Do "smart" powerstrips damage electronics?
May 18, 2018 12:56 PM Subscribe
Do "smart" powerstrips damage electronics? I feel like they do, and have lost a device probably because of it, but can't find any solid information about it.
I bought some tier 2 smart powerstrips, the ones that automatically turn off if they don't detect movement or infrared activity. They're supposed to save electricity.
I've had my computer monitor and speakers plugged into one, and when I step away, they will turn off. I have to turn them on manually again, both by powering on the powerstrip and the device itself. It seems like the powerstrip basically is the same as unplugging a device from the wall, without powering down -- how can this be safe?
Specifically, my studio monitors (computer speakers) were making a one-off sound when turning on again, and after a few times now are broken because they just make this humming sound when nothing is plugged in. So it seems like the powerstrip damaged my speakers somehow by just putting electricity into them on and off. I tried using the warranty clause on the powerstrip to make a claim, but the person running the warranty program said there was no evidence the powerstrip damaged the speakers.
Should electronics generally be okay with smart powerstrips, or as I learned with my speakers, are these not good for electronics? I couldn't find anything online indicating either way.
I bought some tier 2 smart powerstrips, the ones that automatically turn off if they don't detect movement or infrared activity. They're supposed to save electricity.
I've had my computer monitor and speakers plugged into one, and when I step away, they will turn off. I have to turn them on manually again, both by powering on the powerstrip and the device itself. It seems like the powerstrip basically is the same as unplugging a device from the wall, without powering down -- how can this be safe?
Specifically, my studio monitors (computer speakers) were making a one-off sound when turning on again, and after a few times now are broken because they just make this humming sound when nothing is plugged in. So it seems like the powerstrip damaged my speakers somehow by just putting electricity into them on and off. I tried using the warranty clause on the powerstrip to make a claim, but the person running the warranty program said there was no evidence the powerstrip damaged the speakers.
Should electronics generally be okay with smart powerstrips, or as I learned with my speakers, are these not good for electronics? I couldn't find anything online indicating either way.
>because they just make this humming sound when nothing is plugged in.
Are you saying that your speakers are humming when they're not plugged in?
posted by muddgirl at 1:30 PM on May 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Are you saying that your speakers are humming when they're not plugged in?
posted by muddgirl at 1:30 PM on May 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Pretty sure they meant the humming is when they are powered on but have no audio source connected
The power strip is absolutely the same as just unplugging the thing, or flipping the switch on a conventional power strip. That’s totally a reasonable thing to do for a lot of electronics. Many powered speakers have no “safe shutdown process” of any kind; their power switch just cuts power.
Maybe if there’s some kind of surge or something when it turns them back on I could see that damaging stuff but except for things that can be halfway through writing stuff to a disk, most electronics won’t be messed up by losing power suddenly.
posted by aubilenon at 1:38 PM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
The power strip is absolutely the same as just unplugging the thing, or flipping the switch on a conventional power strip. That’s totally a reasonable thing to do for a lot of electronics. Many powered speakers have no “safe shutdown process” of any kind; their power switch just cuts power.
Maybe if there’s some kind of surge or something when it turns them back on I could see that damaging stuff but except for things that can be halfway through writing stuff to a disk, most electronics won’t be messed up by losing power suddenly.
posted by aubilenon at 1:38 PM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
The potential for surge is one thing I'm thinking of, but there's also the possibility that they have managed to plug things in that shouldn't be plugged in in quite that way.
If they do have the speakers plugged into power and now audio and are hearing a humming, they just have the speaker volume set too high. But hey, if their unplugged speakers are humming that would be pretty cool.
posted by Ahniya at 1:44 PM on May 18, 2018
If they do have the speakers plugged into power and now audio and are hearing a humming, they just have the speaker volume set too high. But hey, if their unplugged speakers are humming that would be pretty cool.
posted by Ahniya at 1:44 PM on May 18, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for the responses so far.
Ahniya: I'm in the United States so it's whatever the US standards are. I had this powerstrip: https://www.tricklestar.com/products/t2-advanced-powerstrip.html and I had pretty standard studio monitors (speakers) and display monitors plugged into it.
muddgirl: my speakers are humming now when plugged into power, even when no audio connector is plugged into it. So they're effectively garbage now.
posted by lpctstr; at 1:51 PM on May 18, 2018
Ahniya: I'm in the United States so it's whatever the US standards are. I had this powerstrip: https://www.tricklestar.com/products/t2-advanced-powerstrip.html and I had pretty standard studio monitors (speakers) and display monitors plugged into it.
muddgirl: my speakers are humming now when plugged into power, even when no audio connector is plugged into it. So they're effectively garbage now.
posted by lpctstr; at 1:51 PM on May 18, 2018
muddgirl: my speakers are humming now when plugged into power, even when no audio connector is plugged into it. So they're effectively garbage now.
I wouldn't say from this that they're garbage. There's 60Hz floating around in your space causing the buzz, which doesn't seem strange when your speaker inputs are not connected to anything.
How about when you do plug an audio source into your speakers? Your post doesn't say whether the speakers are operating normally when you're using them normally.
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:10 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
I wouldn't say from this that they're garbage. There's 60Hz floating around in your space causing the buzz, which doesn't seem strange when your speaker inputs are not connected to anything.
How about when you do plug an audio source into your speakers? Your post doesn't say whether the speakers are operating normally when you're using them normally.
posted by JimN2TAW at 2:10 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Either you have the speaker volume set too high, and what you're hearing is the internal speaker noise that you usually don't hear because the volume is too low, or your speakers are picking up on a transmission through your space that started recently.
Lower the volume and see what they sound like when music is played through them.
posted by Ahniya at 2:25 PM on May 18, 2018
Lower the volume and see what they sound like when music is played through them.
posted by Ahniya at 2:25 PM on May 18, 2018
There is a remote possibility that repeated power cycling caused crappy capacitors in your powered speakers to fail, one symptom of which could be 60Hz hum making it through the power supply and into the amplifier, but if that is the case the real problem is that the speakers were built with crappy components, not that the power strip did anything to them.
posted by wierdo at 3:22 PM on May 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 3:22 PM on May 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don't think this will be all that helpful, but I remember the setup guide for my studio monitors (m-audio bx5) hocus sing not to plug them into power strips. It didn't say why not though.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 4:18 PM on May 18, 2018
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 4:18 PM on May 18, 2018
Yeah, this is normal for amplified speakers that have input cables that aren't plugged into anything.
Without anything driving your speaker cable (or providing a drain between the sides of it), it's a big ol' antenna, getting all sorts of transient voltages from whatever's in your environment (and there's lots of stuff transmitting 60Hz in your environment). The amplifier has high impedance (doesn't draw much current), so it's amplifying those voltage transients. Plug that cable in, and suddenly there's something causing a little current to pass between the two sides of your speaker cable, and the hum should go away.
This is expected with cables going into an amplifier that doesn't draw much current from its source signal (powered speakers especially).
posted by straw at 4:39 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Without anything driving your speaker cable (or providing a drain between the sides of it), it's a big ol' antenna, getting all sorts of transient voltages from whatever's in your environment (and there's lots of stuff transmitting 60Hz in your environment). The amplifier has high impedance (doesn't draw much current), so it's amplifying those voltage transients. Plug that cable in, and suddenly there's something causing a little current to pass between the two sides of your speaker cable, and the hum should go away.
This is expected with cables going into an amplifier that doesn't draw much current from its source signal (powered speakers especially).
posted by straw at 4:39 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone, and sorry I'm not being clear. The hum is definitely an issue, and it's not a very quiet hum, it's a microwave-level hum. Here's a video of it: https://bit.ly/2IxbZEc
It happens with no cables plugged in, and with cables plug in or audio playing. I've been using them for several years, and they're definitely problematic -- the hum just appeared one day out of the blue.
It sounds like it may just be bad capacitors in my speakers, and the power strip is not really to blame. I still feel like if I just plugged these speakers into a regular strip, it would have been totally fine. But oh well, at least this is an excuse to get new speakers.
posted by lpctstr; at 5:26 PM on May 18, 2018
It happens with no cables plugged in, and with cables plug in or audio playing. I've been using them for several years, and they're definitely problematic -- the hum just appeared one day out of the blue.
It sounds like it may just be bad capacitors in my speakers, and the power strip is not really to blame. I still feel like if I just plugged these speakers into a regular strip, it would have been totally fine. But oh well, at least this is an excuse to get new speakers.
posted by lpctstr; at 5:26 PM on May 18, 2018
That link to the video doesn't work.
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:47 PM on May 18, 2018
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:47 PM on May 18, 2018
Response by poster: @AppleTurnover I just tested it on another computer with another web browser in private browsing mode and it worked okay. What happens when you try it?
posted by lpctstr; at 5:51 PM on May 18, 2018
posted by lpctstr; at 5:51 PM on May 18, 2018
It occurs to me there is one other possibility: Your electric service could be broken. A broken/missing ground at the service entrance or at the individual socket can sometimes result in unexpected hum, though your presentation is somewhat unusual.
posted by wierdo at 6:10 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by wierdo at 6:10 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Do the speakers also hum when they're plugged into another wall socket on the other side of your home? If you crumple a piece of aluminum foil over the audio plug so that it touches all three metal regions, does the hum go away?
It could be that the speakers haven't changed, but the ambient low frequency electrical or (more likely) magnetic fields in your home have changed. That could even be due to moving appliances to the power-strip or to socket-juggling that happened at the same time. If that's the case, there are some solutions that are worth trying before throwing the speakers out, unless you're looking for an excuse to get better speakers anyway.
posted by eotvos at 11:06 AM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
It could be that the speakers haven't changed, but the ambient low frequency electrical or (more likely) magnetic fields in your home have changed. That could even be due to moving appliances to the power-strip or to socket-juggling that happened at the same time. If that's the case, there are some solutions that are worth trying before throwing the speakers out, unless you're looking for an excuse to get better speakers anyway.
posted by eotvos at 11:06 AM on May 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are a million reasons why your speakers could be humming, this is a thing people deal with. This is the audio equivalent of "my car is making a funny noise". It might be because you went through the car wash, but that's far from certain.
My smart power strip has a number of outlets that don't turn off for things where this isn't a good idea, and they're all switchable.
posted by bongo_x at 1:31 PM on May 19, 2018
My smart power strip has a number of outlets that don't turn off for things where this isn't a good idea, and they're all switchable.
posted by bongo_x at 1:31 PM on May 19, 2018
It seems like the powerstrip basically is the same as unplugging a device from the wall, without powering down -- how can this be safe?
How are you expecting this not to be safe? Unless you're dealing with something like a computer that has a 'safe shutdown' mechanism, removing the power should not be a problem.
Specifically, my studio monitors (computer speakers) were making a one-off sound when turning on again, and after a few times now are broken because they just make this humming sound when nothing is plugged in. So it seems like the powerstrip damaged my speakers somehow by just putting electricity into them on and off.
If your electronics can be damaged by simply removing and applying power, the problem is with the electronics, not the power-switching mechanism.
Note that in many countries of the world, switched power sockets are the norm, and devices are powered on and off by switching at the socket all the time.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 8:43 PM on May 20, 2018
How are you expecting this not to be safe? Unless you're dealing with something like a computer that has a 'safe shutdown' mechanism, removing the power should not be a problem.
Specifically, my studio monitors (computer speakers) were making a one-off sound when turning on again, and after a few times now are broken because they just make this humming sound when nothing is plugged in. So it seems like the powerstrip damaged my speakers somehow by just putting electricity into them on and off.
If your electronics can be damaged by simply removing and applying power, the problem is with the electronics, not the power-switching mechanism.
Note that in many countries of the world, switched power sockets are the norm, and devices are powered on and off by switching at the socket all the time.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 8:43 PM on May 20, 2018
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What kind of electrical system does your country have? What's the volt / watt / amp rating of everything involved? What exactly are the smart powerstrips supposed to do and what certifications do they have? When you say 'nothing plugged in' do you mean literally no cords connected, or a power cord connected, or what?
posted by Ahniya at 1:05 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]