Mike Clarke wrote on Nov 28, 2011:
My Bosch is electronic but switches off 1 minute after the program ends. This can be configured to a longer period or to remain on standby indefinitely, though why anyone would want to I can't imagine.
Sounds like only half the story again as no doubt the actual truth was edited out to get it to length by a non expert editor. Its like sub editors for newspapers completely ruining the story.
Don't these people do elementary science or do they have to disengage brain before working for the production company?
Brian
They'll be arts/meejia graduates from what now calls itself a "university" but we all know as a poly. The last science they did would have been in secondary school at GCSE for which the got a D-.
Ours is a Bosch too but doesn't have an option to go completely off, probably because the "Start" button works by sending a signal to the controller which needs to be powered up to "see" the signal from the button. So we usually switch it off at the socket when not in use. I wonder if yours really does power down completely or just kills the display.
My cheapo Aldi power meter says that it's using 7 watts when off but I doubt the accuracy of that, it shows 7W for quite a few devices which claim a standby consumption of less than 1W but shows zero power being used by a 7W CFL. I suspect it just can't cope with the waveform it sees going to low power SMPU's
Mike Clarke wrote on Nov 29, 2011:
I think it's a true shut-off. My energy monitor reads 4W when the program ends, and then zero when it switches off a minute later. I don't see why this should be particularly hard to achieve - calculators and similar devices do it all the time.
Yup, I was going to say that. Bosch Logixx washer and dryer, both do that.
I think the problem is that the "On" switch often isn't a conventional power switch but just a momentary push switch to signal the controller to start up or shut down, much like the power button on all recent PC's. In theory this should shut down all non essential circuits while in the "off" mode but still needs to keep a minimal bit of the controller powered up to detect the button being pressed. I suspect some manufacturers don't put much effort into designing it to shut down as much as possible.
My washing machine has even simpler controls. It's a voice activated model called "the girlfriend."
It might even throw in a free a bilateral orchiectomy after she reads this
;-o
That's right. Some microcontrollers can power down, keeping almost everything off and either running a low speed (typically around 32kHz clock) or even stopping that and waiting for a change of state on a specific input. In these modes, they can typically run at micro-amps. Manufacturers don't want to pay for a separate, efficient supply to do this and the circuitry for it to switch on the main supply though.
SteveW
Well if if she removes my left one the she well get a right bollocking later on tonight.
A green frog on Sky Guide 998 will have you believe that, "By switching your Sky box to standby, will we can save enough energy to light all the homes in Exeter". Energy figures without a time factor are meaningless aren't they?
What they don't tell you is a standard Sky digibox on so called standby consumes about 90% of the power it uses when it is "on".
The differential will be greater with Sky+ as the harddrive will spin down but I wouldn't be surprised if the power consumed on standby is the same as a non plus box.
Fully asleep with wake on event these days is below 0.05uA for the better ones and certainly well under 1uA if you do it right. You can run one on a 32kHz crystal at about 10uA and drive a bare LCD display - I have one sat near me doing just that. See for example:
Regards, Martin Brown
I've had Atemel AVRs at less than 1uA too in sleep mode, waiting for a switch press.
At those power levels, you could use a capacitor as a standby PSU.
Or, even simpler, just have a latching relay to supply the system - power switch bridges relay momentarily and control circuit holds the relay in until the end of cycle. Zero standby for the cost of a relay.
Way too complicated. You need a magic washing basket, like I have. Put your clothes in it and a few days later they appear washed, ironed & hung up in the wardrobe. I have no idea how this process works, although I suspect it's something to do with the machines I installed in the utility room.
No.
Science is seen as geeky, boring and hard, although that image is changing very slowly.
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