It's been that way with PC's and Mac's for 15 years.
Your PC is not truly "off" when you hit the power switch. That is the
ATX specification. To start a PC all that happens is the shorting of two
pins on the motherboard with the switch. There is power on the
motherboard until you reach behind and flip the switch on the power
supply itself.
Before it gets brought up, the battery on all PC's is to keep the CMOS
clock settings alive, not to boot the PC.
Get ye to the local hardware emporium and buy the $10 power strip with a
switch. Plug the KPA 500 into said switch. When done using the amp use
the front panel switch to shut it "off" so it saves settings properly
then hit the switch on the power strip. Viola! You've saved six watts
and won't end up on some ridiculous website as a planet hater.
That little tidbit was taken from chapter one of the environmentalist
playbook.
My house and garage are 100% led lit now. ALL of my "toys" are on
switched inputs. I live in Iowa. My HVAC system is set to 67 in the
winter and 77 in the summer. I have a tank less water heater. All my
toilets are 1.5 gallon flush.
I didn't do this because I'm some kind of environmentalist, I did this
because I'm CHEAP.
n 1/31/2017 9:45 PM, Dave AD6A wrote:
I recently added a KPA500 kit for my home station. It went together just
fine, and overall I love it.
There is one thing about the way it works that bugs the engineer and
environmentalist in me.
Before I bought the PA, I thought I'd be able to turn it on/off entirely
using the ON button on the front panel.
I thought that maybe there was a supercap or backup battery that kept the
button's electronics alive to perform the ON button function (like TV's have
in them).
However, it doesn't work like this. In order to turn the PA off completely,
you have to turn off the main power switch on the rear panel.
The front panel ON button powers up the PA from what looks like a cold
state, however, my measurements are as follows:
1. With the main power switch on the back panel turned OFF, the PA
takes no power at all (0.0W)
2. When you turn the main power switch on the back panel to ON, the PA
draws 6.9W continuously from the 120V AC power supply
3. When you press the front panel ON button, the PA turns "ON" and
takes around 13W (measured) in STBY mode
My home station line up (K3s, P3, 2x SP3, KPA500, KAT500) sits on a large
operating desk with a shelf unit that I build above the station. My computer
monitors sit on the shelf above the radios.
There is only just enough height clearance (about 2.5") between the top of
the KPA500 and the underside of the shelf to allow me to put my hand over
the top of the PA to reach the main power switch.
It's fiddly but I can do it, it's just that it's a major inconvenience not
being able to turn the KPA500 truly off from the front panel.
Why is the KPA500 designed this way?
In all good conscience, I can't live with the PA consuming 7W all day, every
day - that's incredibly wasteful.
I suppose I could put a more-easily-reachable external AC power switch on
the side of my shelf unit to cut power to the whole desk, but that'd be
ugly.
I'd prefer that either a) the KPA500's main power switch was on the front
panel, or b) the power supply system was redesigned so it only takes a few
microwatts when power is applied but the ON button is OFF (not pressed, or
pressed an even number of times).
Comments? Ideas?
Cheers,
Dave AD6A
--
R. Kevin Stover
AC0H
ARRL
FISTS #11993
SKCC #215
NAQCC #3441
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