Standby or power off or both

[Dave C]

Hi Brennan Forum

Quick question this time....

When not in use, should I turn off the B2 by the power switch or put it on standby or on standby and then turn off. I guess when not in use, the B2 should be turned off rather than just being left on.

In other words, what's best to keep my B2 healthy?

Kind regards
Dave

[Daniel Taylor]

You can either turn it off or leave it on.  But there are things to know in either case.

Prepare to turn off power by pressing and holding the STOP button until the word SAVING appears on the front panel display.  Then, only after the word SAVING goes away and the clock reappears, you can turn off power.

When leaving the unit on, it's best to set the Screensaver setting to either very low or off.  That is to prolong the life of the front panel display.  Settings are described on the Menu page for the B2 on the Brennan website.  Screensaver command (Maintenance menu).

One other thing to note, the B2 will not go into standby if the WebUI is open in any browser on any device.

[Daniel Taylor]

That SAVING business is to make sure that the B2 is not in the middle of any operation that should not have the power rug pulled out from under it.  The B2 is a computer and we don't want our software or music data to become scrambled.

[Graham Smout]

I have read several times on this forum that it is best to leave the B2 permanently powered on in Standby mode when not in use, unless you don't intend to use it for a considerable time, like a few weeks.  The stressees of removing the power and reinstating it do it more harm than good to the electronics. Suffice to say that since I adopted this approach I have has no issues at all with operation of the B2, whereas when it was beingpowered off regularly strange things would sometimes happen.

[Rik]

I seem to remember that Paul of Brennan Support switches his off at night.

[PMB]

Hi All,

I do power my B2 on and off every day as part of my support role and have not had a problem in 4 (or is it 5 now) years.

I do the 'Saving' routine (mostly) and power off at the mains socket. If the B2 is already in Standby I just power off.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Dave C]

Thanks to all for your input.

It seems like it's personal choice then.
I quite like the idea of leaving the B2 on (as per Graham's reply) and dimming the screensaver and turning off if not in use for a longer period.

Hope this will be OK for the B2.

Regarding my previous HDMI question, I did get HDMI to work (Thanks Paul) but still had to keep the TV on!

The Optical Digital Cable option seems to work fine so far (there was one minor blip when one track stopped/started/stopped and then started) but other than that so far so good and now happily ripping CD's and allowing FLAC compression and then running Scan Disk. This all seems to work OK.

Thanks everyone for your help so far...the journey continues!

Kind regards
Dave

[Edwyn Corteen]

I have had my B2 for 5 years, it is connected to an automatic power off mains supply strip which switches the B2 on/off whenever I switch on my amplifier, no problems at all with this arrangement.

[Daniel Taylor]

Dave,

RE Needing the TV with HDMI:  That's probably an HDCP handshake thing.  It might depend on how you have the TV connected to the B2.

I have my B2 connected to my AVR.  Then the AVR is connected to the TV.  In that setup, I don't have to have the TV on.

[Steve Woolaway]

Hi Daniel: I've noticed your endless and impressive commitment to help others on here, and your peerless expertise. However, you say above that the B2 will not go into standby if the UI is open. If that is true, then I am misunderstanding something. I leave the web ui open at all times on my MAC desktop to enable quick restart. When I select Standby on the B2 menu I am under the impression that my B2 goes into standby because the display goes dark ( I have the standby option set to 16). Are you telling me that the B2 only appears like it's gone to standby and actually hasn't? When I return to the UI tab and hit play the B2 wakes up immediately. That plus the fact I have had no change of IP address to deal with, and no loss of wifi connection in nearly 2 years, plus everything wakes up and plays immediately as soon as I hit the button on any of my directly (not via NAS) connected SONOS speaker, means I am blissfully happy. But am I wrong to believe the B2 goes into standby?

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Steve,

You make good points and raise good questions.  I wish we had a knowledgable Brennan employee in the conversation.

It could be that when you do the Standby command that that somehow tells the B2 to ignore the Wifi connection.  I had surmised that it did that by turning off the WiFi.  I don't really know.  I guess there's probably a number of different ways to approach it.

[PMB]

Hi Steve,

Are you using the Play/Stop 'Saving' method or the 'Standby' command to put the B2 into standby?

The B2 doesn't appear to go into standby automatically (after 5 minutes) if the UI is open - but can be forced to using the Play/Stop button.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Graham Smout]

I can't agree with the remark that the B2 doesn't go into standby if a web UI is open. MIne does, no matter  which  web UI's I may have open. I often have an iPhone, an iPad and a lap top on the go at the same time. Perhaps if the device goes into standby, which mine will if left untouched for a few mins, this allows the B2 to enter standby.

I wish I could find the thread where it was said that leaving the B2 powered on causes less stress - aka wear and tear - on the components - than continually turning it on and off.

[PMB]

Hi gps...,

I reckon I have to close the web UI to get the B2 to go into standby automatically (22 March 2021 B2B software)

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Daniel Taylor]

I've read threads where they say that leaving the B2 powered is less stressful on parts.  Although it seems to make sense, I don't know how much is scientifically factual and how much is opinion.  Apparently there has been evidence that the display panels can wear out faster than other parts.  So cutting the brightness while in standby or turning off power will both reduce wear on that.

Since there seems to be a difference of opinion on whether the B2 will enter standby when the WebUI is open in a browser window, I guess I'll have to test for myself.  I turned on the B2, waited for it to finish booting up, turned on the WebUI in a browser on my computer, navigated around for awhile.  Then, I minimized the browser, leaving the WebUI open.  I left the B2 alone, doing nothing but scrolling information.  After 15 minutes, the B2's display was still scrolling information.  I believe that if it goes into standby, the scrolling info should stop and the screen should dim to the standby setting.

After 20 minutes I closed the browser that had the WebUI open.  Five minutes later, I just happened to look up and see the B2 go into standby.  The display blanked for a split second and dimmed to the standby setting, the information stopped scrolling, and just the clock and date stayed on the screen.

When I opened up the browser window, with the WebUI open, the B2 immediately woke up.