topic Re: Turning off my sky box in Sky Q

Re: Turning off my sky box

ChecksOut — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 16:46:45 GMT

There seems to be misunderstanding for Eco Mode, suggesting that using it vs powering off will make little difference. It may only use 1w when enabled, but it's only active for just over 3 hours per day (for sky Q boxes) - a real missed opportunity.

having measured our box, it consumes 12w in standby, and 17w when on, so over 2/3 of the power on energy when in standby, which seems a lot for just sitting there doing very little.

In terms of reliability, regularly turning the box off may not be good for the long term reliability, but seeing as Sky mandate that the box is loaned equipment, if it fails it's surely their responsibility to replace it?

Re: Turning off my sky box

Annie+UK — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 17:00:02 GMT

@ChecksOut wrote:

There seems to be misunderstanding for Eco Mode, suggesting that using it vs powering off will make little difference. It may only use 1w when enabled, but it's only active for just over 3 hours per day (for sky Q boxes) - a real missed opportunity.

having measured our box, it consumes 12w in standby, and 17w when on, so over 2/3 of the power on energy when in standby, which seems a lot for just sitting there doing very little.

In terms of reliability, regularly turning the box off may not be good for the long term reliability, but seeing as Sky mandate that the box is loaned equipment, if it fails it's surely their responsibility to replace it?

As this thread is in the Sky+ forum Sky Q is not relevant. Note: Sky+ boxes are not on loan from Sky.

ECO mode will still record programmes if they are scheduled during the times the box would be off, turning the power fully off will stop all function including recording

Re: Turning off my sky box

ChecksOut — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 17:15:58 GMT

Hi Annie, I had missed that this was for the Sky+ specific discussions having come in via Google this time - my bad. My reason for responding regarding Q was that someone else seemed to think this was about the Q box, so it seemed appropriate.

Agree that recordings will be missed if the box is off, and those comments (including s/w updates) obviously still stand, but I made no claim regarding those comments from others. With ever more content coming from streaming etc. this is less of an issue (for my use case at least), so I still feel it is relevant for some people to consider powering off.

Agree that older boxes may be owned, so reliability could be a concern, especially as they're likely to be old by now already.

Will aim to do better for future posts.

Re: Turning off my sky box

PandJ2020 — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 17:31:41 GMT

I turn my mini's off daily via smartplugs - they are solid state so are unlikely to be affected by this.

I keep the main Q on at all times though...

Re: Turning off my sky box

GardenZen — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 21:35:04 GMT

What is the power consumption of the minibox vs the main 1GB box? I'm guessing about half?

Re: Turning off my sky box

Chodley — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 22:02:09 GMT

If that

17W sounds too low

Re: Turning off my sky box

Quoman7 — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 07:40:17 GMT

@GardenZen wrote:

What is the power consumption of the minibox vs the main 1GB box? I'm guessing about half?

Hi @GardenZen Sky Q Mini Boxes:
The power consumption of Sky Q mini boxes is similar to that of the main Sky Q box, with passive standby using around 0.5W and active standby using around 17W

A Sky Q box consumes varying amounts of power depending on its mode. In passive standby (also known as Eco mode), it uses approximately 0.5W, while in active standby, it can consume around 18W

Re: Turning off my sky box

GardenZen — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 07:54:20 GMT

Are you getting that from AI at the top of a Google search result? That seems to be based on the main box . AI not answering the specific question, at least in the answer I got.

Would anyone have a smart plug to measure one please? Seems like that will be the only way to find out. Given that the mini box is half the size and doesn't have a need for a cooling fan, I would surprised if power consumption same as for the 1GB main box.

Re: Turning off my sky box

Chodley — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 19:21:16 GMT

And no hard drive. And a smaller processor.