[bruinator]

I am hoping to get an answer on this so I thought I would throw it out here. I keep my home dsl modem and router on 24 hours a day. How much money do you think I would save on my electric bill if I only keep it on for say 12 hours per day? I appreciate any positive responses.

tia

 

[rollnw24inkmc]

hm,really i dont suppose you'd see much of a change, i leave my cable modem on all the time never turn it off always on, i turn my computer off sometimes when i do that i see a change in my bill lol...but turning off the modem i dont really see much of a change..mythbuster did this once but with a lightbulb, and they found that when you first turn the light on it surges more electric then it does leaving it on, so i suppose the same principal applys to this subject at hand.

 

[schusterjo]

Maybe a few dollars but nothing extensive like $30-40. they both use minimal electricity. I'm estimating you may save something like $5-7 max if that, just have to look at it if they are not being used then the electricity needed to run them is almost nothing. Its when you use them to surf the web ext.. they start using more electricity.

 

[Jones]

The amp draw on those components is so small, you'd only notice a few pennies in cost savings. Don't worry about it.

 

[bruinator]

ok...thanks guys.

 

[JohnWill]

Let's see, a typical modem or router draws about 8-10 watts. Let's say 10 watts, for a total of 20 watts.

20 * 24 = 480 watts / day. Every two days, you'd save about 10 cents, based on a 10 cent kilowatt hour. Monthly savings? $1.50

 

[schusterjo]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_b.html

Oh my, glad I don't live in Hawaii. I would go broke. But heck they probably don't use much there. I always would be at the beach.

 

[johnpost]

the amount of electrical cost savings on most wall wart
devices (0.75A or less generally) is small.

the amount of cost savings for the dozen or two that
you might find in a household might amount to enough
to do it on that scale.

also is a lifetime issue for the item, both the device
and the wall wart. electronic components inside
devices do have finite lifetimes, components
will have lifetimes in hundreds or thousands of
hours. the wall wart will also have a lifetime,
even when the device is off there is still some
current flowing in them causing heat.

best is to put warts on power strips and/or
extension cords which makes removing
power easy. also makes it easier to
unplug things in thunderstorm season.

 

[DoubleHelix]

What's a "wall wart"?

 

[JohnWill]

A small power-supply brick with integral male plug, designed to plug directly into a wall outlet; called a ‘wart’ because when installed on a power strip it tends to block up at least one more socket than it uses. These are frequently associated with modems and other small electronic devices which would become unacceptably bulky or hot if they had power supplies on board (there are other reasons as well having to do with the cost of UL certification).

 

[johnpost]

What's a "wall wart"?

what John said.

principle applies to any unswitched power supply, with
plug prongs on transformer unit (type of thing for
modems, hubs, routers, docking units) or on a
cord (laptop and printer power supplies). they all
are warm even when the device is off, the primary
of the tranformer is acting as a heating coil when
the device is off.