Do you leave your wireless router on 24/7?

[cate]

Wanted to hear other opinions. Do they use a lot of electricity? I have turned mine off when on holiday but wondered if they lasted longer if turned off say overnight or when out all day?

[annaj]

No, we turn ours off when we're not using it* (which, admittedly, is mainly only when we're not in or asleep)

I've no idea how much electricity they use, but certainly some, and saving some is better than saving none.

A while back we started making a real effort to do all those small energy saving things, like turning the TV and DVD player off at the socket overnight, turning lights off in rooms we're not in and using energy saving lamps instead of our downlighters, and were completely amazed by what a difference it made to our bills.

*that is as long as a wireless router is what I think it is. The BT Home Hub thing or equivalent, right?

[cate]

I use mine to access my laptop in any room. It's the thing you plug into your phone socket. I do turn my TV off at the set and don't use the handset. Think I will start turning mine off when I go out. I think people used to be quite cavalier about electricity bills before and leaving stuff on but not any more!

[Loz]

Most routers pull very little electricity. They are not very complex and no moving parts.

You could consider it a security issues, though. Router security is not impossible to break and if your router is using older encryption then it is really quite trivial.

And if you are with Sky, change your admin password if you haven't ever done it. The default you are given is not secure.

Having said all that, I leave my router on 24/7. But then I work from home.

[KidKruger]

I turn of the plugged-in things I am not using if they burn power when left plugged-in.

[PeckhamRose]

We leave ours on 24/7, a BT HomeHub attached to the telly for BT Vision also.

We turned it off in the past only to find we could not always reliably reconnect in the morning.

Also, overnight, sometimes without us knowing, the thing is upgraded. BT Vision too. They're sneaky like that.

[cate]

Don't have BT or BT vision. What do you mean by upgrading?

[edcam]

This may be a complete myth but someone once told me that the power it takes to boot up your router regularly if it's been off outweighs any benefits of turning it off overnight.

[KidKruger]

yeah that is a myth, they used to say it for lights, radios and stereo systems. It may be valid for valve-based technologies like vintage guitar amplifiers where the depth in the sounds comes fromthe 'warmed-up' valves.

[Loz]

It's true for florescent lights if they are not on for a long time. Which is why installing 'energy saver' lights in short use areas like bathrooms is a false economy.

[edcam]

Thanks mythbusters!

[ianr]

I've checked my Speedtouch ST585 using a plug-in power meter. It has ethernet (wired) connections to one computer and ADSL.

Computer running, router wireless disabled: oscillates beween 4 and 7W. I'd estimate weighted average of 5W. Running Speedtest didn't affect the reading.

Computer running, router wireless enabled: 7W.

Computer off, router wireless disabled: 4W

Computer off, router wireless enabled: 7W

[cate]

What is a Speedtouch? So when you say the wattage is that per hour?

[DJKillaQueen]

Another myth is that leaving your TV on standby uses oodles of electricity....it doesn't. And many flatscreen TV's use way more electricity than their cathode ray tube predacessors (up to three times as much) so any notion we are moving to more efficient technology is nonsense anyway.

[ianr]

>What is a Speedtouch? Just a basic ADSL modem-router: four ethernet ports and wireless capability.

>So when you say the wattage is that per hour?

Nope, just plain watts. It's a unit of power, which is the rate of consumption of energy. Running at 4 watts over an hour will consume 4 watt-hours of energy, which is 0.004 (ie 1/250) kilowatt-hours, which is the unit the electricity companies use when charging you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt-hour

[cate]

I am sure that leaving your TV on stand-by does use up a reasonable amount of electricity - although not oodles. Anyone know how much? And with bills constantly rising surely it is worth turning off at the set. I also heard that if you leave phone chargers plugged in without the phone attached that they also use electricity. Sounds daft but is it true?

[Ramble66]

Loz,

How do we change the Sky admin password? Do you mean the one you use to access wireless router?

[ianr]

>I am sure that leaving your TV on stand-by does use up a reasonable amount of electricity - although

> not oodles. Anyone know how much?

Mine (same method as above):

Sony CRT TV: 20W

An oldish 15" LCD TV: 14W

Sony VCR: 5W

Freeview boxes: about 11W (little less than when on)

Probably a saving of more than a kilowatt-hour a day by not having these things on standby.

But if you look at the latest LCD TV specifications, they tend to have a standby power rating of one watt or less. If one of those was on standby continuously, that would cost you no more than 8.76 kilowatt-hours a year.

[Loz]

Ramble66 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Loz,

>

> How do we change the Sky admin password? Do you

> mean the one you use to access wireless router?

Yep. Go to 192.168.0.1 and use 'Set Password' about half way down the left hand menu.

[HAL9000]

cate Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I also heard that if you leave phone chargers

> plugged in without the phone attached that they

> also use electricity. Sounds daft but is it true?

It could be true. I'm not up-to-date with the latest circuit designs but traditional chargers route A/C through a step down transformer continuously while plugged in. When unloaded (i.e. not charging) power drains away through impedance-induced heat and EM radiation emissions.

[*Bob*]

It is true.

You have to decide whether to plug and unplug the charger 150 times a year or cough-up the ?5 to leave it plugged-in all year round.

[KidKruger]

Yes, there is obviously a convenience perspective.

[iamjenjen]

No I only turn it on when I am using the internet otherwise it is kept off

[Ramble66]

Thanks Loz,

It asks for a name and password? Any ideas? Tried Admin, Administrator and our joining name.

Thanks

[Narnia]

My phone which isn't anything special produces a message when it's charged saying to turn off the supply to save electricity. Must be something in it.