Sham-off

Apparent off is the state of an electrical device in which it consumes electricity but does not provide any function. The standby mode also consumes power, but provides a function, e.g. B. the display of the time or the possibility of switching on by remote control .

The EU regulation 1275/2008 on the power consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment in standby and off mode allows a maximum of 1  watt for all devices sold from 2010 and 0.5 watt for those sold from 2014 were. Modern devices therefore only have a small share in the total consumption of a household.

When the device is switched off, it is not completely disconnected from the mains . The consumption comes about because the main switch is located between the actual device and the power supply unit and not between the power supply unit and the connector . The transformer of the power supply consumes power even when it is not loaded, which leads to no-load loss.

Plug-in power supply

Many devices are supplied by separate plug-in power supplies. The use of such power supplies has advantages, among other things, in that the devices supplied with them do not have to be designed for all power grids occurring worldwide. Such plug-in power supplies cannot be switched off, but, as required by law, consume a maximum of 0.3 watts, good models 0.03 watts.

When switching off using a primary-side power switch on the device with integrated power supply unit, the power is reduced to zero. On some devices, the power switch is on the secondary side of the power supply, actually "behind" the power supply. This has the advantage that, due to the lower voltage, the switch and its electrical insulation can be made more cost-effective, since the mains voltage is not switched directly. The disadvantage is that the power supply unit always remains in operation.

literature

• Mathias Schäfer: Save CO2 - save money , Verlag Edel: Books, 2011, ISBN 3-86803-462-5 , page 98 [1]
• Gudrun Bergdolt, Dirk Mattner: Saving energy in the household , Verlag Haufe-Lexware, 2009, ISBN 3-448-09301-7 , page 14 [2]
• Policy scenarios for climate protection IV - scenarios up to 2030, Volume 7 , Verlag Forschungszentrum Jülich, 2008, ISBN 3-89336-518-4 , page 22 [3]

Web links

• Regulation (EC) No. 1275/2008 (PDF)
• Federal Environment Agency : Idle losses , February 16, 2012 [4]
• Christof Windeck: one watt regulation in c't , March 2009 [5]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Schink: Silent Stromfesser. In: c't. January 21, 2009, accessed December 14, 2019 .