We have more and more electronic devices installed in the main furniture of the living room, such as a smart tvone or more sound systems, the console, the router, PLC, WiFi access pointmedia player, TV set-top box, smart speakers, LED lamps, etc.
And one way to save on phantom consumption and have them all a little more controlled is use a power strip as the main core of the electrical connections. We plug all the devices into the same power strip with plenty of outlets available and then at night we can disconnect them all at the same time from the current by pressing a switch.
However, in practice there are some elements that should not be left completely disconnected. This is for example the case of the router if we want to continue having access to the Internet and the local network working. But there is still a more extreme and important case: some modern televisions we cannot disconnect them from the electrical current when they go into standby mode after turning them off from the remote.
OLED TVs, always better plugged in
We have already commented on several occasions that one of the most important defects of OLED televisions is that they are made with organic compounds that can suffer a certain deterioration with use, something that in the short term can cause what are known as “image retentions” and that in the long run can lead to dreaded “burnt out” if we are not careful.
OLED panel image retention and burn-in
Fortunately, manufacturers are very well aware of this inconvenience and implement functions in their models that try to avoid them. And one of these functions is what is known as “compensation cycles”a pixel control system that allows the useful life of the panels to be extended.
The idea is simple but powerful. every so often the TV analyzes the state of the pixels of the panel, varying the voltage as necessary to maintain uniformity in all the sub-pixels so that we do not appreciate those retentions or burns.
How often does he do it? Well, the usual thing is that after 4 hours of use On TV, the operating system marks on its list of pending tasks that it has to do a fast compensation cycle, something that it does automatically when we press the off button on the remote.
What happens if we turn off the TV directly from a power strip? well what these cycles are never done and over time the degradation in the pixels caused by static logos and texts accumulates, which in the long run will lead to the famous burned-out ones that no longer have a solution.
It is something that can be easily spotted in many storeswhich have dozens of TVs connected to the same strip or differential that go down when they close, accumulating pixels with these degradations and giving, by the way, a very bad image to OLED technology.
In other words, if we have an OLED television, we should always let’s turn it off from the remote control and let’s leave it at “stand by” mode plugged inin case you decide to do these cycles or a more general one that they usually do every 2,000 hours.
So, will I be spending more electricity by having to leave the power strip on with all the devices connected? For these cases there are models of power strips with individual switches for each socket that allow us to leave the TV on and the rest off.
And if what worries us is leaving the LED indicator of the TV spending all day, there are models that allow us to manage its operation from the configuration menu, allowing us to turn it off completely. In addition, leaving the TV in standby mode we will not lose the option of turning it on remotely via WiFi, with voice assistants, sending content from a Chromecast-type player, etc.
