Anyone seen mythbusters?

kobaj

kobaj

VIP Member
Starting off, I love the show. Adam and Jamie are great. :D

I was recently watching an episode where the myth was: its better to leave your lights on when you leave a room then to turn them off. Because the amount of electricity needed to turn on the light was more then the amount needed to keep the light on while you were gone.

For a tungsten bulb if you were back within .3 seconds it was worth it to leave it on. And for a florescent it was worth it if you came back in 24 seconds.

Now what does this have to do with computers? I was walking out of my room and flipped off my CRT monitors and remembered the show...

Is it more energy efficient to leave my CRT monitors on if If I leave a room or is it better to turn them off and then back on once I come in?

And then comes in the factor, Does turning off my monitor "kill" it more then leaving it on?

I dont know if anyone would know, but I felt like asking here and getting an answer fast rather then emailing the mythbusters and asking them to do another test. However I feel it would be cool if they did it. (:D)

Whats your verdict?
 
Thats what Im saying, at what point is it more efficient to leave it on, and when to turn it off.?

As the example with the florescent, if you go and come back within 23.9 seconds you leave it on. If you are going to be gone for more then 24 seconds its more efficient to turn it off and then back on once you return.

I just have a roundabout way of asking things :D.
 
I say just listen to the directs. if you go into the options that allow your monitor to go on stand by or off to save power, then what does that tell you? case closed. myth busted. Energy star says so, so do i.
 
But there you are wrong. The monitors go into powersave mode, not off.

Powersave your monitors will turn off the cathode tube, stopping the picture, but once you wiggle your mouse the tube is turned back on and your picture reappears. Much different for when you actually turn on and off a monitor.

When you turn off a CRT then turn it back on it degauss, Which takes more electricity then just turning on and off the tube. Ya?

What your saying is just like my question though. Is it worth it to Powersave the monitor or to not? :)
 
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get one of those little power meter things you stick in the wall socket then the monitor into that and then you'll see.oh any by the way, energy star recommends you set it to turn off the monitor after X hours of no use.
 
What is "X"? Thats what Im trying to figure out.

The "kill-a-watt"s dont allow pc download and I dont know if they can catch the short "spark" of electricity needed when turning on the monitor. Thats why the mythbusters used that ring, not a thing that plugs in.
 
X is a variable. it represents time and X can be however long/short you decide to scale the time as.
 
But this is not my decision (besides going into the whole free choice is an allusion) I didnt make the monitor. Im not energy star. Im looking for facts, even if they dont please me.

Dont get me started on time being relative and how "long" it is. :P

:D
 
here is something that will contradict your idea. Even IF it were better to keep it on all the time, do you realize that there is an estimated amount of life a product has despite weather you turn it on and off a lot? if you left it on all the time you wont be using that product too long at all. it would be stupid to kill your product faster just because it cost you .01 Cent to turn it on. practical vs. efficiency.
 
By saving all those .01 over and over for several years, by the time said product is dead, I will have enough to buy a new product. :D

(Yes, Office Space was on tonight!)
 
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