Frequently putting my CRT monitor in standby mode

[OCNewbie]

I like to keep the heat down in my bedroom (where my computer is) as much as I can, so whenever I'm not going to be using my computer for 15+ mins or so, I'll put my monitor in "DPMS Off" mode, or standby basically I guess it is. When I do this, the monitor makes a clicking sound, and as well when I take it out of standby it makes another clicking sound.

Let's say I do this 10 times a day, just as a guess, probably less most of the time. Would that significantly decrease my monitor's life expectancy?

Just curious,
Thanks =)

 

[Lord Evermore]

10 times a day isn't going to hurt it. You're just hearing the CRT tube (yes that's redundant) being shut down and turned back on. Turning it off every 15 minutes for only 5 minutes might shorten the lifespan.

You could just as easily simply turn the monitor off entirely, though of course you have to wait an second for it to come on. Even in sleep mode it's using a few watts of power.

 

[OCNewbie]

Yeah I think I'm worried about wearing out the on/off switch I guess.

 

[w00t]

doubt it but why not just turn it off completly? when I walk away from my computer I just turn off my monitor.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
Yeah I think I'm worried about wearing out the on/off switch I guess.

The on/off switch is as unlikely to wear out as any other part. It's possible, and you could always have that one slightly defective screen that is more likely to fail than others, but that reasoning can apply to anything. However 20 pushes a day isn't likely to cause failure, but if that extra 20 pushes a day was enough to break it, then obviously not pushing it so often will keep it from breaking.

You should also go ahead and put your system into hibernate or standby mode if you're that concerned about heat. Your PC is putting out close to or more heat than a CRT. Hibernate still only takes about 10 or 15 seconds to boot and uses no power, standby is just a few seconds and uses a few watts. In hibernate the monitor should automatically go to standby mode too, since it gets no video signal (not sure about standby mode on the PC).

 

[0roo0roo]

crt wearing out? its worthless so who cares. better to not waste electricity(green house gas fun)
crts fade from use, its just how it is, so the longer it stays on showing images, the worse its gonna look.

 

[jelifah]

** Double Post Delete This One **

 

[jelifah]

The power button on my 21' CRT monitor recently broke. After taking it apart I got it to at least be in the On position. So now when I turn the computer on I just let the monitor turn to sleep mode.

How much money am I wasting leaving it in sleep mode? Or how many watts am I burning through a day?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Originally posted by: jelifah
The power button on my 21' CRT monitor recently broke. After taking it apart I got it to at least be in the On position. So now when I turn the computer on I just let the monitor turn to sleep mode.

How much money am I wasting leaving it in sleep mode? Or how many watts am I burning through a day?

There are actually 3 possible sleep modes. Standby uses about 2/3 normal power at under 100W (160W is maximum on a Trinitron 21 inch), Suspend uses under 15W, and active-off uses under 5W. Most CRTs and LCDs use about the same for active-off, as they are just running the electronics, while LCDs naturally use around half the full power of a CRT of equal size.

Here is a description of the modes.

Oh yeah, if you left a 5W device on at all times, that's 3.6kilowatthours per 30 day month. At my current energy cost of 8.2 cents per KWH, that'd cost me all of 29.52 cents a month. At full 160W power all the time, 115.2KWH per month, it's all of $9.45.

And just because it comes up a lot, people wonder how much a PC running 24x7 costs them. If I ran a 300W-using monster (PCs don't generally use nearly the 500W people think they do when they buy such big power supplies), it'd cost me $17.71 a month. Naturally if you live somewhere that electricity is like 25 cents per KWH, it'd start to become a signficant cost drain to run multiple PCs 24x7, but a single normal PC with a big monitor, both running 24x7 at full power, would probably be around $50 a month even at that.

 

[jelifah]

Thank you for the detailed information Lord Evermore. This is exactly what I was looking for.