Turning off the B2

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Everyone

I wanted to check out about switching off my B2 at night.  A couple of times it has dropped the wifi connection or frozen when I've switched it on next morning. (I have always used the saving procedure first).  I gather from an earlier series of messages that there are risks to leaving it on all the time apart from the increased power usage.  There was some talk of using an external switch but I don't understand how that works.  I love listening to music on my B2 but some of the technical details are outside my knowledge field!  Any help or suggestions would be great, thanks.  Rita 

[David Gardner]

Rita,

I don't think whether you have an additional power switch will impact on the issue you report. It is just an additional piece of cable with a switch in it that fits between the b2 and its supplied power cord. It is just a convenience for those of us whose b2 is plugged into inaccessible wall sockets, or who don't like bending down to switch off. The important thing is doing the saving routine before switching off which you are doing.

If you decide you want to have the power switch you can get one like the one I bought at this link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LUT992U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  but there are lots of similar ones.

It is really easy to install. When the power to the b2 is off, unplug the cable at the back, plug this power switch into its place and then plug in the power cable at the other end. Make sure all connections are firm and then switch on.

Even with this switch, it is still important to do the save routine before switching off.

I switch off when the b2 is not in use because I live in a hot climate which means the b2 tends to warm up quickly and stay warmer than I want it to be for long periods.

I do find sometimes the b2 stops responding but I haven't noticed it being specifically related to switching on. I find it comes out of it after a button press or two.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi David

Thanks very much for this, I'm much clearer now.  Our house is warm in summer and I was concerned about the B2 getting too hot.  Also, yesterday it froze and locked up  just as it was about to start compressing, so I see my problem wasn't related to switching it off.  If that continues I'll talk to Martin.  Thanks again for your help.

Rita 

[Julian Pearcey]

Re my earlier posts - the B2 now has a proper power switch on the back. 

[Brennan Support]

Hello Rita

If your B2 has a power switch then an external switch is redundant/unnecessary.

Temperature shouldn't be an issue.

The B2 shouldn't freeze so there may be a fault and a repair/replacement is called for.

You might want to try disabling compression and/or removing the WIfi dongle - this may help us determine the problem especially if it takes a long time to manifest itself.

Martin

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Martin

I've been using the switch at the back for several nights and all has been fine - the Wi-Fi has connected automatically again next morning.  However, I'd ripped 3 discs on Saturday and the B2 froze just as it stated to compress - I suddenly noticed the clock had frozen.  I had to force shut it off and switch it on again. It did compress ok afterwards.  I'll monitor this and let you know - it might need repairing, as you say.

I have another query now.  When using the web UI to update titles etc. on my laptop,   (I had a lot of CD's on my JB7 which we'd copied from vinyl, so I'd entered artists/titles by hand  These all show as unknown artists)  I found that each time I clicked on rename, I got an error message "......... is not responding due to a long running script"  The screen would then lock.  So I started to use my desktop, which was fine.  However, this morning, I started getting the same error message and then the screen freezing.  Sometimes if I waited a minute the screen would unfreeze and I could continue.   I also noticed that as I used the down button to return to the albums list, sometimes that part of the list was missing or out of alphabetical order - the list would go from the artist list, straight to the music list.  The toggles on the top of that section don't seem to work very well either.  

Sorry about all the queries.  In most respects the B2 is working very well.

Thanks

Rita

[David Gardner]

Rita,

When I posted the information earlier about the additional power switch I did not know you had a b2 with a built in power switch. That's a new development which I didn't know existed until just now.

So, just want to take back my advice. As Martin said, absolutely no need for the extra on/off switch now.

[PMB]

Hi Rita,

Make sure you press and hold the Play/Stop button until 'Saving' is displayed before powering off the B2.

The UI problem sounds like a WiFi issue, as the UI is not updating, which could be caused by interruptions/drop outs. Please check your WiFi signal - Settings > Maintenance > WiFi Strength.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Paul

I do press and hold the play/stop button before powering off.  The only exception is when my B2 has locked up, which it has done two or three times.  Then nothing works, including the play/stop button.  My only option (as far as I know) is to do a forced shut down, which I don't like doing.  Martin thought it might need repairing, but I agreed to monitor whether this happens again.  If you have any other suggestions of what to do when it locks, I'd be pleased to hear.

I've just checked the Wi-Fi strength, which was hovering between - 65 and 71 dBm.  I don't know what that means in terms of strength.  Our router is in another room but we do have an amplifier in the room the B2 is in for our TV/TV hard drive.  

Thanks

Rita 

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Hi Rita, see attached jpeg explaining wi-fi signal strength. Check post Web UI 24th Feb. Was having UI problems and Martin suggested a usb dongle antenna might help improve the signal.  Which it did. UI much more stable now. The post shows the improvement in signal strength I got. Hope this helps. 

Regards Leslie.

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Sorry Rita,  that post is the 7th of March.

Leslie

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Leslie

Thanks Leslie, that was really helpful and I now understand more about Wi-Fi signal strength.   As all our other equipment works fine, I was assuming the signal was ok for the B2 .  Dongle is winging its way towards me already. This might be a silly question but does it replace the existing dongle or do I need to get a USB extension block?  (I'm getting a technical lesson every day with my B2?) I'm looking forward to a trouble free Web UI page.  Hope I'm not tempting fate!

Rita

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Hi Rita, was Martin's info. It replaces the existing dongle. We live out in the sticks and wi-fi signal can fluctuate a bit out here. Can still get the odd problem, but very, very rarely compared to with the old dongle. When you get it, run the signal test again with each, and that'll let you see the difference the dongle/antenna makes.

Leslie.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Leslie

My dongle arrived an hour ago (thank you Amazon) and my web UI works brilliantly now.  Thank you so much for your information - it's made a world of difference to renaming all my 'unknown artists' carried over from my JB7

Rita 

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Rita, good to hear your wi-fi signal has improved things. Did you run the the signal test to see what you're getting now?

Leslie.

[rita....@btopenworld.com]

Hi Leslie.  Yes, I did and it was - 50 dBm, which is in the excellent category on your chart.

Rita

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Jealous! Out here in the sticks it (antenna) only got the signal to the reliable zone. UI works well though, and that's the main thing. Glad you're sorted.

Leslie.

[Dick Cooper]

I see this thread has meandered off the power-off question but anyway - I've had a JB7 for many years (5 years in this house) and I never ever turned it off except when I had to restart it - maybe 10 times - and it never caught fire or set fire to anything else (although it needed a new power supply a few years ago), so as the B2 is quite similar I can't see why you would need to turn it off. I've had a B2 for a few months now and leave it on all the time, as I do with my router. My theory is that you stress the electronics less by keeping them warm. If you want to help save the planet, turn the heating down, wash your clothes/dishes by hand and drink less tea/coffee...