It recently occurred to me that there were quite a few home theater devices plugged in all the time at our home. I used a Kill-a-watt meter to measure the standby power usage of the devices, and came up with the following results.
Sub-woofer
Sitting Idle: 6.5 W (Watts)
Playing Music: 9.5 W on average for pretty loud music
Chromecast Audio
Sitting Idle: 1.3 W
Streaming Music: 1.4 W
CD Player
Sitting Idle: 5.5 W
Receiver
Sitting Idle: 0.3 W
On - No Sound 40.0 W
Large Sony Speakers
Sitting Idle: 9.0 W
On - No Sound 9.0 W
Record Player
Sitting Idle: 1.8 W
Of all the devices listed, we only use the Receiver, Chromecast Audio, and Sub-woofer. The Sony speakers need a line level input and I have not been able to get that out of the Receiver, so they're never turned on. Plus, the display on them has been long gone, so that doesn't help anything.
Unplugging all the unused devices saves 16.3 W.
Since the Chromecast Audio and Sub-woofer are only used when the Receiver is on, and together consume 7.8 W, I decided to get a switched surge protector for $28.
Smart Strip SCG-3M Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 7-Outlet
The switched surge protector itself consumes 1.4 W just sitting there.
Using the Receiver as the switched port, the Sub-woofer and Chromecast Audio can be turned on with the receiver.
This saves about 6.5 W, since the switched surge protector is a wash with the Chromecast.
I used the following site to calculate some cost savings based on the purchase, assuming the average cost of 12 cents per kWh.
http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/energy-cost-calculator.htm
The following site can be used to look up the average energy cost in each state, for a little better accuracy.
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
By unplugging the unused devices, we're saving $1.41 per month, or $17.13 per year!
The switched surge protector helps to save $0.56 a month, or $6.83 per year.
This equates to a payback on the switched surge protector of 4.1 years.
In the future, if we start to use all the other devices again and plug them all into the switched surge protector, it would reduce the payback period to 1.17 years!
Sub-woofer
Sitting Idle: 6.5 W (Watts)
Playing Music: 9.5 W on average for pretty loud music
Chromecast Audio
Sitting Idle: 1.3 W
Streaming Music: 1.4 W
CD Player
Sitting Idle: 5.5 W
Receiver
Sitting Idle: 0.3 W
On - No Sound 40.0 W
Large Sony Speakers
Sitting Idle: 9.0 W
On - No Sound 9.0 W
Record Player
Sitting Idle: 1.8 W
Of all the devices listed, we only use the Receiver, Chromecast Audio, and Sub-woofer. The Sony speakers need a line level input and I have not been able to get that out of the Receiver, so they're never turned on. Plus, the display on them has been long gone, so that doesn't help anything.
Unplugging all the unused devices saves 16.3 W.
Since the Chromecast Audio and Sub-woofer are only used when the Receiver is on, and together consume 7.8 W, I decided to get a switched surge protector for $28.
Smart Strip SCG-3M Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 7-Outlet
The switched surge protector itself consumes 1.4 W just sitting there.
Using the Receiver as the switched port, the Sub-woofer and Chromecast Audio can be turned on with the receiver.
This saves about 6.5 W, since the switched surge protector is a wash with the Chromecast.
I used the following site to calculate some cost savings based on the purchase, assuming the average cost of 12 cents per kWh.
http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/energy-cost-calculator.htm
The following site can be used to look up the average energy cost in each state, for a little better accuracy.
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/
By unplugging the unused devices, we're saving $1.41 per month, or $17.13 per year!
The switched surge protector helps to save $0.56 a month, or $6.83 per year.
This equates to a payback on the switched surge protector of 4.1 years.
In the future, if we start to use all the other devices again and plug them all into the switched surge protector, it would reduce the payback period to 1.17 years!
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