Power Management... for your game machines

[hex65000]

From the retro - kinda green technology dept...

 

So, the classic games on the hi-def tv thread made me think about this... How do you guys handle powering your systems? Since I'm starting to hook up more and more stuff to my TV and don't really want to leave it plugged in and turned on all the time. My solution has been a series of power strips attached to an old computer power selector. That way, I'm not powering up everything when I sit down to game. Sure, the real power draw is when you turn stuff on, but very few systems actually disconnect the power supply from the 120V main. Even the wall warts draw a little power when unloaded. Ideally, I'd have one switch control one machine and I turn on only what I need.

 

Coupled with my sporadic time available to game, leaving everything off is typically better than the opposite.

 

Thoughts?

 

Hex.

[ Will I get ANYTHING done today? Tune in to find out. ]

[+remowilliams]

Power strips (that are turned off when not in use) for wall warts on all the classic machines. I've said this many times, its the best way to go. No idle power consumption / wear on the adapters when not in use.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2009 by remowilliams

[Emehr]

I plug in my consoles as I use them into a strip. I keep the plugs and warts laid out in a row and just plug in what I need. Not sure if you see it in my gallery shots or not. I also label the cords just above the plug so I know who's who. It's kind of a pain to unplug and plug but it alleviates my newly-acquired ADD powers by forcing me to play a system for more than two minutes.

 

EDIT: Yep, it's in my gallery (click the little polaroid icon under my avatar) and see systems1.jpg. You can see my little arrangement.

Edited September 16, 2009 by Emehr

[Video]

I've always gone the power strip rout, as I've said many times before, I don't worry about the draw a system has, cause I just use a physical switch to turn it off. If no power goes into the wart, it doesn't really matter how much it may use if th system is turned off

[shadow460]

Spiderweb plug and batteries. Really.

 

Actually, though, I've got everything on a strip that branches out twice. Since some of my games are handled by backwards compatibility, I don't have all the consoles even hooked up. There's a Hyperscan, a PS1, and a Genesis that simply are not hooked up. I generally run the portables on their own batteries, so there's no wart plugged in for them, although my wife has been known to leave the PSP chargers plugged in.

 

As for A/V hookups, I simply plug in the console I want to use. I'd do that with the 120 VAC power if I had an outlet on the front of my rig, but I don't. I think if I ever build a gaming table, it's going to have a quad receptacle on the front for those peripherals that require their own brick (GT Force wheel, 32X) and the system itself to plug into.

[pinball22]

Yep, add me to the power-strip list. Everything on the classic consoles rack is plugged into one of two strips; one has things that mind if their power gets yanked, the other things that don't, and that one gets turned off when I'm not using any of those things.

[figgler]

I power strip as much as possible, but this is largely due to me being cheap and hating spending money on electricity I don't use.

In terms of actual wear on the console, how much are we actually talking about really?

[Tr3vor]

i keep mine hooked up, except the power cords. i use a power strip that dosent have to room for them all so i switch them out as i want to.

[jeremysart]

In my game room, I have 4 power strips, each with 1 TV hooked up, and one console that is played the most on that TV. When I am not in the room, I of course keep all the power strips turned off. Nothing else is plugged into the outlets but those surge protected power strips

[STICH666]

2 battery backups plus 2 generic power strips in a row.

[godslabrat]

You guys are going to call me crazy, but I actually don't worry too much about idle power consumption. Maybe I should. When I actually buy a house and can do what I want with it, I'm going to install a shitload of outlets in the media room, controlled by safety switches (the kind that can't be turned off by accident)

[Video]

You guys are going to call me crazy, but I actually don't worry too much about idle power consumption. Maybe I should. When I actually buy a house and can do what I want with it, I'm going to install a shitload of outlets in the media room, controlled by safety switches (the kind that can't be turned off by accident)

Heck yeah, and bestyet, have only one or two plugs per breaker you could run an awesome 16 player 360 setup that way (or some hella big ass cool mini computer or something