Cogeco → Re: [TV] 24 hour faint humming sound from Pace recorder MNG200N

Most cable boxes are power hogs out of the box. When you hit the "power" button on the unit, all you are really doing is terminating the video feed to the TV. Everything else is still running. These units typically use the same amount of energy regardless of the power state.

The only way to stop it from using power is to unplug it or otherwise terminate the power (with a switch or power bar), but that will require a re-download of all programming information, and it will also prevent firmware updates.

These things are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars in energy consumption yearly in North America, despite the totally bogus Energy Star compliance emblem on them.

Thanks for your reply. Looks like I am damned if I unplug and damned if I don't.

Well.. this appears to be a blanket statement without any foundation.

For Clarity purposes... lets take a look at the numbers.

From Energy Star the RNG200N consumes 16.8W (Watts) while powered on

A little Math shows us that:

Watts * Hours = Watt-Hours
1000 Watts * 1 Hour = 1000 Watt-Hours = 1 KiloWatt Hour (kWh)

If we suppose that the unit is in use 24/7... We get:

16.8 Watts * 24 hours / day * 30 days / month = 12,096 Watt-Hours / month = ~12.1 KiloWatt-Hours / month ( 12.1 kWh / month )

Taking a look at Hydro one's Time of Use Page We can say the average price per KiloWatt-Hour (kWh) is 10 cents.

((12h * 7.5 cents/kWh ) + (6h * 11.2 cents/kWh ) + (6h * 13.5 cents/kWh ))/24h = 9.925 cents/kWh

So our total MONTHLY cost is 12.1 kWh / month * $0.10 / kWh = $1.21 / monthI'll spend the $1.21 / month to keep it plugged in, guide information at the ready, and firmware updates running overnight when I'm not using it... My time is worth more than that.

While your point is entirely valid, just for the sake of completeness you probably want to add on another 50-75 cents or so to the monthly cost for the delivery and regulatory portions of the hydro bill which are also based on usage.

I'd have no problem paying the $2, either.