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Old 03-28-14, 12:00 PM   #3
NiHaoMike
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I should add that I have went through several dozen wall warts and of them, the least efficient switching unit used about 0.5W in standby. The best linear was the 0.3W I found earlier - a little worse than many switchers which averaged 0.2W. Note that while the presence of a high efficiency symbol ("III", "IV", or "V" inside a circle and/or Energy Star logo) guarantees that the PSU is efficient, the switchers without them did almost as well. Linears not rated for efficiency are indeed likely to be very inefficient, but a few of the smaller ones were under 1W. The inefficient linears easily give themselves away by noticeably warming up with no load.

Of course, the devices that the wall warts plug into vary widely in standby power use, with many not having a standby mode at all. Those that do generally use little extra power of their own. (For the purpose to measuring power use of devices that use wall warts, an inline adapter to hook up some multimeters is far more accurate than measuring the input of the wall wart.)

The indicators on power strips use about 0.2W to 0.3W. (I suggest leaving most surge protectors plugged in since having more surge protectors connected enhances the surge protection of the entire circuit they're on.)
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