mode where the units are drawing only 0,6W, which is much better. Caveat: user has to put manually in deep sleep mode and to reactivate manually as well. So it is pretty useless. Not buying either.
Bluesound does not seem to do better...

Will need to spend extra money to buy smart plugs to program time when power can be cut off night and working hours). Considering the savings made it will take a few years to get the money back but at least, the little birds will love me...
I would love to see a powersave feature.

Example: i usually dont need it between 01:00 and 05:00 o clock.

This could be very easilly configured.
Also wake up on press could be implemented in conjunction.

Chris
I use a programmable remote power plug on my sonos Playbar, Sub and two rear "One" units so I can switch them off when I turn of the TV or Music, I also have another button to power of the TV. Other accessible sonos units in kitchen & bedroom are manually turned off when not required.
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sorry it should have been HEOS 7
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Heros 7 : stand-by 4.5watt (network standby), 0,3 watt ( deep standby).
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Why no response from SONOS on this very urgent problem or even much better why still wait for a good solution
+1 for standby / power off
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I wanted to buy two Sonos Play3s for two bedrooms - but no way am I going to add any more wifi to the six components I already have. Eight units at 5 watts each for a year and spraying us with wifi all the time - even while we sleep - it's just not on.
This issue makes me think about Sonos alternatives. The idea of Sonos is great, but the standby power consumption is a no-go for me, so I havent bought any Sonos device yet. My favorite setup will be a CONNECT and a PLAY:5.

@Sonos: Please implement a solution for the standby power consumption or let the system power off easily and convince me to choose your products ;)
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For people who wire all of their players you can actually reduce the 'low power' (or 'idle') energy consumption by disabling the internal Wi-Fi hardware. For example, rather than 5W on idle it'll be around 3 to 2W instead, just by disabling the Wi-Fi hardware. It may not be much but when looked at in regards to the overall scheme of things it can add up to quite a big bit of power saving.
I've done this myself and used equipment to measure the power draw with and without this hardware enabled.

While this is not officially supported by SONOS it is not something that will damage or hinder the capabilities of your players or system, SONOS just prefer the Wi-Fi aways be on in the off chance that you may decide to go wireless with one or more players.

You can give it a shot: http://vowe.net/archives/013907.html

@User873439
Most people want a scheduler to disable the complete Sonos at night. kmjy's proposal is only for advanced people that do not want to wait for a solution. But of course it works only if you do not disturb the Sonos.NET. In my case a set of Play:5 is connected through LAN beside the bridge.It does not make sense to have the Play:5 WLAN enabled as the other players are placed in the other direction of my house.
Please Sonos build something like the mentioned schedule. It would be so nice to shut off the system for example from 12pm to 6am so it would save the half of the standby power consumption costs.

Would be so great if we hear anything from you.
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I love my sonos system but I love my planet more. Something has to be done on this via firmware.

The idle power draw has definitely kept me from adding more units to my system.
I still don't understand how this power saving thing is supposed to work in a large installation where idle players are still routing traffic for players that are being used. Am I supposed to guess the optimal route for a given player within the wireless mesh and then go from room to room turning on the intervening players that the signal needs to travel through before I can get music in the room I want to play?Also losing player state and playlist information is not acceptable under any circumstances. It is bad enough when it happens due to an unintentional power failure and it will never be an acceptable compromise to achieving other design goals.
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For people who wire all of their players you can actually reduce the 'low power' (or 'idle') energy consumption by disabling the internal Wi-Fi hardware. For example, rather than 5W on idle it'll be around 3 to 2W instead, just by disabling the Wi-Fi hardware. It may not be much but when looked at in regards to the overall scheme of things it can add up to quite a big bit of power saving.
I've done this myself and used equipment to measure the power draw with and without this hardware enabled.

While this is not officially supported by SONOS it is not something that will damage or hinder the capabilities of your players or system, SONOS just prefer the Wi-Fi aways be on in the off chance that you may decide to go wireless with one or more players.

You can give it a shot: http://vowe.net/archives/013907.html

The same argument goes the other way around. I'm using smart outlets and my only problem is loosing the playlists. :P

So no, we need both, but of course I will be happy if they realize any of the useful ideas at all.

Finally its a shame how non-ecologically Sonos is.
For people who wire all of their players you can actually reduce the 'low power' (or 'idle') energy consumption by disabling the internal Wi-Fi hardware. For example, rather than 5W on idle it'll be around 3 to 2W instead, just by disabling the Wi-Fi hardware. It may not be much but when looked at in regards to the overall scheme of things it can add up to quite a big bit of power saving.
I've done this myself and used equipment to measure the power draw with and without this hardware enabled.

While this is not officially supported by SONOS it is not something that will damage or hinder the capabilities of your players or system, SONOS just prefer the Wi-Fi aways be on in the off chance that you may decide to go wireless with one or more players.

You can give it a shot: http://vowe.net/archives/013907.html

Hi Marc, thanks for the like. I do agree keeping the playlists would be useful. However, I would sacrifice the availability of playlists if Sonos use this as a reason not to implement a power scheduler . Hopefully they will do both, but the power scheduler makes such sense, and I can't see why they can't do it, in fact as yet I have been given no reason as to why they can't? Thanks Marc.
Userlevel 4
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For people who wire all of their players you can actually reduce the 'low power' (or 'idle') energy consumption by disabling the internal Wi-Fi hardware. For example, rather than 5W on idle it'll be around 3 to 2W instead, just by disabling the Wi-Fi hardware. It may not be much but when looked at in regards to the overall scheme of things it can add up to quite a big bit of power saving.
I've done this myself and used equipment to measure the power draw with and without this hardware enabled.

While this is not officially supported by SONOS it is not something that will damage or hinder the capabilities of your players or system, SONOS just prefer the Wi-Fi aways be on in the off chance that you may decide to go wireless with one or more players.

You can give it a shot: http://vowe.net/archives/013907.html

This would be ok as a first step, but Sonos must include this idea so the playlist are still available at the next morning (my most liked comment):
https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/default_source_when_turning_on_power

This is the only reason why I can not use switch outlets for all my sonos. My wife would kill me if she needs to use their smartphone to add daily a new radiostation instead of pressing the button on the kitchen player. Because of that I only switch off the secondary players of a set. Example: In my living room I switch off 2x Play 3 and 1x SUB, but the Playbar stays active. By that the playlist is available all the time.. or to say as long we do not have a blackout.
For people who wire all of their players you can actually reduce the 'low power' (or 'idle') energy consumption by disabling the internal Wi-Fi hardware. For example, rather than 5W on idle it'll be around 3 to 2W instead, just by disabling the Wi-Fi hardware. It may not be much but when looked at in regards to the overall scheme of things it can add up to quite a big bit of power saving.
I've done this myself and used equipment to measure the power draw with and without this hardware enabled.

While this is not officially supported by SONOS it is not something that will damage or hinder the capabilities of your players or system, SONOS just prefer the Wi-Fi aways be on in the off chance that you may decide to go wireless with one or more players.

You can give it a shot: http://vowe.net/archives/013907.html

Guys I how been having an extended conversation with Sonos support. My proposal is below on how to tackle the fact that for the majority of the time your Sonos products are not actually in use i.e. You are asleep or at work paying for your Sonos products! Please share to try and get others to swing behind this..... Assuming you agree? Now coming back to the reason Sonos do not want to power down their range. This is so music can be ascertained instantly from any of the Sonos product range. However, what I am trying to propose is an option, so customers have a choice, to set a power down schedule. By example: The system shuts down at 01:00 in the morning and comes back online at 07:00. A few minutes after 07:00 the system is back to being its fully responsive self. A disclaimer could be put in place to say between hours selected (i.e. 01:00 and 07:00) you will experience extensive delays whilst your sonos comes online. If you add multiple schedules it means you could power down Sonos during the working day. The combination of both power down options saves considerable power. - Such a proposal does not effect your current customers as it is an option. - It enables your components to have a rest. Thereby extending the life of the components, which would be another environmental tick in the box. - Your customer's save money by not paying for electricity they are not effectively using. - Sonos equipment is not burning electricity for effectively no reason at all, as these component are never used during these hours. - Your customers are happier to know their sonos systems are equipped to be environmentally considerate. - It helps promote sonos's environmental image. I appreciate Sonos development may say with such low idle power what's the issue. However, Sonos have done such an excellent job seeding their speaker range, that I and many others are now up to and in excess of 20 components. So multiply the idle power by 20! To me and what would seem many others, this is a big topic area, one sensitive with your customers, and should be an item -environmental concern- the top of Sonos's agenda.