TV Standby myth

brig001

We bought a new Sony TV and didn't think about power consumption as everyone keeps saying that EU laws mean they must be less than 0.5W in standby
Trouble is, many "smart" TVs don't go into standby very often, if at all
We were seeing it alternating between 30W and 18W on standby
Found the solution here: https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/standby-mode-high-power-usage-sony-oled/m-p/2602088

Anyone else got any tips for other manufacturers?

Brian

BUFF

bear in mind that OLEDs do some pixel optimisation cycles when "off" so you don't want to hard power off the TV.

If that thread is correct (& still relevant 5 years later) it's really a Google OS issue so presumably any other brand that uses the Android/Google TV OS will have similar behaviour.

shiraz99

How were you monitoring the energy usage of the TV and were you just monitoring the TV on it's own or did that include devices connected such as a Sky box etc.

Apodemus

I noticed a strange one on our TV (which is a reasonable age and not very smart).  I had been watching something on Youtube, through the Amazon Firestick and swtiched the TV off using the remote, leaving it on standby.   When I switched it back on, Youtube was still streaming and had seemingly continued to "play" each successive "next" video for the whole period that the TV had been on standby.  I'm not sure which device(s) were consuming additional power through that period, but presumably there was more consequence than just data consumption?  I'm now more careful to always return to "Home" on the Firestick before switching off.

bob_a_builder

Apodemus said:

I noticed a strange one on our TV (which is a reasonable age and not very smart).  I had been watching something on Youtube, through the Amazon Firestick and swtiched the TV off using the remote, leaving it on standby.   When I switched it back on, Youtube was still streaming and had seemingly continued to "play" each successive "next" video for the whole period that the TV had been on standby.  I'm not sure which device(s) were consuming additional power through that period, but presumably there was more consequence than just data consumption?  I'm now more careful to always return to "ome" on the Firestick before switching off.

Not so strange, pretty much expected behavior really, TV just being used as display
Only the firestick should have been drawing power

Some more modern TVs have a USB socket which could provide power for a Firestick etc
Don't know if the power to Firestick plugged into that USB would go off, if TV was in standby on such a set ?

Apodemus

Thanks, bob!  Yes the TV has a USB port but the firestick is plugged in to a separate adapter and its own USB.  I'll have a play with the sockets and report back!

I'm not sure it is quite as simple as the Firestick operating on its own, though.  Other channels, such as Netflix, do their own autoplay of the next episode but unlike Youtube they stop when the TV is switched to standby.

casper_gutman

Both of my TVs have Chromecasts plugged into the USBs, and on these they power off when the TV is put on standby. To me, that's the main advantage of using the USB on the TV for powering these sorts of devices.

Ours are made by LG and Samsung, in case it varies by manufacturer.

Norman_Castle

Today I moved a now tv stick to a different tv and considered powering it from the usb sockets but they were marked maximum 500ma. The power supply is 1 amp. What would happen if too much was drawn through the usb socket, would it damage the tvs usb output?

Apodemus

So I tried the Firestick/USB socket experiment last night, with mixed results.

The USB port (on a Toshiba TV) does power down on stand-by and did manage to power the Firestick for long enough to watch a two and a quarter hour film with no problems.

However, the boot sequence on the Firestick takes a full 2 minutes, which is quite a long time to wait, when you switch the TV on, so I'm not sure this would be popular with impatient viewers.

To make matters worse, when one programme ended and we switched to a different streaming service, the Firestick decided it needed to reboot and then got stuck in a repeating boot-loop.  After a number of iterations, I powered it down to force a proper start and at that point I reconnected the A/C power adapter.  This time, as part of the boot process it decided it needed to optimise "system storage and applications..." which it said would "take approximately 10 minutes to complete", but seemed longer.  Google suggests if you see this message you should unplug the USB and reconnect the proper power supply! 

So the bottom line is that the Firestick doesn't like a 500mA supply and we are back using A/C adapter and accepting that we just need to make sure that the Firestick is back to "Home" before we switch the TV off.


EDIT:  An added twist on all this is that I see that the Firestick consumes 2.2W in sleep mode, but this rises to 2.7W if it is plugged in to ethernet (as ours is).  Can anyone explain why it needs more power with ethernet connected... while it is asleep? 

brig001

BUFF said:

bear in mind that OLEDs do some pixel optimisation cycles when "off" so you don't want to hard power off the TV.

If that thread is correct (& still relevant 5 years later) it's really a Google OS issue so presumably any other brand that uses the Android/Google TV OS will have similar behaviour.

Worked on my new Sony, so looks relevant, and I think you are right, but if you google any manufacturer and high standby power, they all have this issue with some models

shiraz99 said:

How were you monitoring the energy usage of the TV and were you just monitoring the TV on it's own or did that include devices connected such as a Sky box etc.

TV on its own with a mate's cheapy plug in power monitor. I doubt its accuracy, but think the less would equal less

The annoying thing is that there is no indication on the TV that it isn't in proper standby - LED should blink or something
I guess that's something they missed out of the < 0.5W legislation

Brian

bob_a_builder

Apodemus said:

So I tried the Firestick/USB socket experiment last night, with mixed results.

So the bottom line is that the Firestick doesn't like a 500mA supply and we are back using A/C adapter and accepting that we just need to make sure that the Firestick is back to "Home" before we switch the TV off.

Yes - it looks like 500ma from the TV is too close to the border line as you have already confirmed
It was bouncing around between 470 and 500 
(Firestick being driven from a battery pack for test)