DD4 Standby Saver

Peter Ensinger and David Baker on Dragons's Den

Category:

Education

Tags:

• dragons
• den
• standby
• saver

[contactlewis]

best invention on this programme. Fair play to them.

[Plutoniummatt]

the answer to your question is so simple its silly really...."laziness"

[Kalinho83]

Some newer tv's by some manufacturers (think mainly Sony and Philips) allow you to switch of the whole set without it being in standby using the remote control, wonder if it's this guys that are the cause of that..

[74dorset]

Why was this so damn hard to find.

[spurrell]

My 1200 watt power supply is home on standby now. I just assumed It was not using any power.

[fmmjqtft1]

There should be a panel of knowledgeable people who challenge all the technical aspects of the pitch, including the money and patents.

There have been many times when the dragons get into an argument over the money details or a patent, simply because they are too stupid to work it out themselves (Duncan is not that bad - Debra is terrible). It really turns it into Trash TV when this happens.

There should a panel of logical but uncharismatic people who sort this out for them.

[fmmjqtft1]

Also, the 'invention' is having a rechargable battery that is charged when the TV is ON, and discharges when the TV is on standby, powering the electronics which recognise the 'standby' signal and cut the power to the TV.

Why not just power the microprocessor etc.. from the mains?!?! Using a rechargeable battery is a trick that makes the device appear to use no energy. It is a trick. There is no point in putting this in TVs.

It is appauling how incompetent these dragons are.

[fmmjqtft1]

The dragons have been tricked. These two people DO have a patent, but it is specifically on an external device which cuts the power to the TV when it recieves a "standby" signal.

They CANNOT 'build this into TVs', because they don't have a patent on simply 'not consuming power'. A computer is allowed to shutdown using a remote control, as is a TV, a lightbulb or anything else. They cannot have a patent on that.

It is incredible how the dragons didn't even ask for a patent document.

[KarlUKmidlands]

@KarlUKmidlands I just tested the standby saver and it consumes 1 watt for itself, tested with a power meter.

So if you had it on for 10 hours every day for a year it would cost approx 40p a year. Whilst if just your Sky box is on standby using 17watts for say 10 hours a day it costs £6.12p in leccy so it's saving £5.72 a year in leccy if you just have a sky box plugged in most people will have multiple applicances so it definately saves money :)

[KarlUKmidlands]

@drsquirrel0 I opened mine up and the battery is Tiny just 55ma it only needs to power the IR sensor and relay, the battery is about 30 time smaller capacity than a mobile phone battery and will only takes milliamps for a few minutes to charge, where if you have appliances on standby Sky Box 17watt, TV 5 watts, etc you are still saving money, it might not be a lot but its still worth the saving and the convinience of not having to go to the back of the TV when you go out or to bed!

[drsquirrel0]

@KarlUKmidlands Energy in, Energy out... you won't get the same out of a battery that you put it. Also I have recently had a pair of 37" LCDs delivered that also measure 0W when idle ;) its been a long time coming since they did this. And like many other people I don't want DVR units to be turned off, Sky boxes take long enough to turn on from off :/ stupid Sky.

[KarlUKmidlands]

Yes of course you can just turn off at the mains, but these are great if you have a wall mounted TV with hidden wiring that may be a pain to keep switching on and off.

Also all the arguments of the unit cost are now defunct as they have a new standby saver compact model that can be purchased for only £5 from ebay!

So you will get your money back within 12 months if used everyday even if it only saves 1.5 pence per day!

Another Great British Invention - Nice One Ecotek