Good UPS for a desktop? - Off-topic

Hello guys, we recently got our first imac and the store threw in the cheap APC 350v UPS unit with the purchase. (the power went out and the imac was alive for around 15mins which is whats advertised on the box)
Now I want one for our windows desktop which has a 350 psu, I believe it consumes more power than the imac so I'm thinking of getting a bigger one for it, which do you guys recommend?
also I would like to ask something power related, before getting the mac I had a dell desktop (lasted 4 years and then had a mobo failure) and I remember that if I touched its case, I would receive a slight electric shock.
same thing happened with the imac yesterday, as I reached to plug my external hard drive in the back, I received a slight shock when my chin touched the aluminum. should I be concerned about this?
Sorry for asking too many questions

By UPS do you mean PSU?

bradleyG said:
By UPS do you mean PSU?
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UPS - Uninterruptable Power Supply (i.e battery backup that takes over when mains power goes down)

I'm not sure about the shock.. but I use this UPS in my office, and I've never had an issue.. Then again my power has only gone out a few times, for no more than 10 minutes.
CyberPower Standby CP550.
I'd post a link, but I can't yet.
Never had any issues though, and neither have any of the other properties using it. (Which is why I bought it..)

DirkGently1 said:
UPS - Uninterruptable Power Supply (i.e battery backup that takes over when mains power goes down)
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Ohh, my bad. Completely misunderstood! Thank you for the enlightenment.

numeric-mischief said:
IF you're looking for a UPS with more run time - look into the volt amp (VA) rating of the UPS. Some of the best value UPS's out there are the CyberPower Adaptive Sine Wave UPS - CP1350PFCLCD UPS 1350VA or CP1500PFCLCD UPS 1500VA. There are a couple reasons why these are superior - 2 usb charging ports which are battery powered, automatic voltage regulation (over/under regulation) and they produce pure sine wave which is compatible with the higher efficiency power supplies (PSU) (ie 80+bronze,gold, or platinum) which means you don't have to worry in the future about if your psu will work with your UPS. I use them with my home built PC's as they were not compatible with the cheap 1500VA APC I had previously (black friday deal from a couple years back).
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I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'm pretty sure you have no freakin idea what you're talking about... There's no such thing as a voltamp, it's called a watt.
Then again, not sure. Maybe UPS companies made up something to pawn off their crap that has no valid use in this day and age.

rhcp4ever said:
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'm pretty sure you have no freakin idea what you're talking about... There's no such thing as a voltamp, it's called a watt.
Then again, not sure. Maybe UPS companies made up something to pawn off their crap that has no valid use in this day and age.
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There is a slight difference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volt-ampere
UPSs are only meant to keep power running until the hardware has safely shut down, not run instead of the mains.
I have one for my PC upstairs, it's an APC750 if memory serves.
I use them in a professional capacity with work, and unfortunately many people who install them don't know how to configure them or connect them up.
So many client sites I've been to where they have things like monitors plugged in, or don't have the switch connected to a network controlled UPS so it can't then tell the servers to start shutting down.
Basic ones will just have a serial or USB connection to control one computer, telling it "power's out, start shutting down now"
You want to time how long your computer takes to shut down, then set the UPS to take a few minutes longer before killing the power to it's socket.
If you're prone to minor power outages, where it cuts out for a few minutes and then comes back on, then with the decent UPSs you can configure them to delay the shutdown message for longer.

Related

Bionic won't turn on...

Well, I'm baffled.
Last night I looked down to see my Bionic bootlooping. I let it do its thing and after a few reboots it stopped. Whatever, it's android, it's buggy.
Then when I picked it up, I realized it wasn't even on anymore. I tried to turn it on, nothing. So, I pulled the battery for a minute, popped it back on, and... still nothing.
Long story short, I ended up going to Verizon, trying different batteries, chargers, etc, and I can't get an inch of life out of the phone.
I can see a white LED light up when the phone is connected via the stock USB cable. No other cable will do it, and the wall charger won't do it. I don't know if this really indicates anything or not...
Is there anything else I can even try? It won't even boot into recovery - I never see the red M at all, the screen doesn't so much as even flicker. Unfortunately I bought the phone second hand from an iPhone 4S switcher, so there's nothing I can do to get a warranty replacement.
It's back to my original Droid for now...
I had the same problem Sunday night. Called tech support and they overnight-ed a replacement.
Try holding Volume down + power from the off state for a few seconds then letting go.
Or try Both Volume buttons + Power.
If those do nothing, it sounds like you have a very expensive paperweight. You need a replacement, sorry.
Whatever you do, DO NOT send the phone into Verizon!
Make up some excuse like you lost it or someone stole it or something.
Had my first Bionic do this I said I lost it claimed on my insurance but new one acts up also usually when it's overheating got my old one to fastboot did a complete restore to stock tested it by steaming netflix that lasted for about half an hour now it's just a paper weight!
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
Would Motorola honor the 1 year warranty?
cryptiq said:
Would Motorola honor the 1 year warranty?
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If it covers your excuse, yeah.
Tivo7 said:
If it covers your excuse, yeah.
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Based on what details we have from the OP, it doesn't sound like he did anything to damage or modify the phone. So if the phone is stock he should be able to get help from Moto I presume?
what i did was
i had the verizon rep patch me straight through to insurion and got my o.g droid replaced.
I tried to get into recovery with no luck.
Unfortunately I'm not the original owner, so I can't send a receipt or anything Motorola's way. I do have the original box, though, and the original owner had it all of three days...
My phone was rooted to freeze some bloatware, but still on the stock ROM. It was running that way for weeks, so there's no way that would have caused it. I've never seen a phone just... completely keel over before. I'm half tempted to just use my original droid for 2-3 weeks and grab the nexus when it comes out.
If you haven't messed with any system files and you're completely stock, you can take the phone in for repair.
It's rooted, but there's no way for them to tell if it won't boot.
Motorola's live chat rep offered to let me send it in for RMA repair. The fine print says, though, that the repair stops being free the second they see anything that voids the warranty. My assumption is that they'll never be able to tell it's rooted because they will need to just send a refurb if it's shorted out, but should I bother risking it?
c0LdFire said:
I tried to get into recovery with no luck.
Unfortunately I'm not the original owner, so I can't send a receipt or anything Motorola's way. I do have the original box, though, and the original owner had it all of three days...
My phone was rooted to freeze some bloatware, but still on the stock ROM. It was running that way for weeks, so there's no way that would have caused it. I've never seen a phone just... completely keel over before. I'm half tempted to just use my original droid for 2-3 weeks and grab the nexus when it comes out.
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Did you try calling Moto? It would be one thing if the phone has been in the market for say 16 months and then the 1 year warranty period would come into question, but in this case the phone hasn't been out for more 3 months so it should be covered. I could see where they would require a receipt to make sure it was purchased from an authorized reseller vs. a grey market seller, but it's worth a shot to give them a call.
Any chance you can get in touch with the person that sold you the phone?
Same thing happened to me...
Was tethering my bionic to PC for web access when it died. It was really hot so I thought it was some sort of safety measure to keep the processor from frying and I tried all of the stuff lots of you proposed in addition to letting my phone lie on a heat sink to relieve some of that heat.
I know you mentioned that you took it to a store and tried all sorts of chargers, but did you try leaving it plugged in to a wall/car charger for a while? That's what did it for me after leaving the batteries out of the unit overnight (I don't think that part is necessary... I was just fed up messing with it and went to sleep hoping it would be magically fixed by some house gnomes) - after plugging the batteries back in that morning and having it still not work, I switch to a car charger (which is rated 1a - higher than the included 850ma charger) and on in the middle of a trip to the Verizon store it simply turned on displaying 5% power on battery.
Odd thing is, before it was tethered the last night, it was at 100% power. So either somehow phone got shorted and drained the battery really fast, or the bionic simply eats so much power with that LTE that even when being supplied power from the PC, it still drains the battery. And from reading some of the other stuff online after googling "white light droid on," it seems that white light indicator is some sort of charge indicator and that the OS won't show if the battery is less than 5%.
hanafubuku said:
Was tethering my bionic to PC for web access when it died. It was really hot so I thought it was some sort of safety measure to keep the processor from frying and I tried all of the stuff lots of you proposed in addition to letting my phone lie on a heat sink to relieve some of that heat.
I know you mentioned that you took it to a store and tried all sorts of chargers, but did you try leaving it plugged in to a wall/car charger for a while? That's what did it for me after leaving the batteries out of the unit overnight (I don't think that part is necessary... I was just fed up messing with it and went to sleep hoping it would be magically fixed by some house gnomes) - after plugging the batteries back in that morning and having it still not work, I switch to a car charger (which is rated 1a - higher than the included 850ma charger) and on in the middle of a trip to the Verizon store it simply turned on displaying 5% power on battery.
Odd thing is, before it was tethered the last night, it was at 100% power. So either somehow phone got shorted and drained the battery really fast, or the bionic simply eats so much power with that LTE that even when being supplied power from the PC, it still drains the battery. And from reading some of the other stuff online after googling "white light droid on," it seems that white light indicator is some sort of charge indicator and that the OS won't show if the battery is less than 5%.
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Yeah your computer USB port does not provide enough power to compensate for the draw you will get off LTE. Your phone will eat much more juice than you are giving it. Leaving the battery out allows the phone to fully discharge any built up charges (ever had this with a laptop? Looks like a bad motherboard but you pull out the battery ans hold the power button down to drain the capacitors and then reinstall the battery and instant boot.) Same thing happening here would be my guess.
Leave the battery out overnight or hold the power button down for about 30 seconds. Put the battery back in and let it charge for awhile. Profit?
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

[PSA] First Charge out of box is important for battery init

For those that experience long first charges, the first-charge charging time MAY be intentional.
I couldn't figure out why USB-500mA was taking so long to charge my phone, and wondered if the charging circuit wasn't correctly detecting the current rating (500mA) of my computer's USB. Charging shouldn't have taken more than 5 hours.
It took 20.
I'm getting ~>6hr screen on time now/charge and USB-500mA charging is snappy-- 3-5 hours or so. (albiet turned off all syncs except contacts and a few apps, app quarantine on facebook/drive/etc, and calibrated Lux for indoor lighting at 13-15% up to 150 Lux or so; and 1% for 0 Lux (at night); and Faux123's 003b3 kernel clocked at 1.6ghz and EcoMode and Snake Charmer ON in FauxClock (faux kernel control app).
TL;DR: the charging circuit wants the first charge to be slow. Don't worry if it takes long. It won't always take this long. Just for the first charge.
rancur3p1c said:
FYI, the first-charge charging time taking a super long time is actually intentional.
I couldn't figure out why USB-500mA was taking so long to charge my phone, and wondered if the charging circuit wasn't correctly detecting the current rating (500mA) of my computer's USB. Charging shouldn't have taken more than 5 hours.
It took 20.
I'm getting ~>6hr screen on time now/charge and USB-500mA charging is snappy-- 3-5 hours or so. (albiet turned off all syncs except contacts and a few apps, app quarantine on facebook/drive/etc, and calibrated Lux for indoor lighting at 13-15% up to 150 Lux or so; and 1% for 0 Lux (at night); and Faux123's 003b3 kernel clocked at 1.6ghz and EcoMode and Snake Charmer ON in FauxClock (faux kernel control app).
TL;DR: the charging circuit wants the first charge to be slow. Don't worry if it takes long. It won't always take this long. Just for the first charge.
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i find it funny that you think the "charging circuit" knows when it's "the first time" :laugh:
altezza2k2 said:
i find it funny that you think the "charging circuit" knows when it's "the first time" :laugh:
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why?
rancur3p1c said:
why?
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firstly, the first time you go to plug in your phone to charge is not the first time it has been charged. it has been turned on and off multiple times during production. also, i don't know about you but my phone came charged 90%. how did that happen?
secondly, it's extremely improbable that extra circuitry was put in place to limit the charge rate just for the the first time charge. if for whatever reason they wanted to limit the first charge, it would be done in production with production equipment.
which brings me to my last point...what is the benefit of rate limiting the first charge cycle?
TL;DR
Phone normally charges at 1.2A, you feed it 0.5A it's going to take more than twice as long to charge.
Simples....
altezza2k2 said:
firstly, the first time you go to plug in your phone to charge is not the first time it has been charged. it has been turned on and off multiple times during production. also, i don't know about you but my phone came charged 90%. how did that happen?
secondly, it's extremely improbable that extra circuitry was put in place to limit the charge rate just for the the first time charge. if for whatever reason they wanted to limit the first charge, it would be done in production with production equipment.
which brings me to my last point...what is the benefit of rate limiting the first charge cycle?
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hmm good thoughts. My phone came at 45%, which is right in line with what you should store a Lithium cell at, hence the start of my theory. Presumably, the cells get partially charged at the factory or are simply made that way-- have to be, because they won't recharge if they drop below 2.9-3v or so, charge has to start somewhere. 90%, probably not made that way though.
I doubt they have a lineup of USB-micro chargers at a dust/lint-free factory doing the charging for us, which lends credence to the notion they are _installed_ charged/factory conditioned.
Factory testing, would probably only take 15 minutes on the phone, if they even test everything (probably just basic stuff).
extra circuitry-- nothing extra physically besides the charging chip, the charging circuit for lithiums requires ability to sense charge current, because that's how you know when to stop charging (i.e. all lithium chargers have to be intelligent). So then you simply have to have a single 3-state flash or eeprom byte that starts at FF (programmed from chip factory), is initialized once to 0 on powerup in the chip (not android or even firmware, lower) code iff it's FF, and then gets written to "1" after the charging circuit gets shut off.
first charge cycle-- because if I thought they were doing it, I could see why they would (chemically). I guess they're not, so maybe I can't anymore. In theory, I could see why it COULD be good, something along the lines of running the car hard the first 1500 miles to ensure the piston seals wear/bed properly to the cylinder.
Charging through USB to your computer is always slower though. It was not intended to make the first charge slower and your battery results are mostly a result of your customizations.
rancur3p1c said:
FYI, the first-charge charging time taking a super long time is actually intentional.
I couldn't figure out why USB-500mA was taking so long to charge my phone, and wondered if the charging circuit wasn't correctly detecting the current rating (500mA) of my computer's USB. Charging shouldn't have taken more than 5 hours.
It took 20.
I'm getting ~>6hr screen on time now/charge and USB-500mA charging is snappy-- 3-5 hours or so. (albiet turned off all syncs except contacts and a few apps, app quarantine on facebook/drive/etc, and calibrated Lux for indoor lighting at 13-15% up to 150 Lux or so; and 1% for 0 Lux (at night); and Faux123's 003b3 kernel clocked at 1.6ghz and EcoMode and Snake Charmer ON in FauxClock (faux kernel control app).
TL;DR: the charging circuit wants the first charge to be slow. Don't worry if it takes long. It won't always take this long. Just for the first charge.
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Click to collapse
Just a warning to anyone reading this thread... ALL OF THE CHARGING INFORMATION IN THE OP IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE
It really makes no difference how you charge the phone, especially so for the first charge. The phone's systems will detect when the battery is at full capacity and stop charging as necessary. So nonsense like the OP makes absolutely no difference, as it simply stops charging once it reaches 100%. The reason your phone charged slow, is simply that USB provides (as has already been said), a much reduced current compared with the wall-socket chargers.
rancur3p1c said:
I could see why it COULD be good, something along the lines of running the car hard the first 1500 miles to ensure the piston seals wear properly in the cylinder.
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You are comparing mechanical and chemical things here. like comparing wind and wave. Both can push things but driving force is absolutely different.
hmm..
im getting 5.5-6 hours screen on time without charging it at all when i just got it. and its first charge took just under 3 hours.
undercover said:
TL;DR
Phone normally charges at 1.2A, you feed it 0.5A it's going to take more than twice as long to charge.
Simples....
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lol
undercover said:
You are comparing mechanical and chemical things here. like comparing wind and wave. Both can push things but driving force is absolutely different.
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yes, different.
simms22 said:
hmm..
im getting 5.5-6 hours screen on time without charging it at all when i just got it. and its first charge took just under 3 hours.
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that's interesting.
Dan1909 said:
Just a warning to anyone reading this thread... ALL OF THE CHARGING INFORMATION IN THE OP IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE
It really makes no difference how you charge the phone, especially so for the first charge. The phone's systems will detect when the battery is at full capacity and stop charging as necessary. So nonsense like the OP makes absolutely no difference, as it simply stops charging once it reaches 100%. The reason your phone charged slow, is simply that USB provides (as has already been said), a much reduced current compared with the wall-socket chargers.
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nope, not completely untrue just mostly untrue.
I take most of it back though.
It's possible the ultra long charge was because I didn't have a SIM in, constantly running radio looking for service?
The engine burn in is an old wives tale as well. The engines are all tested at high rpm the same as transmission before final assembly. No need to drive hard when it is new unless you want your transmission to learn your aggressive shift patterns!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rancur3p1c said:
nope, not completely untrue just mostly untrue.
I take most of it back though.
It's possible the ultra long charge was because I didn't have a SIM in, constantly running radio looking for service?
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Not having a SIM in wouldn't cause that effect. It'll still be connected to a network, as it has to allow emergency calls, it simply won't be allowing you to make/receive any calls/data/texts. It was just a slow charge as it was over USB, rather than the full power chargers.
Dan1909 said:
Not having a SIM in wouldn't cause that effect. It'll still be connected to a network, as it has to allow emergency calls, it simply won't be allowing you to make/receive any calls/data/texts. It was just a slow charge as it was over USB, rather than the full power chargers.
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but nothing else explains a 20h charge. That's 10000mAh at 500mA/hr (USB). I checked the CPU state and it was 300mhz the whole time-- same as every night. Except now, it only takes 3-5hrs to charge (on the same 500mA usb slow charging)
maybe the battery did need conditioning... - .-
rancur3p1c said:
but nothing explains a 20h charge. That's 10000mAh at 500mA/hr (USB). I checked the CPU state and it was 300mhz the whole time-- same as every night. Except now, it only takes 3-5hrs to charge (on the same 500mA usb slow charging)
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To be honest (and I don't mean to sound rude here, just explaining my thinking), I don't really believe that happened. It seems highly unlikely, and goes against pretty much everything about the way the batteries work. This is assumign the USB port was actually putting out the full 500 mA, and that the phone wasn't having any kind of extra drain at all (which wouldn't be that unusual on a new phone).
Even if for some strange reason the battery did take an exceptionally long first charge, it was just a random occurrence probably due to a minor error in your battery. That doesn't mean that all first charges will or need to take that long.
Elisha said:
The engine burn in is an old wives tale as well. The engines are all tested at high rpm the same as transmission before final assembly. No need to drive hard when it is new unless you want your transmission to learn your aggressive shift patterns!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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really? that's weird. why do they say the exact opposite in the service manual (stay under 4k RPMs for the first 5-10k miles) if they've already broken it in? I saw some pics on a site from a guy who had people send him their 200k mile pistons and compared between those given the hard drive from day 1 vs. the soft drive break in method per manuf. spec. Those that were driven hard on purpose for the first 500 miles or so still had immaculate piston seals and zero carbon blowby/leakage. Maybe he was cherry picking results but the theory sounded good-- why else would they cross bore the cylinder? Might as well drive hard to help the piston seal as well!
of you are using your device when plugged into the usb, many times itll drain more battery juice than will be brought in. there are even live wallpapers that you can have running while plugged into tbe usb, and watch the battery drain right before your eyes. plus each usb device thst you have it plugged into could charge the device differently, some barely let a trickle in.
Dan1909 said:
To be honest (and I don't mean to sound rude here, just explaining my thinking), I don't really believe that happened. It seems highly unlikely, and goes against pretty much everything about the way the batteries work.
Even if for some strange reason the battery did take an exceptionally long first charge, it was just a random occurrence probably due to a minor error in your battery. That doesn't mean that all first charges will or need to take that long.
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well, I will say that I can swear it happened because I plugged it in at ~8pm and it wasn't done the next day till like 5pm or something.
Only remaining theory (this actually makes sense more I think about it), is perhaps got confused and thought I was on USB 100mA. I was using a semi flakey USB cable that sometimes seem to have trouble detecting my phone is attached in Windows. Maybe that's what it was.
Additionally, the next day my battery exhibited some very peculiar discharge curves. After using for >5m screen on and turning the screen off, the battery % would rise about 3-5%. Additionally, I think I managed about 7 hours screen on time after that charge lending credence to my theory that slower charge curves store more energy.
Hm. I think I will try this again.

How do you turn it off?

Hello how do you turn it off?
After I'm done and there is stil l the blue light so how does it turn of or go stand by thanks
Krisshp said:
Hello how do you turn it off?
After I'm done and there is stil l the blue light so how does it turn of or go stand by thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same way you turn off your refrigerator!
Asphyx said:
Same way you turn off your refrigerator!
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I shut the door lol
Honestly. How do I turn it off?
Krisshp said:
I shut the door lol
Honestly. How do I turn it off?
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LOL well the fridge doesn't go off when you close the door only when you unplug it!
The CCast is meant to stay on and wait for you to send something to it....
There is no Off switch.
It is afterall an APPLIANCE.
Asphyx said:
LOL well the fridge doesn't go off when you close the door only when you unplug it!
The CCast is meant to stay on and wait for you to send something to it....
There is no Off switch.
It is afterall an APPLIANCE.
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Haha. Kk. That makes sense
.
Krisshp said:
Haha. Kk. That makes sense
.
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It's very low power draw (someone recently checked it with a Kill-A-Watt) and having it on continuous power means:
Much less chance of mishap during a firmware update (since they happen without you knowing)
It can turn on your TV and switch it to the appropriate input, if your TV or connected device supports HDMI-CEC. Mine is connected to my sound bar's input box and it seems to change the TV to the correct channel as well as the sound bar box! Magic!!!
So many things don't turn "off" now. Instead they "sleep." My Xbox one is never "off", my blue ray is never " off" either. Its such a low power state that who really cares. I've tried to get my power bill down to the days of an apartment, but its impossible.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
zul8er said:
I've tried to get my power bill down to the days of an apartment, but its impossible.
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Yeah, this I have tried (and failed at) too... seems only way that works is to update and consolidate, but I don't have that kind of cash.
-= this post enhanced with bonus mobile typos =-
Just about everything is computer controlled, uses some variation of Flash memory and all of that needs power...
Imagine if you had to wait for your TV to boot up before you could watch TV.
Or for your Router and Modem to boot up every time you wanted to use the internet...
almost nothing these days actually shuts off entirely.
I only plug it in to use it. When I'm done I pull the power cord from my usb. I worry that it could be in the middle of an update and if I turn off my TV something bad could happen.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda app-developers app
striker59 said:
I only plug it in to use it. When I'm done I pull the power cord from my usb.
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Click to collapse
Same here.
It's installed in the man cave anyway. If I'm not going to be down there for a week, why let it draw power. But that's me...I'm also the guy that goes around behind everyone turning off lights and shutting things off that aren't being used. PC gets shut down at the end of the day and doesn't get turned on until its needed the next day. Laptops at least go into Hibernation. I don't leave phone chargers plugged into the wall either if they aren't charging a phone. Maybe it's an old school thing. LOL
Creepingdeath2 said:
Maybe it's an old school thing. LOL
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Old School with a Nickname like that says to me we probably got drunk in the same Metal bars back in the day before Online dating when you actually had to dress up, go to a bar to get laid or find your future ex wife! LOL
If you want you could always cut open a USB cable and just install your own on/off switch on the 5v power lead. The wiring diagram for USB cables is on Wikipedia.
But just out of curiosity I got out my own power meter and checked the Chromecast. It consumes less than 2 watts on standby with the screen background photos cycling (that's the lower limit that my power meter can read). While playing a Youtube video it's still only 2 watts, though from the way the reading varies it looks like it's slightly higher than standby. As far as I can tell it's independent of whether the TV is on or not.
DJames1 said:
If you want you could always cut open a USB cable and just install your own on/off switch on the 5v power lead. The wiring diagram for USB cables is on Wikipedia.
But just out of curiosity I got out my own power meter and checked the Chromecast. It consumes less than 2 watts on standby with the screen background photos cycling (that's the lower limit that my power meter can read). While playing a Youtube video it's still only 2 watts, though from the way the reading varies it looks like it's slightly higher than standby. As far as I can tell it's independent of whether the TV is on or not.
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Or get yourself a Clapper! LOL
Creepingdeath2 said:
PC gets shut down at the end of the day and doesn't get turned on until its needed the next day. Laptops at least go into Hibernation. I don't leave phone chargers plugged into the wall either if they aren't charyging a phone. Maybe it's an old school thing. LOL
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I'd shut down my PC save for the fact that it takes 20 minutes to become useable. Maybe I need SSD, heh.
I have some smart power control devices (TrickleStar, APC green UPS) too.
One thing I learned only a few years ago - if you unplug a battery powered device, DISCONNECT the device from the charger!
Even though it's not supposed to, some chargers allow some back flow and slow drain the device's battery, killing it.
-= this post enhanced with bonus mobile typos =-
Or get yourself a Clapper! LOL
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Now that was funny!
Old School with a Nickname like that says to me we probably got drunk in the same Metal bars back in the day before Online dating when you actually had to dress up, go to a bar to get laid or find your future ex wife! LOL
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Click to collapse
And THIS was even funnier mostly because I'm sure it's very close to the truth. LOL
Asphyx said:
Or get yourself a Clapper! LOL
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Hey, that's a great idea!
But wait a minute, how many watts does a Clapper use? I bet it's more than 2 watts!
DJames1 said:
Hey, that's a great idea!
But wait a minute, how many watts does a Clapper use? I bet it's more than 2 watts!
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Yep there really is no point to trying to save power without just going over and unplugging it....
As of now there are only two reasons I can come up with for really wanting to power off a CCast...
1 - The damn thing will change inputs anytime it reboots or updates
2 - The CCast gets pretty hot after awhile...It just seems like the kind of device that if you do not have a conditioned power source coming into the house it could easily fry.
On a more serious note if thats all your worried about (not Power use) then anyone who has one of those X-10 Home automation systems can easily plug the CCast into a module and shut it off from the phone or tablet.
And if you don't care that the CCast can't turn the TV on and the TV has a USB port thats probably the best way to save power.
I personally don't trust the TV to give it stable power and you will find yourself having to unplug it anyway to reboot from time to time...
If you really have issues with a high Electric bill there are far better ways to save on that bill than powering down a CCast.
Even something as simple as keeping your Freezer fully packed will save more money in the long run than the few hours the CCast is unplugged.
I don't mind it consumes energy, it is very little but I am more concerned about the fact it will be broken faster. It's like a light bulb, when you are not using it, why does it need to stay on and will need to be replaced faster.
Also the chromecast gets quite hot. So without turning it off, it never gets a chance to cool down.
Liquid Li0n said:
I don't mind it consumes energy, it is very little but I am more concerned about the fact it will be broken faster. It's like a light bulb, when you are not using it, why does it need to stay on and will need to be replaced faster.
Also the chromecast gets quite hot. So without turning it off, it never gets a chance to cool down.
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Click to collapse
Well the truth is silicon is not as fragile as a Light filament is...
Power Surges worry me but not just the act of being powered on....
It makes sense that it would be an always on device considering it needs to be there when you want it...
But some sort of sleep state might be a nice addition to any next generation model which I hope can also be wired to the network and use Wake On Lan to full power up when you want to cast.

[Q] HTC One dead?

I don't know what happened with my HTC One (M7), but it's completely unresponsive now, and I'm hoping it's not dead.
It was working earlier today (about 3 hours ago), I know that 100% because I turned on/off airplane mode when going into/leaving the dentist this morning.
I drove around today for about 40 minutes or so, I'm fairly certain it was plugged into the car charger (that's what I do with my phone), but I might not have, unfortunately I wasn't paying attention. When I got back home, I went to turn it on and...nothing.
Plugging it into the wall with a known-good charger (works on other phones) gives no charging LED. Plugging it into the computer gives no plug-in noise in windows.
I've tried holding down all combinations of power, volume up, and volume down for 10s, 15s, 30s, 45s, 1m, 2m, 5m intervals. No response whatsoever.
I've also tried with different cables, different outlets, and even went so far as to bend the prong that the USB Micro connector interfaces with, no dice. I've tried USB3.0, USB2.0, and regular power outlets, to no avail. ADB reports no devices found (honestly I don't know what I expected). When someone calls me, it rings 2-3 times before going to voicemail on their end, but the phone sits impassive in my hand.
Is it dead? Is there something I'm missing? I'm really hoping I can salvage it, I love this phone. Unfortunately, I got it from Swappa so I have no warranty or anything, and honestly I really can't be without a phone since I'm waiting on a call back about an interview for a job. Can anyone give me any suggestions/links/things to try? I'm at the point where I'm about to attempt disassembly on my own, but I'd MUCH rather not have to go that route, since I'm more likely to break it than fix it.
Best case scenario! Out of juice. Leave it plugged in to walk for couple days.
Worst case! Look for a new phone
SaHiLzZ said:
Best case scenario! Out of juice. Leave it plugged in to walk for couple days.
Worst case! Look for a new phone
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the response.
I'm going to leave it plugged in overnight, though I believe it is wasted. I contacted HTC Support and they said it was still under warranty, so maybe I can get it replaced through them....Though probably not for free, as I had already rooted it back before they were S-Off, so as soon as it boots it says something like "Experimental bootloader for internal use only, do not distribute outside of HTC" or something like that....without it booting, no way to unroot it
Here's hoping it's completely fried and they don't see that part of it XD

Asus Memopad (me176cx) dead?

The tablet is dead, it was suddenly. Won't charge or turn on and it's not recognised by the PC. Recovery mode (power button + volume-) doesn't work either.
I know that is not the screen, because the PC doesn't detect the tablet at all. I tried with another battery (my wife has the same tablet), but I had no luck. I also know that the charger and the usb cable are fine.
What else I can do, any ideas or suggestions?
maloyztor said:
The tablet is dead, it was suddenly. Won't charge or turn on and it's not recognised by the PC. Recovery mode (power button + volume-) doesn't work either.
I know that is not the screen, because the PC doesn't detect the tablet at all. I tried with another battery (my wife has the same tablet), but I had no luck. I also know that the charger and the usb cable are fine.
What else I can do, any ideas or suggestions?
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Click to collapse
Are you using the OE usb cable? Have you tried charging using the OE wallwart?
TonyStark said:
Are you using the OE usb cable? Have you tried charging using the OE wallwart?
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Yes, I'm using the OE usb cables (I have 2) and the OE charger.
maloyztor said:
The tablet is dead, it was suddenly. Won't charge or turn on and it's not recognised by the PC. Recovery mode (power button + volume-) doesn't work either.
I know that is not the screen, because the PC doesn't detect the tablet at all. I tried with another battery (my wife has the same tablet), but I had no luck. I also know that the charger and the usb cable are fine.
What else I can do, any ideas or suggestions?
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Click to collapse
I had the same symptoms after disconnecting and reconnecting battery,I hed to disconnect it for like an hour and then three times try to power on the tablet and it did power on. Maybe your battery is dead so after another hour you may try to use the other battery. If it will work, try to connect the batteries together so the dead one can get a little charge (but do some research I am not sure if it won't have a chance to damage anything) then the same after an hour connect try power on and if it powers on immediately give it a charge.
Mis012 said:
I had the same symptoms after disconnecting and reconnecting battery,I had to disconnect it for like an hour and then three times try to power on the tablet and it did power on. Maybe your battery is dead so after another hour you may try to use the other battery. If it will work, try to connect the batteries together so the dead one can get a little charge (but do some research I am not sure if it won't have a chance to damage anything) then the same after an hour connect try power on and if it powers on immediately give it a charge.
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Just wondered if you had tried this and if so, how you got on? Asking because I bought my daughter one off ebay and it was working fine when I got it, am sure I recharged it once , she played it and then again in morning and thinks she played it till battery ran out. I have since tried charging via pc and mains power, and have disconnected battery twice (case was v. easy to remove so concerned this fault may be reason it was sold), but cannot get a flicker of a response on screen. i got my daughter this as she was desperate for an android tablet for mods for minecraft as I had bought her a Amazon Fire 7 and from what I could see just after xmas, it wasnt possible to root it or sideload at that time, and she said Amazon had no mods compared to the play store and she had been ecstatic with the mods she had found for her android for the short time she had it. I do know when I plug it into the wall charger that the motherboard area gets warm if its been plugged in for a while? Bit of a noob on this stuff,and off sick with probs with my nervous system so my concentration and memory can be a pia. Anyway I was wondering how I can find out if its goosed or what I can try? One of the batterys advertised on ebay is about £50 which seems steep to me, esp. if it doesnt fix it, and esp since I have been unable to work for a few years cos of this illness. I only bought the tablets cos I had extra money after I finally applied and got pip, and got it backdated. Any recommendations for a reasonably priced option for her for her minecraft? Should I go the tablet\notebook type route or can they not handle minecraft? Bit confused by these new notebooks esp touchscreen ones as new ones seem to have small amounts of ram yet are v. popular.
Thanks for advice\thoughts\feedback and let me know if I should start ,y own thread...I only jumped on this to see how he got on and then as I do nowadays with this illness, I then jumped from topic to topic that jumped into my head x sorry x
nikkiandmidgets said:
Just wondered if you had tried this and if so, how you got on? Asking because I bought my daughter one off ebay and it was working fine when I got it, am sure I recharged it once , she played it and then again in morning and thinks she played it till battery ran out. I have since tried charging via pc and mains power, and have disconnected battery twice (case was v. easy to remove so concerned this fault may be reason it was sold), but cannot get a flicker of a response on screen. i got my daughter this as she was desperate for an android tablet for mods for minecraft as I had bought her a Amazon Fire 7 and from what I could see just after xmas, it wasnt possible to root it or sideload at that time, and she said Amazon had no mods compared to the play store and she had been ecstatic with the mods she had found for her android for the short time she had it. I do know when I plug it into the wall charger that the motherboard area gets warm if its been plugged in for a while? Bit of a noob on this stuff,and off sick with probs with my nervous system so my concentration and memory can be a pia. Anyway I was wondering how I can find out if its goosed or what I can try? One of the batterys advertised on ebay is about £50 which seems steep to me, esp. if it doesnt fix it, and esp since I have been unable to work for a few years cos of this illness. I only bought the tablets cos I had extra money after I finally applied and got pip, and got it backdated. Any recommendations for a reasonably priced option for her for her minecraft? Should I go the tablet\notebook type route or can they not handle minecraft? Bit confused by these new notebooks esp touchscreen ones as new ones seem to have small amounts of ram yet are v. popular.
Thanks for advice\thoughts\feedback and let me know if I should start ,y own thread...I only jumped on this to see how he got on and then as I do nowadays with this illness, I then jumped from topic to topic that jumped into my head x sorry x
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Click to collapse
Firt I would try to trickle charge the battery.
BEFORE YOU DO THIS:
Remove the SD CARD. I forgot to do this and snapped my card straight in half removing the back cover.
This started happening to my ME176 as well but of course not until after I retired it and gave it to my mom.
I would start by letting it sit on the charger for about 30 minutes (since we don't know the current charge state and if the overcharge block is functioning). This will give it a slight charge if dead.
Disconnect charger and remove the back cover and disconnect the battery (as posted earlier). Push and hold the power button a few times even though there is no power.
It may take a few tries of disconnecting and reconnecting the battery before it decides to power up, so keep the cover off while doing this.

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