In the last few years I have purchased a pressure cooker and an air fryer. They both waste electricity by having an off light. Furthermore they act like red nightlights and my kitchen has an eerie red glow at night. What is the actual purpose for off lights besides to waste electricity?
Off lights let you know if it’s broken. If it’s on, it’s obviously working. If it’s off and the light is on, it’s getting power. If it’s off and plugged in, but not displaying the light - that indicates it’s broken or not getting power.
You could also just try turning it on to see if it has power. I don’t see how the light is actually useful for this.
The power draw from a single LED is nearly negligible. If it’s a heating appliance, for example, it’s several magnitudes more wasteful to turn it on, just to see if it heats properly. Even with other electronics the LED quickly tests functionality with almost zero power without having to power up the entire system which would use a ton of energy, since it assumes it is about to be used for its purpose. It can also be an early warning of failure, I wouldn’t use a heating appliance whose off light failed, because if the electronic failed, turning it on could hurt the whole house circuit or further damage the appliance itself. The light is a quick “hey, I need service” warning. Just like cars, those warning lights have meaning and use, they aren’t just a decoration.
Still seems useless. I never turn my appliances on just to see if they work. I just…use it. If it doesn’t do anything, then I know it’s broken.
It’s also not just a single LED. In your house, yes, but multiply that by however many appliances in the wild have that same “feature” and the power wastage is much more real. It’s the same reason it’s recommended to unplug phone chargers and such when they’re not being used.
Vampire power, I believe, is the term. It’s when millions of tiny power loads add up to a significant overall draw while performing no useful work.
however many appliances in the wild
Vampire power is a thing, but not really that huge since regulations have launched the 1W initiative. The vampire power consumed by the average house in the US is less than a thousandth of the entire energy consumption. Less than a dollar per year. Of course, over a couple million homes we are talking about a few million dollars, that’s not nothing. But also, it’s less than a 0.001% of the entire grid residential electrical consumption. To cut power emissions and usage, that’s almost a non-issue at best, a distraction at worse.
The power indicator bulbs in these kinds of kitchen appliances are rarely LEDs. They are usually neon indicator lamps. They’re pretty durable and have been in use far longer than LEDs.
https://youtu.be/nyYjnV99wfM?si=xq4fxzbOM3ADtBPx&start=106
No, they usually are just LED’s these days.
That makes no sense to me. Why not have an on light instead? If the light is on, and the device is operating as expected, that’s good. If the light is off then it has no power or it’s broken. If the light is on and nothing is happening, it’s broken.
If the light is going to be annoying when the device is on, then turn it off after a few seconds.
Seems like a solution in search of a problem.
Seems reasonable on something dangerous like a toaster oven or pressure cooker that you obviously wouldn’t want to leave on and unattended. These lights use almost no power at all.
The off light reminds me to unplug the device when I don’t need to use it.
Just unplug them? Most appliances still draw some electricity (i.e. phantom load) when turned off.
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Because there’s no reason not to. The power consumption is negligible, literally.
The ultra tiny amount of electricity is… Well you probably would never notice it on your bill.
But yeah it can be annoying having it there. I guess the purpose is to tell you that it has power available if you need it
Yes those small LED indicator lights use around 10-20mA of current at like 3V which is only 0.06W of power.
get a Samsung appliance – they like to use ultra-bright BLINKING blue LEDs for sleep mode
I have a monitor that does that (but in white). It’s in my bedroom. I had to use electrical tape like another commenter here mentioned - I left a tiny hole in the tape so I can see a faint light up close, but it’s not making the room blink at night now.
I’m never buying another Samsung monitor.
I can literally hear it blinking on and off at night, so I need to manually turn it off.
Damn my perfect hearing.
For soundbars at least, the off light is there because there shouldn’t be any lights on while it’s being used so as not to distract the person watching tv. So the only way to know if the device is off is to have a light on.
Maybe just have it exclaim “I’m off!” every five minutes, no need for an extra LED then.
You joke, but one time I got woken up by what sounded like a Chinese lady complaining about batteries, and it turned out to be the low power alert on the cheapo import soundbar.
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My soundbar has a tiny blue light in the bottom corner that’s on when the power is on and off when it’s off. I’ve never been distracted by the tiny little blue LED while watching TV.
I cover lights like this with black electrical tape so they don’t sear my eyes at night.
Just to see the blue light creep out elsewhere in the cheap plastic box…
It should be fucking illegal to have lights on when the whatever if off.
Especially BLUE lights can go right to hell.
You need to get worse eyes. I don’t have this problem at all.
Just to see the blue light creep out elsewhere in the cheap plastic box…
It should be fucking illegal to have lights on when the whatever if off.
Because corporations benefit from keeping the working class from getting good sleep.
Knew it was corporations conspiring to keep us from a good night’s sleep
I figured the purpose was to warn us that these devices have been left plugged in while not in use, which is not advisable because they can become a fire hazard.
I visited my parents last weekend. They have s printer which has a wave light signal in standby - gradually switching from off to strong light and back. What my parents probably never noticed was the high pitch loud screech which followed the light. I guess the pitch was too high for my parents to hear, but not for me. So whoever designed that can go fuck themselves.
