Does a clock radio use more power in the aux mode than off mode?

Some small (very small) fraction more, as the amplifier section is active.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Possibly, it depends on how power-conscious the designer was. The amplifier may power down with no input signal. One clue may be to put your ear to the speakers, with no input signal, and listen for amplifier white noise. Turn the volume way up.

It may not apply to your radio, but there are very strict efficiency requirements on most modern appliances. Even wall-warts (a major source of wasted energy) are now required to limit quiescent current (no load) to mere microamps.

Most?, Washing machines & dishwashers yes, what else? Wallwarts & TVs have quiescent power limits, but I don't remember any efficiency requirement.

NT

Wallwarts are pointless to regulate. I often see blurbs from power companies and other sources talking about the wasted power in power "vampires". If you can't feel them being hot, they aren't wasting enough power to even think about. The extra heat your brain generates while thinking about such things amounts to more power than the wall warts waste.

In comparison, a 7 watt night lite which before LEDs were often left on all the time, would burn your fingers if you touched it. 7 watts left on 24/7 would cost $0.50 to $0.75 a month. So if your wall wart is barely warm to the touch it likely is well under a dime a month.

Wallwarts are pointless to regulate.

Agreed. I once, for giggles, did a full survey of "Vampire" loads in our ho use - a 3-story, 4,200 s.f. center-hall colonial built in 1890, with the us ual assortment of items, LED clocks, wall-warts, stand-by systems and more.

Came in at 59 watts, or nearly-so.

For which I do not have to re-calibrate the televisions, re-program the tun ers, reset any clocks, reprogram the boiler settings, reset the alarm clock s and much more (or less, as it happens, to be done). Yes, in some cases I need to do this after a sustained power failure, but we get blessedly few o f those since Sandy (6 days).

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Freezers, refrigerators, dryers, furnaces & ACs, anything with a motor... a ll currently have or will have efficiency goals (requirements may be the wr ong term) in order to get that coveted "Energy Star" logo.. and yes they se em silly in many cases. Manufacturers feel pressured to display that "Energ y Star" logo.... but it does add cost and complexity, and does not generall y contribute to reliability.

iciency requirement.

Oh quite. I once worked out that going round switching them off every day would save 12p per hour of labour. It's politics innit.

NT

On Wednesday, 1 November 2017 21:39:28 UTC, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: NT:

fficiency requirement.

all currently have or will have efficiency goals (requirements may be the wrong term) in order to get that coveted "Energy Star" logo.. and yes they seem silly in many cases. Manufacturers feel pressured to display that "Ene rgy Star" logo.... but it does add cost and complexity, and does not genera lly contribute to reliability.

refrigeration & boilers yes, we don't have AC to any significant extent her e. But items with motors aren't regulated afaik. Food processor, blender, s oup maker, numerous power tools, vacuum cleaners, I don't see them boast an y sort of energy sipping approval here. Or microwaves.

NT

That you can afford to pay it does not mean it's not a waste.

If it were $1000/month but you were a billionaire, would you think that was not waste?

Muliply it by the 2 million people who live near you, or the 300 million people who live in the US.

And the goal of redesigning t he devices is so that "going round switching them off" will not be necessary.

No, it's not politics. It's a different outlook on what's important.

It isn't necessary with iron lump warts either, so that can't be the goal

Whe someone insists everyone else works for 12p an hour in the first world, that is certainly politics.

NT

What??? How does requiring low power in appliances mandate that you run around your house unplugging things?

Lemme see - do you reset your alarm clock every day? Or do you use your cel l phone? Takes about 3 minutes. Do you recalibrate your flat-screen TV every day? Takes about 10 minutes. Do you reset your stereo tuner memory every day? Takes about 5 minutes. Do you reset the clocks on your stove and microwave every day? Or just not use them at all? Takes about 2 minutes.

EVERY DAY. 10 x 30 = 300 minutes. 300/60 = 5 hours. That comes to me pa ying myself $0.3025/hour.

I keep vintage audio equipment that leaves a very low current on the power- supply capacitors to avoid thumps on Start/Stop, and prevent deterioration. That is just the obvious. One electrolytic recapping on a vintage AR recei ver will use about $48 worth of parts and about 2 hours in time.

You bet your ass it is worth it. And, quite obviously not a waste - if that is what I want. One less visit to Starbucks each month, no hardship there.

We do our part in reducing energy use overall. We keep a 4,200 s.f. house b uilt in 1890, with 44 windows, several of them wider than five (5) feet and higher than six (6) feet. I have very nearly entirely rebuilt the heating system from the boiler out to the radiators, and between the use of thermos tatic valves, a high efficiency boiler, zone sensors, and more, we keep a v ery comfortable house on less than $240/month average for all gas, electric ity, hot water (including the water), cooking and drying (cloths line in go od weather). Oh, and not to forget 30 miles per day on the plug-in hybrid. I would think that is not bad for an energy footprint, and that paying 2.5 % of our total cost in convenience is not bad either.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Are you really as confused as you make out to be?

This may be as simple as a 'failure to communicate'. Here on this side of t he pond we have the Energy Star system. Initially, any device could earn th e rating if it performed the same function using less energy (some minimum- or-greater) differential than the average of all devices in its class. So, a Plasma TV was measured against only other Plasma TVs. And a clothes washe r against other clothes washers of approximately the same type and size - a nd all these things *at the time of manufacture*. But comparing Macintosh a pples (plasma TVs) to Gala apples (LCD tvs) to (back in the day) Granny Smi th tvs (CRT devices) did not apply.

Stand-alone clothes dryers, by the way, cannot earn an Energy Star. Care to guess why?

Old-Style wall-warts were (are) transformers & diodes. Some have regulation and some do not. Most do not. But the transformers are substantial and pas s the entire current used. Replace it with a switcher-supply and weight and cost drop, regulation is easy to achieve, and lo and behold, power consump tion drops. Do that a billion times and it all adds up.

In the meantime, much as many sorts of regulations written against former t imes, the thoughtless propaganda mongers beat their drums on the evils of w all-warts, stand-by power-supplies and create the "legend of the vampire lo ad" and the billions it costs *you* and *me* each day, the tons of coal bur nt at their altars, mercury and so on and so forth. And they *WOULD* have u s putting everything on a power-strip for full shut down after each use.

So, our flat-screens revert to "demo" settings - and so consume anywhere fr om 10% to as much as 30% more power thereby. Some savings! And, of course t he nuisance value of resetting pre-sets, clocks, and and much more. Not to mention the energy and resources tied up in all those power-strips. Regulat ions in the year 2017 based on technological assumptions from 2005 or befor e are hardly meaningful.

If you are that worried about this energy stuff- get rid of _EVERY_ incande scent lamp in your domicile, immediately and without exception. There is a CFL or LED device that will serve very nearly every function both aesthetic ally and practically. It is only money, and it will pay back without creati ng any additional fuss or nonsense, once done. We are well on our way - the last three significant targets are the antique chandeliers (three large cr ystal units that came with the house) and the matching wall sconces. That T hat is 72 candelabra-base lamps in all. About half are 40-watt, the rest 25

-watt.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

If you can't understand the question that's ok.

Talk about confused, it seems to be you. What does promoting or even requiring low power use on idle appliances have to do with paying low wages? Nothing. So again, it's not politics to want efficient power use and/or low power waste. It's a different outlook from yours on what is important.

And no one is insisting anyone turn off appliances. They're trying to make the applliances not waste power when they are still on, working or idle.

If it were a one off, sure. It's a regular thing with Mr Rickman.

NT

whoosh

whoosh

whoosh. Oh well.

NT