Xref: utzoo comp.sys.att:10510 unix-pc.general:6151
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!svin02!wsinpdb
From: wsinpdb@svin02.info.win.tue.nl (Paul de Bra)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,unix-pc.general
Subject: Re: 3B1 Electric bill!
Message-ID: <1454@svin02.info.win.tue.nl>
Date: 1 Oct 90 16:02:12 GMT
References: <258@ramecs.UUCP>
Followup-To: comp.sys.att
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Lines: 25

In article <258@ramecs.UUCP> car@ramecs.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes:
>After leaving the 3B1 one for a month, like the manual suggests, I received
>my first electric bill.
>
>Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>My electric bill increased by $20 per month!
>
>Is this reasonable?!

Considering the power consumption of the 3B1 this is reasonable.
(I only wish my fully loaded 386 box would only cost about $20 per
month in electricity)
A major factor in the power consumption of the 3B1 is the fact that the
screen is on all the time. There is no power switch for the screen and
I heard that leaving that screen on 24 hours a day shortens its life-span
considerably. It was certainly NOT REASONABLE to ever have designed the
damn thing so you could not power down the screen. (note that the screen-
blanking does not really reduce the power consumption)

So part of a solution to your problem is to mess with the internals a bit
to install a power switch for the screen.

Paul.
(debra@research.att.com)