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Comment on Why do surge protectors continue to draw power from the wall even if switched off or if nothing's connected to them?

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

switched off? no. that breaks the circuit, no power, no usage. it’s basically the same as unplugging it from the wall. if nothing is connected to them, many surge protectors have a small indicator light that shows the surge protector is on. that’s about the only power use being used if nothing is plugged in and drawing power.

you might be confusing turning the surge protector off itself, vs the devices it’s connected to- many of which will rather enter a standby mode which still draws some power. (for example, microwave ovens will draw some power continiously so that they’re always ready, even if they’re not always drawing enough power to cook food.)

A surge protector (and the outlet it’s plugged into,) will only draw enough power to meet it’s demand; even if the supplied power is potentially greater- for example, computer power supplies. A PC with a 60w power supply will operate quite happily with a 120w power supply.

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Epicurus0319@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
That’s good to know, so I actually don’t need to physically unplug it to trim down the bill. I’ve been doing it wrong for a while

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- FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Well, you can keep doing it that way, if you want. It’s still a good idea if you get surges during storms or something; mind. for both the protector and whatever its protecting. but as far as power usage goes, yeah, you can just flip the switch.
  
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  - Epicurus0319@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    As I type this it actually is thundering here in the PNW- and I live in one of the tallest apartment buildings in my neighborhood
    
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    FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Probably fine. Cities are usually very well protected; including at the circuit breakers
    
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Synnr@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Surely you thought of this, but a lot of surge protectors have (used to have?) a battery backup for short outages. Keeps the PC on so you can save your data.

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- FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Those are not surge protectors, but uninterruptible power supplies.
  
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  - Synnr@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Ah I was aware they made surge protectors without battery backup, but I wrongly thought they were both just ‘surge protectors’ and wondered if OP somehow left out that his had a battery backup.
    
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