Power Conditioners and power draw......

brettw22

I have this Belkin Pure A/V Power Conditioner and got to wondering how much juice these things are actually using when they're powered down. The display on the front is always on, but the number of amps that I've ever seen it maxed at when off was like 0.7. I have no idea what that translates into maH's that the power company bills for, but i wouldn't think that it would be a huge draw just to have plugged in and powered down.....

I guess the same goes for UPS units that I have my system plugged into that are always on. I have my printer, laptop, router, and cable modem plugged into this and they are on all the time. Do these put a big draw on the power bill or would y'all consider it negligible.

Polkitup2

Just saw the Belkins at Best Buy yesterday. Is that the unit with 13 outlets? How do you like it so far?

brettw22

I definitely like it...

Many of the outlets are switched, and the only problem I have seen is that with my B&K it makes a popping sound when I shut off the Belkin because the B&K by default goes into a sleep mode, and instead of it going to sleep, I'm cutting all power.....

How much were they going for in Best Buy?

Polkitup2

Same as on the site you posted. $749 for the top of the line. Wish they had more than one or two high current outlets though.

brettw22

The one I linked to was the one that retails for $549. I didn't want to spend the extra coin on that model because I didn't really see the overall benefit.

Mike682

I don't think they draw that much power when off.

I like what Belkin did with the PureAv line. They seem to be an excellent alternative to Monster.....

Polkitup2

Me either. I currently have a $200 dollar Monster power bar that works just fine but am running out of outlets. I have two amps and one reciever, do you think the Belkin like yours would work with these three amps?

Mike682

The .7 amps is most likely what all the other connected components are drawing together while in standby..

The Belkin is most likely just powering the LEDs and I guess a meter to measure real-time draw from connected units...shouldn't be much of a draw from the Belkin

Schris22

I was going to get a monster power bar until i saw what panamax does to them....pretty funny if you don't know...anyway I couldn't afford a panamax and still can't but maybe down the line I'll definatly get a panamax...and dependent on how lower end belkins do I'll look into it.

brettw22

I've heard something about the demo that Panamax does......I forget the specifics though.

I've been pretty pleased with the Belkin, and for what I get them for it's a no-brainer to skip right past the Monster stuff which most tote as overpriced run of the mill units.

I'm keepin an eye on everything in this place that puts any sort of draw on the electric bill.....thanks for the responses guys.

Polkitup2

Schris22,

You won't offend me, what does Panamax do in their demo?

Schris22

well ok...they first buy your conditioner (nice touch eh?), then they just hook it up to the nearest outlet or what not and put some audio devices into it. Well according to my friend who works at home theater store (he brought his monster power bar in there) and my friend's video recording, they actually got it to light on fire after a certain amount of time (sorry I can't remember, just thought it was hilarious how panamax would buy it from you and then push it to the point where it lights on fire) He said that it took him by surprise when it actually started to ignite, but then panamax took out an instruction booklet and showed some how monster has some funny things in it. One thing I can only remember thats not TOO bad is it says in the event of a lightning storm you should remove your surge protector. While I always thought that this strip is something I pay for to protect my equipment, I understand that in all cases lightning surges will push a conditioner and some conditioners might not catch the surge in time....

anyhow he bought a panamax at amazing at cost price and loved it ever since...but

remember I have had no first hand experience with these power conditioners, I just think that marketing scheme works for me against monster...though I've heard good things about tripplite and especially about Richard gray power conditioners.

Chris

HBombToo

brettw22 wrote:

The display on the front is always on, but the number of amps that I've ever seen it maxed at when off was like 0.7.


I have no idea what that translates into maH's that the power company bills for, but i wouldn't think that it would be a huge draw just to have plugged in and powered down.....

Brett
I have never been billed on a maH(milli Amp Hour) but this is a common form of measurment for items like batteries that power your portable phone. The power term that I am most familiar with is 1 kWHour or by definition:

One-thousandth of a kilowatt-hour, often used to measure the consumption of low-power Termdata=electronic devices. One watt-hour is equivalent to 3,600 joules of energy.


What the .7 is showing you is the Amp draw of the unit probably at its min. The metered measurment is probably within a 15% accuracy at best. So in short, your house feed is 120V and the current draw is .7 so (.7A)*(120V) is 84W or .084 kWhour or 2.016 kWhr per day. So if you are being billed $0.0784(my billing rate) per kWh then your unit is costing you just over a buck a month to be idle.

I think because I'm drinking BEER

Polkitup2

Plus the Monster power consoles are just plain ugly IMO.

bknauss

Couple comments/answers/whatever:
-As for people wanting an opinion on the Belkin power conditioners, I have the PF60 and have been happy with it so far. My only "concern" was the range of voltages it said it was receiving from the wall at my apartment, but since moving, I'm generally within a volt or two of 120V.
-.7A means the total amount of current being drawn by the Belkin and the stuff plugged into it. As HBomb pointed out, .7A is hardly anything. Start plugging lots of stuff into it and you'll see the current meter go up a bit I've currently got 3.7A for my RT3000's, CS1000, TV, DirecTV receiver, an receiver.
-For the amount of high current outlets, I'm not convinced each of the outlets isn't exactly the same. Wouldn't be logical to make it different for the different banks of outlets (unless you're REALLY looking to cut costs). Either way, I've got "high current" stuff out of non-amplifier specified outlets and haven't had a bit of problem.
-If you do a search for the Belkin stuff online, you can find it for hundreds less than it is at BB.

I'm not saying in any way that Belkin makes the best power conditioning unit. I just found a great deal on one and have had good experiences with it.

brettw22

I didn't quite understand the purpose behind some of them being designated as high-current and others as not, but rather than EVER have a potential claim be denied because I was plugged into the wrong outlet, I'm going by what they're labeled as.

I use to live in an apartment that had ridiculous amounts of power surges and spikes, so I would have benefitted HUGELY by having this at that time. I was running everything through a UPS though and that alleviated the problem I was having a bit, but I still wanted a conditioner more than just a plain UPS>

Joey_V

You guys do know that you can get the PF30, 40, and 60 from Chumbo.com (an authorized Belkin dealer) for 119$, 229$, and 339$ shipped?

Instead of best buy's price of $249, $549, and $749?

I'm getting the PF40.

You should return it to best buy.

brettw22

Just going off of Belkin's website directly, Chumbo's not listed at all as an authorized reseller, making any potential claim void.....

http://www.belkin.com/resellers/resell_us.asp

EDIT: Just cuz a website writes authorized on it, doesn't make it so. ALWAYS check the manufacturers site to make sure it's listed.

F1nut

it says in the event of a lightning storm you should remove your surge protector. While I always thought that this strip is something I pay for to protect my equipment, I understand that in all cases lightning surges will push a conditioner and some conditioners might not catch the surge in time....

No power conditioner/surge protector will do you any good if the lines close to your house take a direct hit. The only sure way to protect your gear is to unplug it.

Joey_V

brettw22 wrote:

Just going off of Belkin's website directly, Chumbo's not listed at all as an authorized reseller, making any potential claim void.....

http://www.belkin.com/resellers/resell_us.asp

EDIT: Just cuz a website writes authorized on it, doesn't make it so. ALWAYS check the manufacturers site to make sure it's listed.

I called belkin and they told me that if I bought from chumbo, they would honor the warranty and the guarantee.

If you dont believe me, send belkin an email or ring them.

Belkin is such a good company that they will warranty and guarantee anything bought online with exception of ebay and as long as you are the first owner.

Isnt that enough?

Polkitup2

Brett please check your PM

Schris22

F1nut wrote:

No power conditioner/surge protector will do you any good if the lines close to your house take a direct hit. The only sure way to protect your gear is to unplug it.

yeah thats why I said that I don't think many could do it, but maybe just maybe...though i can't prove it these monsters couldn't take even a lightning surge from somewhere close by in an electrical line...

but my point was with the whole lightning on fire thing...and especially convincing when that was my friends power bar that just got lit on fire...thats not cool

Chris

brettw22

Polkitup2 wrote:

Brett please check your PM

Responded.....

Polkersince85

I guess nobody uses the ole spark plug to ground surge protector anymore. :mad:

kibro2

http://www.x10.com also sells the belkin at a much discounted price. Just do a search on PureAV.

Polkitup2

Or how about www.buy.com the PF60 can be had for $299.99, the PF40 for $219.99 Doubt if they are authorized dealers though.