[Boatanchors] Wall Warts and Switcher Power Supplies

[Jim Wiley]

Such a statement cannot stand unchallenged.

Time and again it has been shown that the largest consumer of energy in 
a normal home is the refrigerator and/or freezer.  They run several 
hours a day, drawing 400 to 700 watts (or more) in the process.

An electric stove draws 5 to 10 KW when operating, and an electric 
clothes dryer draws upwards of 7 KW.  True, the stove or dryer does not 
run all that much, but they make up for lost time when they are in use.  
And don't even think about electric water heaters or heating.  Air 
conditioning, when running, draws between 1.5 and 5 KW, maybe more, 
depending on whether it is "while house" or just a room or two.

A cable converter, at least the one I have,  draws about 40 watts when 
running and recording a program.  . In off/standby mode, it draws about 
a half to a third of that, because it includes a DVR. If a convertor box 
does not include the DVR function, it draws only one or 2 watts in 
off/standby mode - just enough for the remote control receiver to 
operate, nothing more. .

And if your cable converter takes 15 minutes to reboot, you need a new 
box. Mine (A Pace unit supplied by the local cable company) reboots in 
less than a minute, although it does take several minutes to fully 
repopulate the program guide.

I run my cable box (and TV + AV Audio system) from an enhanced  1-KW 
UPS  (extra large external batteries give it an 8-hour run time) - it 
has been rock steady for months, essentially immune to reboots and 
scrambled video caused by power line "burps".


- Jim, KL7CC



On 11/27/2012 9:18 AM, Bry Carling wrote:
> One of the largest consumers of energy in many homes is the cable tv converter. when turned off, they consume quite a lot of power. But a reboot takes about 15 minutes.
>