Power Consumption VIP722

[skip40]

Where to get meter

I have a 'Kill-A-Watt' meter that measures the power consumed by an appliance. I plugged my new 722 in, and it consumes a steady 55 watts of power. Putting it in standby mode only drops power consumption 1 watt (to 54 watts).

Just for comparison, my new Sony 40" LCD consumes 220 watts...

Rick

Hi Rick, I have been looking for a reasonably priced "Kill-A-Watt meter, where would you suggest I go to get one? Thank you, Skip

 

[jporum]

Hi Rick, I have been looking for a reasonably priced "Kill-A-Watt meter, where would you suggest I go to get one? Thank you, Skip

If you are interested in the Kill A Watt EZ (a newer version of the meter that allows you to put in your electric rate and it will display your daily/weekly/monthly cost as well as the data the original meter shows), drugstore.com has it for 34.99 but new customers get $5 off $25 and there is free shipping as well for new customers so you can get it for $29.99 and no tax for most states. In addition, if you buy it there via fatwallet.com you can get an additional 6% off.

 

[rglore]

20 million Dish receivers drawing average 50 watts each is one billion watts! That's a entire nuclear power plant just for Dish Network receivers. Multiply that by Direct TV receivers and digital cable boxes and it's ridiculous. Suggestion for Dish Network; when the receiver is switched off, download updates and the guide and shut down. It could partially wake up to check timers periodically and then go back to sleep.

 

[bebop]

Thanks. I was thinking of essentially unplugging it (turn off the surge protector). Bert

If you decide to unplug it - I highly advise against it from my experience. I had mine running consistently for 8 months, then unplugged it during my Christmas vacation for about 12 days. I came back and it never worked right again. I ended up needing a new one (thankfully I had DHPP). The one that died only would stay on for about 1 hour before restarting itself (so about 20 restarts a day). I quite confident it was the Hard Drive - even though I kept it out in the open.

They aren't made to be unplugged, sadly. They make them to run even while off, so leaving it alone is the best (in my opinion). If your power is 8 cents/kwh (& the 55 watts from earlier is correct) & you have it running 30% of the time by turning it off normally, you'll be looking at saving only $25/year. It cost me more than $25 to get a replacement unit.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

The problem with your assumption is that you assume the receiver is only powering itself. The LNBs out on the dish are consuming a significant amount of that power (anywhere from about 75mA - 550mA @ 18-20VDC depending on LNB model). Even if dish released a new receiver with the ability to power off the dish as well when it goes into standby, any other receivers would just pick up the slack in powering the LNB. It's not quite as simple as some people think it would be. If the dish is powered off during a major uplink change, it can significantly increase the amount of time it takes for the receiver to properly aquire signal, as it won't know where to look for certain information. Also, if there is a programming change (that takes place early enough for dish to update the program guide) your events would be missed if the entire receiver was powered down during the update. I agree that with as "green" as everyone wants to be these days, that dish needs to do something about power consumption, but there are significant hurdles to overcome to be able to this.

 

[bebop]

20 million Dish receivers drawing average 50 watts each is one billion watts! That's a entire nuclear power plant just for Dish Network receivers. Multiply that by Direct TV receivers and digital cable boxes and it's ridiculous. Suggestion for Dish Network; when the receiver is switched off, download updates and the guide and shut down. It could partially wake up to check timers periodically and then go back to sleep.

I think it's about 13 million customers. And an average nuke plant puts out about 2-3 times your number. So that's about 1/4 of a plant for the whole world of customers.

I think it's a waste for them to be on all the time - but I don't think customers would be happy if they had to wait 5 minutes every time they turned on the satellite just to watch a show.

 

[HobbyTalk]

Don't forget that during the winter the heat put out by the receiver is actually heating your house cutting down on the energy used by your furnace. Since the heat conversion is close 100% that may be even more efficient then your furnace so it is actually saving you money in the winter.

 

[rglore]

Am i the only one worried about the planet? Dish could take some lessons from the FTA receivers, they consume a fraction of the power and turn on from cold start to picture in about 15 seconds.

 

[HobbyTalk]

Am i the only one worried about the planet? Dish could take some lessons from the FTA receivers, they consume a fraction of the power and turn on from cold start to picture in about 15 seconds.

I know little about FTA receivers so I thought I would have a look to see about them. I found the following 2:

Viewsat 9000 Hd Fta Receiver - Power Consumption Max. 50 W
Conaxsat Mini Basic PVR Receiver - Power Consumption Max 40W

With a quick look at the specs it looks like neither of them will power up to 5 LNBs, don't have 3 tuners and have smaller hard drives.

 

[mrlaugh]

I think it's a waste for them to be on all the time - but I don't think customers would be happy if they had to wait 5 minutes every time they turned on the satellite just to watch a show.

you do that rationalization a couple of million times for a couple of million products, and suddenly it does add up.

But there's no incentive for the individual to conserve. I've read more than a few articles that talk about this. if you can afford the fancy stuff, the cost of the standby electricity is minimal (what's $5 a year to standby power a $1400 LCD TV?)

it's a question of economics, and it's one of the reason the environment is screwed.

For the record, my TV, receiver, DVR player, Wii and ps2 are on a surge protector that I turn off every night and only turn on in the evening when I come home from work. My 722 DVR and desktop computer run 24/7, though. I'd like to say I noticed a difference in my electric bill, but it fluctates too much with the heat and A/C use here to say for sure based on when I made the change.

 

[Lbeck]

it's a question of economics, and it's one of the reason the environment is screwed.

Amen to that.

Everything from building houses (whatever's cheapest for the builder without regard to homeowners or planetowners) to appliances is based on what will produce the greatest profit in the quickest time.

Off topic, but for my job I looked at power consumption versus cost and even when payback was a relatively short time - like a couple of years for an appliance that lasts 20 years - the consumer will choose the option with the lower initial cost.

I think a market-driven economy is the best in the world, but some things need to be regulated for the greater good of us all.

Off my soapbox now. Forgive for the rant.

 

[bebop]

you do that rationalization a couple of million times for a couple of million products, and suddenly it does add up.

I think you misunderstand. I'm saying that they wouldn't even have the customer base they have if the 722 took 5 minutes to turn on every time you wanted to watch a show.

If Dish wants less customers they should proceed with that thinking. You can't have such a complex piece of electronics and have it go from no energy use to fully functional in just a few seconds. The VIP722 has a lot to it and it uses about 1/3 the power of my computer when running.

I think it would be nice if there was a standby mode (another type of off button) for when you know you aren't going to be using it for a while that actually saves some energy, requires a longer turn on process, and doesn't hinder the necessary updates.

 

[Lord_Vader]

If you are interested in the Kill A Watt EZ (a newer version of the meter that allows you to put in your electric rate and it will display your daily/weekly/monthly cost as well as the data the original meter shows), drugstore.com has it for 34.99 but new customers get $5 off $25 and there is free shipping as well for new customers so you can get it for $29.99 and no tax for most states. In addition, if you buy it there via fatwallet.com you can get an additional 6% off.

Newegg has the regular one for $17.99.

Newegg.com - P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor

Great item to have, I use mine all of the time

 

[Sammy033]

Many people seem to be approaching this whole issue from the premise that the receiver 'needs' to be on 24/7 and no other option is practical, maybe even without problems/damage. If PCs had no option for a full shutdown a whole lot of people would be quite unhappy. Also, any average PC that takes more than 2 minutes to boot is getting pretty rare, and thats mostly because of a bloated operating system. I would think the OS for a receiver is pretty small by comparison. My Mac takes less than a minute from a cold start so it can be done.

As already said multiple times (and I will add to the chorus) these standby devices add up especially in areas where electricity is already getting inherently expensive... like mine. The cost of power use here is not on a fixed scale. The more I use past certain amounts the higher the rate per kilowatt/hr. A simple thing like turning off unneeded lights for example can help make a difference. Electronics should be no different. And like many other people today I dont have money to burn.

If a person wants to leave it on all the time and pay for the extra electricity and higher rates then so be it. But giving dish an exception for their convenience is not acceptable. That means a full shutdown, acceptable boot time, and the ability to do whatever daily chores are needed. If their current system wont allow for this option then they need to fix it.

A basic business mantra is that the customer is always right.

 

[jporum]

Newegg has the regular one for $17.99.

True, but you have to pay at least $5.99 shipping right now and for where I live there is tax so the net total is over $25. For less than $5 more (not even counting the fatwallet rebate) I can get the upgraded model at drugstore.com.

None the less, I agree that it is a great little device and it is quite interesting to see how much power items really use.

 

[skip40]

Thanks guys, appreciate the information on where to purchase a "Kill - a - Watt meter. Skip

 

[skip40]

Hi Bebop, you make a most valid statement about the DVR being shut down and then needing a replacement, Yikes! Where we are in FL the power goes off an awful lot, allbeit luckily for on short periods. I wonder if the DVR "thinks" if this is like being shut off overnight? What do you guys think ?? Skip

 

[bebop]

Hi Bebop, you make a most valid statement about the DVR being shut down and then needing a replacement, Yikes! Where we are in FL the power goes off an awful lot, allbeit luckily for on short periods. I wonder if the DVR "thinks" if this is like being shut off overnight? What do you guys think ?? Skip

I don't know for sure. I had my receiver turn off for a short period of time many times in the first 8 months - but it wasn't until I went on an extended leave that had it off for over 10 days that I notcied anything go bad.

Since it was a hard-drive on its way out - it could have been simply one that had a short life-span and it may have happened soon after anyway.

Now I have a small computer case fan helping the airflow cool down the DVR in hopes that the newer DVR will last much longer. I'm leaving the new one plugged in and turned on all the time.

 

[Smith P.]

We have dedicated thread how to coll down 622/722.
Just a note to calculation of power consumption of the DVR - one HDD is taking 20W, one demod chip of two - 4W, CPU - 4..7W, etc.

 

[skip40]

Temperature Readings

Hi, does anyone have an idea why our new 722 ( 2/7/ 09 ) Temperature Readings have not moved, even when I placed ( via reading this Forum ) a personal fan exhausting the hot air out of the unit 2 weeks ago? An external thermometer now reads that the temps are down to 70 degrees, plus the internal fan finnaly shut off for the first time ever. The display on the tv STILL reads: Hi 139 - Lo 94- Avg 114 to me why these readings are still the same - quite confusing. I did a re-boot as suggested, but no changes in any of the readings. I called Dish Tech, they said I`m sorry but I have no idea what could be wrong, even after speaking to a Supervisor twice, asking me if I wanted them to send me a refurbished unit, thinking about what was said in this Forum about the many troubles/ frustrating times with refurbished units some of you have had, I reclined their offer real fast, thanks to all you guys. Then I suggested, why don`t I wait till the next update comes and see if the display changes, we agreed that was the best thing to do for now. My Thermaltake fan may arrive Friday or Monday. I`m ordering the Kill a Watt meter, it should prove to be most intesting, thanks. I also want to thank you all for taking your free time to share your knowledge in helping others, I know it is appreciated and has helped many of us, including me "big time", Skip