# Plugged in, turned off

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 27, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844 "2008-10-27T20:58:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844/41 "2009-03-11T14:52:53Z")

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> [@commasense](#):
>
> I’ve just bought a [Kill-A-Watt](http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html) to track my power usage, and I’ve found that at least two of my wall warts (e.g. for my cell phone charger) draw no power at all when they’re not in use. So I think there’s some hype going around about that subject.

Newer switching regulator designs have a much lower standby power (although they do draw something) compared to older transformer designs. Still, the vast majority of “wall warts” out there are of the older, cheaper designs, and draw significant standby power.

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**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844/42 "2009-03-11T15:38:36Z")

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> [@Qwakkeddup](#):
>
> Tv has a light on the front to tell you it is off. DUH.

You think this is stupid until you find out your TVs tube has gone blooey. Without some sort of indicator light, you don’t know if it’s the power button that’s bad, or the tube (or whatever, if you have an LCD or plasma)

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**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844/43 "2009-03-11T18:29:55Z")

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I’m far less interested in whether a turned-off device uses _zero_ or _non-zero_ power than I am in whether or not it uses _significant_ or _insignificant_ power. Like **beowulff** point out, the power draw of tiny LED’s is non-zero but insignificant. Chasing after stuff like that has a very low reward/effort ratio.

We actually _use_ the microwave clock in our kitchen. If we unplugged it when not in use, we’d probably buy another clock to replace it. :smack:

I say all of this as somebody who has invested basically zero time/effort in chasing down phantom power drains in my residence, though, so I certainly have some lower-hanging fruit to pick first. We also have, I think, exactly ONE compact fluorescent bulb in the whole place…

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plugged-in-turned-off/469844/44 "2009-03-11T19:12:54Z")

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I was very annoyed to find that my new Yamaha AV receiver draws \*\*70 watts \*\*in standby mode. That’s a lot of power just to wait for a remote control command!

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