The WOW! Buzz

Power management of electronic equipment grows increasingly complex in today’s world.  Certainly, consumers are concerned about energy costs, and there is increasing concern from a public policy standpoint over carbon-based energy production and its potential impact on the environment.

Regardless of the reason, it is a fact that electronic equipment generally is quite energy efficient these days, but some is better than others.  There are a number of design criteria for an engineer to consider:

1)  What is the overall wattage consumption when fully on versus a potential sleep mode?

2)  Does sleep mode, if applicable, have other benefits vs. turning the equipment completely off?

3)  What is the convenience factor associated with effective power management if any?

4)  What are the power management factors that contribute to product longevity?

Why the concentration on “sleep mode”?  The fact is that most electronic equipment doesn’t really like an initial power surge coursing through its semiconductors like some unbridled testosterone rush.  Most of us are aware of sleep modes on computers (particularly laptops), and perhaps displays, but in fact most electronic equipment is designed this way these days, including televisions (both CRT and flat panel), sound equipment, DVR’s, and logic processors of all kinds, whether they are in refrigerators, microwaves, hard drives, phones, etc.  Soft power switches are the norm now rather than the exception.

There are several good reasons for designs of this type:

Longevity–electronic circuitry that is “always on”, even at a significantly reduced power level, has been shown to last longer and retain its operating characteristics more consistently over the life of the device when compared with designs that use a “hard power” approach.

Convenience–in many designs, the time interval from “sleep” to “full on” is much less than from “off” to “on”–most of us have experienced that with our computers, but it really applies to other devices as well.

Less Energy Usage–wouldn’t any device with a hard power switch save energy in the long run?  Not necessarily.  Most devices which carry the coveted Energy Star® rating are usually soft switch designs, integrating intelligent power management that doesn’t depend on our “remembering to turn it on or off”.

A couple of general recommendations:

If you are using a power strip as an on/off switch for televisions, computers, cable modems, EMTA, sound equipment, DVR, etc., DON’T–All of that careful circuit saving power engineering is bypassed when you use this “sledgehammer on a thumbtack” approach.  And while I agree this is relatively convenient, it just generally isn’t the best thing for your equipment or your power bill.  Don’t “power down hard” (power strip, pulling the plug, etc.) any electronic equipment unless other circumstances force the issue.  (An intense lightning storm raging outside IS a good reason).

That said, if your computer locks up for example, many times the only way to “get it back” is with a hard reboot/hard power reset.  Most circuitry with built in logic is the same way, whether in a DVR or a clock radio.  If there is a need to “reset” that logic, because of soft power engineering, many times pushing the power button will be inadequate for this task, and the “plug must be pulled”.  Again, use this option with caution, but be aware that this will reset most electronic logic that has lost its way for whatever reason.  If you find yourself doing this all the time with the same component, service is probably going to be required on the device.

May the road rise up to meet you, and your logic devices never stray from their design criteria!

Until next time….