Extender on a wall switch?

[pjpjpjpj]

Anyone completely power off their extender every time they are done watching TV? Whether that be having it plugged into a switched wall outlet, or on a power strip that you turn off (manually or automatically), or just plain unplugging it?

Just wondering if that would be a recipe for shortening the extender's life or causing any other ill effects.

[Fuzzy]

Well, of the two failed extenders I've experienced, both seem to be due to a failed post-production modification in the reset circuitry. Not that excessive restarting would unnecessarily damage a poor solder joint, but I don't see a need to push it. The real question is, WHY turn it off?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Anyone completely power off their extender every time they are done watching TV? Whether that be having it plugged into a switched wall outlet, or on a power strip that you turn off (manually or automatically), or just plain unplugging it?

Just wondering if that would be a recipe for shortening the extender's life or causing any other ill effects.

Not as frequent as every time watching TV is done, but every day during the night.

All my extenders powers on in the morning at 8:00 via timers, then they go into automatic stand by after 2 minutes. During the day my family uses the "Home/Power" buttons for fast power up/down and eventually all the extenders are powered off at midnight via timers.

The very same happens with my SageTV server and my media servers, I just cannot see the point to keep a system on when not in use. The very same question applies to every appliance in you household do you keep it on when not in use?

I've been doing this every day since I purchased my first extender back in 2009.

Eddy

[blade]

It's been awhile since I tested the power usage of my extenders, but if I remember correctly they only draw 4-6 watts. Whether they were actively playing back content, idling or even in "standby" I don't think there was a difference in power consumption.

I never power down my extender in my primary home nor do I bother putting it in standby. When you consider that a 60 watt equivalent compact fluorescent light bulb pulls around 13 watts the power savings are minimal. The extender is used often enough that I feel the energy savings aren't worth any potential risk of turning the device on and off several times a day or for that matter the small hassle of doing it.

I also have a home in another state and I have the extender there plugged into a power strip. When I'm not there I turn the switch on the power strip off so that the TV, DVD, extender, etc.... isn't drawing power while not in use. The difference is I may not use it for a month or two at a time. I figure the power savings and the reduced risk of a power surge, brownout, etc... outweighs any potential risk of turning the device on and off.

In my opinion if the concern is power consumption you're not gaining much and there are areas of your home that would make a much bigger impact. If it's about trying to extend the life of the device then it's debatable. I've always heard that turning an electronic device on and off is more likely to kill it than just leaving it on all the time. On the other hand if the device is plugged in all the time vs being unplugged or physically switched off from say a power strip then you reduce the risk of brownout, surges, etc... damaging the device.

[pjpjpjpj]

As I posted that, I was wondering if people would have assumed this was a power savings thing. I should have clarified (it's not).

I am building a simple home theater system with a projector, screen, AVR, and extender (HD200).

The projector can be set to turn on immediately when it receives power. The screen drops when the projector is powered on. The AVR comes out of standby when it senses power at the other end of the HDMI (i.e., the projector powering up) so it will "turn on". Therefore I am installing a wall switch that I will flip when I enter the room, which will turn on the projector, thus dropping the screen and waking the AVR. The only thing left is the extender, and we all know that Sage extenders, when powered on, start right up automatically. So I thought I might just put the Sage extender on the same power switch as the projector. That way I enter the room, flip the switch, and the entire system will come on.

More than anything, the theater will only be used for occasional movies and sporting events, not even close to daily usage. We watch most of our TV upstairs in the family room.

I was just wondering if anyone saw life-shortening from such an operation, but it sounds like at least a few of you don't have any trouble.

[SomeWhatLost]

I would be worried about inrush current...
but mostly just because I am paranoid...
should be fine though...

but are you sure your projector is ok with having the power just pulled?
most modern projectors have a power down sequence where they turn off the lamp, but keep the fan going until things are nice and cool again...

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

I would be worried about inrush current...
but mostly just because I am paranoid...
should be fine though...

but are you sure your projector is ok with having the power just pulled?
most modern projectors have a power down sequence where they turn off the lamp, but keep the fan going until things are nice and cool again...

I have almost exactly the same setup Projector->Screen->AVR->Downlights->HD300 all controlled by one wall switch, the only difference is that when you press the switch everything powers up but stay in stand by so apparently nothing happens, the beauty is when I press the (extra) power up button on the extender remote and everything comes to live like magic then you press the same button again and everything goes back in stand by and yes the projector perform its cooling down procedure which I wait before switching off the wall switch, the overrall experience it's a nice feeling and my family loves it

Eddy

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by routerunner

I have almost exactly the same setup Projector->Screen->AVR->Downlights->HD300 all controlled by one wall switch, the only difference is that when you press the switch everything powers up but stay in stand by so apparently nothing happens, the beauty is when I press the (extra) power up button on the extender remote and everything comes to live like magic then you press the same button again and everything goes back in stand by and yes the projector perform its cooling down procedure which I wait before switching off the wall switch, the overrall experience it's a nice feeling and my family loves it

Eddy

Care to share how you did that?
(I'm assuming a home automation solution?)

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Care to share how you did that?
(I'm assuming a home automation solution?)

Sure. There isn't any HA involved and the setup is pretty simple.

When you turn the wall switch on, the projector and the AVR are programmed to enter into stand by mode after power on, the lights are on and the HD300 boots as usual, also this give me the time to remove the lense cover from the projector.

The projector has two programmable GPIs, the first is controlling the screen up/down and the second the light fade up/down, also the projector is waking up the AVR via HDMI vieraLink.

I programmed the TV power on/off of the HD300 remote to switch on/off the projector, so by pressing that button the projector wakes up, the screen gets down, the light fade down and 30 seconds later the glorious SageTV UI is on screen and family happy with fresh

Now, what I really wished was the projector having a third GPI to activate the pop-corn machine as well

Eddy