[PLUG] lcd care and feeding

[Eric Wilhelm]

# from Denis Heidtmann
# on Thursday 07 February 2008 17:40:

>Keith Lofstrom wrote:
>...
>
>> So, over all, it is probably best to idle the display when you are
>> not using it.  ...
>What do you mean by idle?  I power mine off completely (that is, there
> is no juice at the power plug) when the computer is not in use.
>  Problem or no?

Thanks all for the input.  Denis, maybe this summary helps:


a.  hard switching (e.g. powerstrip/unplug)
  power:  zero power use
  life:   depends on power supply quality

  Every time you apply juice, the power supply and/or other components
  get a bit of stress.


b.  power button (on monitor bezel)
  power:  zero or near-zero power use
  life:   fluorescent backlight on/off too often reduces lifespan


c.  soft-off (e.g. dpms suspend/standby/off)
  power:  near-zero power use (about 1W?)
  life:   fluorescent backlight on/off too often reduces lifespan


d.  screensaver/blank screen
  power:  same as (or more than) normal usage
  life:   consumes backlight lifespan

So, assuming 15k hours of lamp life, we better turn off the backlight 
for a good portion of the day if we want it to last more than 2 years.  
Turning it off for 8 hours at night saves .5 years.

I wonder what the trade-off is on lifespan in switching the backlight 
off 3-5 times per day if that gets the running time down to about 6 
hours per day.  Would it be reasonable to expect 15k hours of lamp life 
with 10k on/off cycles, or would that drop the lamp life to e.g. 10k 
hours?  What about 10-15 times per day?

Looks like I'll find out in either 2.5 or 6.8 years.  At that point, it 
will be time for LED backlights anyway, right?

For now, I've got dpms set to suspend the monitor 30s after the screen 
blanking -- I figure I'll wiggle the mouse if I'm still sitting at the 
desk when it goes blank.

--Eric
-- 
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
--Occam's Razor
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