Monitor Off Utilities

[Awgeewhiz]

Well, a site search didn't show anything so hopefully this is not a repeat.

Monitor Off Utility v1.0


Do you ever wish you could put your monitor into standby exactly when you want to?

Now you can tell your monitor to immediately go into energy saving mode with the click of a button.
Monitor Off Utility is a free program that allows you to take control of your monitors built-in energy saving features.
You can setup your own custom keyboard shortcuts or setup a shortcut on your desktop or system tray.
The utility supports multiple monitors and is very flexible.
It even allows you to use a command line interface if you want to incorporate the utility into your own scripts.


And then of course for you Yahoo widget users: Monitor Off

Monitor Off puts your monitor on standby with a click.
A simple move of the mouse or keyboard press will wake up the computer in a few seconds.

Click on the icon to put your monitor to sleep.
Hold down CTRL key to move the Widget around.

A typical 17" CRT monitor consumes 80 watts electricity; putting it on on standby reduces it to about 0-15 watts.
Setting computer monitors to Power Save Mode saves money, electricity and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
After all, money isn't all you're saving.

[Jojoyee]

Thanks Awgeewhiz for the suggestion. I usually press the power on/off button on the LCD monitor. Not sure if it makes any difference from the utilities?

[jim]

With LCD or plasma screen monitors the power pack also consumes some energy. (You can feel how warm the pack gets). Software monitor switches or even powering off the monitor from the front button will not stop this, plus the on/off buttons on some monitors are well known for breaking with much use. I have my monitor plugged into a separate switched power socket and, as I leave my PC on all the time I am home, I switch off from there so it is off most of the time. A voice message warns me when I have mail.

[Awgeewhiz]

Originally Posted by jim

A voice message warns me when I have mail.

If you are not there to hear it, do you still have mail?

[Ritho]

Jim is right. Electronics have a transformer in them, and transformers use wire coils to create the electro magnetic field necessary to do the actual transforming of the voltage. As long a transformer is plugged in it is using some power because current is still flowing through the coil creating the magnetic field. Although power consumption under "no-load" is less than when under "full load" it still can be significant especially in older style transformers. Newer "solid state" transformers don't use as much, and electronics using them and other power saving features are usually labled with the Energy Star logo.

Besides the transformers being guilty of "leaking" power, many home electronics go into a stand-by mode rather than actually powering off when you push the power button. (They do this in order to retain memory, or power on faster etc.) Some electronics can consume upwards to 20watts when off, but I believe most are in the 10watt range. The new encouraged standard for manufactures by the International Energy Agency is for electronics in standby is to use 1watt or less but I don't know how widely adopted it has become.

Sorry that was probably a little heavy for a freeware forum, but it does make you think about all the transformers that are often plugged in around the house using power when they device they power is not even in use.

To see how that stacks up, the average cost per kWh of energy in the United States last year was 12 cents. If your monitor pulls 10watts when "off" then it would consume over ten dollars a year just sitting there. Not a huge amount, but signification if you have a lot of other electronics just sitting there doing the same thing.

[Awgeewhiz]

What bothers me about that is that "Off" no longer means off.

It means you still have an active circuit, you are still pulling power.

Storms and power surges could still affect or ruin your expensive equipment.

Or worse, could still be the cause of a fire when unattended.

I use a fused power strip and when the computer and accessories are not in use the power strip switch is off.

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by Awgeewhiz

What bothers me about that is that "Off" no longer means off.

I think we can term it as 'soft off' and 'hard off' . We should go for hard-off if the device is to be left unattended for hours to save energy. Ritho gave a very informative post there.

I use a fused power strip and when the computer and accessories are not in use the power strip switch is off.

Some also advise not just to switch off the power strip, but to unplug to prevent damages to the device from lightning which is quite often in my place. This should then means double-hard-off.

[Ritho]

Storms and power surges could still affect or ruin your expensive equipment.

That could happen even if the electronics are truly off.--hard off to use Jojo term. In that case the switch actually breaks the circuit and leaves a little gap over which the electricity can not flow, but if you have a bolt of lightning traveling through the wiring of your house, it is no problem for it to jump the gap since it just jumped from the sky to the ground! The chances of lighting striking your house is extremely small, but a bolt of lighting striking the ground directly over a buried power cable 5 km away can transmit a significant power surge to your home as well. So it is always a good idea to have a power strip (a.k.a. power board) with high rated surge protection built in. Don't buy too cheap here because they are not all created equal. Look for one with high joule and amp arresting values. Some even come with guarantees to replace your equipment if it is damaged while plugged into the strip. Uninterruptable power supplies often come with surge protection as well.

Some also advise not just to switch off the power strip, but to unplug to prevent damages to the device from lightning which is quite often in my place.

If you going to do this don't forget to unplug your Ethernet / Phone line / Cables as well.

[Awgeewhiz]

Originally Posted by Jojoyee

I think we can term it as 'soft off' and 'hard off' . We should go for hard-off if the device is to be left unattended for hours to save energy. Ritho gave a very informative post there.

Some also advise not just to switch off the power strip, but to unplug to prevent damages to the device from lightning which is quite often in my place. This should then means double-hard-off.

O.K. Then by the same token you can have a 'soft on' and a 'hard on' and also a 'double hard on' ???