sky tv and burgler alarms

ageing_biker

just spent a while trying to find out why my leccy monitor is showing a constant 80 watts when everything is off. sky + box 40 watts even on standby, alarm 40 watts even when unset, have switched alarm off as we never use it and switched sky off at the wall, I currently use 7 or 8 kwh a day, if my calcs are right this should save me nearly 2 kwh a day if sky isn't used, but it will be in the evenings so hope to save 1 kwr a day:T

espresso

What's the point subscribing to Sky+ and then switching the box off to save a few pence? Surely cancelling your Sky+ would be more cost effective.

beautyqueen88

i always turn my sky+ box off when i go to bed and dont turn it back on until im back home from work. not to save money but pureley because its a waste of electric leaving it on standby.

ageing_biker

the sky gets watched from about 6pm to 11 or midnight so that leaves about 18 hours when it can be off at the wall saving 40 watts, if I cancel sky I wont be able to watch what I want in the evenings, sky state on channel 999 that if everyone put their boxes on red ( standby ) it would save enough power to light birmingham, but I reckon they use the same amount on red or green

crow

there are devices you get that plug into the socket and you plug your appliance into, and the device calculates the energy usage. many appliances use the same when on standby as when they're in use, or very close to it.

adprob

FYI - Sky send any updates (like the new EPG that is coming) to your box overnight along with any software updates. If you turn your boxes off over night you will miss these and could end up having problems down the line.

espresso

crow wrote: »

there are devices you get that plug into the socket and you plug your appliance into, and the device calculates the energy usage. many appliances use the same when on standby as when they're in use, or very close to it.

If you had one of these devices, you would know that is another urban myth!

reddevilled

Another problem with unplugging your Sky+ box every night is that these boxes are made to be on all time, so by unplugging and plugging back in regularly you are putting a lot of unnecessary strain on the internal components which can lead to it breaking, this is going to cost a lot more than the 40w an hour saved.