Why does a keyboard need to go to sleep.

[micky]

Online I see for sale a wireless keyboard/mouse, and it says about it

"Auto Sleep And Wake Feature

This keyboard also features an auto sleep and auto wake mode. If there
is a long period of inactivity, the keyboard will automatically go into
a sleep mode. To exit sleep mode, press any key."

Why does it have any need to go to sleep. Why would it use any power
if no one is pressing a key? This is not a cordless phone that waits
for phone calls, whose battery drains even when not in use.

(For that matter. why don't cordless phones have on/off switches. They
can go without charging for about 2 days. If you could rely on the
ringer in the other room and turn the cordless phone OFF, they wouldnt'
need a charge for 10 days or more. )

This is the item. Before you buy it, there's a newer version now.
http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-FE01-BL-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad/dp/B003UE52ME/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1439598701&sr=1-4&keywords=wifi+keyboards

Thanks.

[micky]

[mike]

On 8/14/2015 6:30 PM, micky wrote:
> Online I see for sale a wireless keyboard/mouse, and it says about it
>
> "Auto Sleep And Wake Feature
>
> This keyboard also features an auto sleep and auto wake mode. If there
> is a long period of inactivity, the keyboard will automatically go into
> a sleep mode. To exit sleep mode, press any key."
>
> Why does it have any need to go to sleep. Why would it use any power
> if no one is pressing a key?

Sleep IS not using "much" power. The only difference is that the
first keystroke may take a fraction of a second to switch the clock
and get everything running again.
Don't worry about it. It's doing what you want.

This is not a cordless phone that waits
> for phone calls, whose battery drains even when not in use.
>
> (For that matter. why don't cordless phones have on/off switches. They
> can go without charging for about 2 days. If you could rely on the
> ringer in the other room and turn the cordless phone OFF, they wouldnt'
> need a charge for 10 days or more. )

My cordless phones do go 10 days or more.
I have two phones and one charger. I just swap them every couple of
weeks.

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on Fri, 14 Aug 2015 20:05:49 -0700, mike

<ham...@netzero.net> wrote:

>On 8/14/2015 6:30 PM, micky wrote:
>> Online I see for sale a wireless keyboard/mouse, and it says about it
>>
>> "Auto Sleep And Wake Feature
>>
>> This keyboard also features an auto sleep and auto wake mode. If there
>> is a long period of inactivity, the keyboard will automatically go into
>> a sleep mode. To exit sleep mode, press any key."
>>
>> Why does it have any need to go to sleep. Why would it use any power
>> if no one is pressing a key?

>Sleep IS not using "much" power.

So since the keyboard isn't using much power except when someone is
pushing a button, it's always asleep the rest of the time, is that
right?

> The only difference is that the
>first keystroke may take a fraction of a second to switch the clock
>and get everything running again.

A remote control needs a clock?

>Don't worry about it. It's doing what you want.

What are you, a 1950's doctor?

>This is not a cordless phone that waits
>> for phone calls, whose battery drains even when not in use.
>>
>> (For that matter. why don't cordless phones have on/off switches. They
>> can go without charging for about 2 days. If you could rely on the
>> ringer in the other room and turn the cordless phone OFF, they wouldnt'
>> need a charge for 10 days or more. )
>
>My cordless phones do go 10 days or more.
>I have two phones and one charger. I just swap them every couple of
>weeks.

Do they have on-off switches. If they go two weeks without one, they'd
10 weeks with one.

[c4urs11]

On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 07:08:59 -0400, micky wrote:

> A remote control needs a clock?

This device is more complex than a remote control.
It sends keystrokes to the computer but also receives data.
When you connect the device, the computer will send configuration
data such as data rate, auto-repeat time, state LEDS, mouse speed,
acceleration etc.
When you press for example CapsLock, the keyboard sends the caps
command to the computer, then receives the request to toggle the
CapsLock LED.
All that activity needs the RF section to be powered and active,
so it makes sense to provide a sleep mode that paces down this
activity.

Cheers!

[Andrew Rossmann]

In article <v67usapi59vn59sr8...@4ax.com>, NONONOmisc07
@bigfoot.com says...

>
> > The only difference is that the
> >first keystroke may take a fraction of a second to switch the clock
> >and get everything running again.
>
> A remote control needs a clock?

I don't think he means a clock as in telling the time. It's clock in a
more general form of a timing signal to run the processor.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.comcast.net/~andyross

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on 15 Aug 2015 11:51:58 GMT, c4urs11

Thanks. And thanks everyone for their help

[jurb...@gmail.com]

It scans, as in sequential pulses tto the switches. they don't really change states much unless a key is pressed but insid the processor thigs are chaging states. That means capacitanc is loading it down, even though there is no resistive load. Stop that process and it cools down and pulls less power.

The world is getting into "green" and using/wasting less energy. they are of the mond that if a million people save a milliwatt we have collectively saved a kilowatt. Engieers, seriously, sit there and figure out how to save that milliwatt. it is partly PR and partly the governments. I hear the almost made it illegal to sell plasma TVs in the EU because they are so damn power hungry. AND GUESS WHY.

Remember about the scanning pulses and the capacitance ? Well plasma TVs are all about scanning and capacitance. I mean that is ALL they are about and in spades. A couple hundred volts at high speed applied to highly capacitive loads. It literally pulls as much juice as a old deflection yoke and high voltage circuit would.

and another ting when it comes to a keyboard, look on the bottom and see iff maybe it has a battery compartment. Seriously, some of them, even high end ones, some have a place where you can stick like eight or ten "D" cells. Do you know what good alkaline "D" cells cost ? And even in the absece of that, most of them run off DC so they know it might be run off of batteries someday.

that makes it a feature, actually for the customer. It is not so much that you are going to save 0.0003 cents on your electric bill next month, it might be that $15 you save on batteries next month.

[MJC]

In article <169b8779-b32c-48f5...@googlegroups.com>,
jurb...@gmail.com says...

>
> they are of the mond that if a million people save a milliwatt we
> have collectively saved a kilowatt.

Who's going to be able to detect that against their megawatts of
background?

Mike.

[John Robertson]

A wireless keyboard uses Bluetooth to communicate with the computer.
This takes energy and drains the battery eventually.

What the keyboard does is it goes into a low power mode where the
Bluetooth transceiver is shut down, and the keyboard likely only scans
for presses once a second or so. So now you are down to the microamp
power load and batteries can provide that for along time, compared to
milliamps of draw when busy with Bluetooth and keystrokes.

Cordless phones do have low power mode, but they still have to 'listen'
for the RF signal to wake them up, and a receiver does draw more power
than simply sleeping.

Cell phones low power mode still transmits and receives RF so the
various features are kept up to date - location, chat with local cell
towers to keep the device able to receive, etc.

John :-#)#

--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 15 Aug 2015 14:11:57 -0700, John

Robertson <sp...@flippers.com> wrote:

>On 08/14/2015 6:30 PM, micky wrote:
>> Online I see for sale a wireless keyboard/mouse, and it says about it
>>
>> "Auto Sleep And Wake Feature
>>
>> This keyboard also features an auto sleep and auto wake mode. If there
>> is a long period of inactivity, the keyboard will automatically go into
>> a sleep mode. To exit sleep mode, press any key."
>>
>> Why does it have any need to go to sleep. Why would it use any power
>> if no one is pressing a key? This is not a cordless phone that waits
>> for phone calls, whose battery drains even when not in use.
>>
>> (For that matter. why don't cordless phones have on/off switches. They
>> can go without charging for about 2 days. If you could rely on the
>> ringer in the other room and turn the cordless phone OFF, they wouldnt'
>> need a charge for 10 days or more. )
>>
>> This is the item. Before you buy it, there's a newer version now.
>> http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-FE01-BL-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad/dp/B003UE52ME/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1439598701&sr=1-4&keywords=wifi+keyboards
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
>A wireless keyboard uses Bluetooth

Many don't. Some use non-bluetooth RF (and some use IR but I wasn't
talking about those) but I apreciate the rest of your post.

>to communicate with the computer.
>This takes energy and drains the battery eventually.
>
>What the keyboard does is it goes into a low power mode where the
>Bluetooth transceiver is shut down, and the keyboard likely only scans
>for presses once a second or so. So now you are down to the microamp
>power load and batteries can provide that for along time, compared to
>milliamps of draw when busy with Bluetooth and keystrokes.
>
>Cordless phones do have low power mode, but they still have to 'listen'
>for the RF signal

They don't have to, if the user is able to hear the "bell" on the base
station or any other sounder he's installed.

>to wake them up, and a receiver does draw more power
>than simply sleeping.
>
>Cell phones low power mode still transmits and receives RF so the

Cell phones rarely if ever have extensions and certainly don't have base
stations whose bells you can hear. But even they can be turned off so
they neither transmit nor receive. That's what I would like in a
cordless phone and a keyboard.

Here is one wireless keyboard that does have an off-switch.
http://www.hhgregg.com/logitech-wireless-touch-keyboard-k400/item/920003070?cid=PLA-10168124-213748&mr:referralID=346426f5-425e-11e5-9549-005056947d48
"12-month battery life - You can go a full year doing the things you
love without battery hassles. An on/off switch helps you save power when
you’re not using the keyboard" The logitech website says the same
thing. They made this for when people watch tv and they know that's
only a small part of the time.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-touch-keyboard-k400r
The brief pdf file says "Power Off and power On the keyboard."

Don't they mean all the way off?

(BTW, this is a lot bigger than the one I asked about, but its rows of
keys are offset like standard keyboards, and it will be a lot easier to
type on. Actually there are a lot of full size ones and only a few
little ones. Like all of them so far, it only claims a 10 meter range,
so I'd have to put some sort of USB extension to make the USB receiver
close enough to the keyboard.)

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on Sat, 15 Aug 2015 08:10:02 -0700 (PDT),

jurb...@gmail.com wrote:

>It scans, as in sequential pulses tto the switches. they don't really change states much unless a key is pressed but insid the processor thigs are chaging states. That means capacitanc is loading it down, even though there is no resistive load. Stop that process and it cools down and pulls less power.
>
>The world is getting into "green" and using/wasting less energy. they are of the mond that if a million people save a milliwatt we have collectively saved a kilowatt. Engieers, seriously, sit there and figure out how to save that milliwatt. it is partly PR and partly the governments. I hear the almost made it illegal to sell plasma TVs in the EU because they are so damn power hungry. AND GUESS WHY.
>
>Remember about the scanning pulses and the capacitance ? Well plasma TVs are all about scanning and capacitance. I mean that is ALL they are about and in spades. A couple hundred volts at high speed applied to highly capacitive loads. It literally pulls as much juice as a old deflection yoke and high voltage circuit would.
>
>and another ting when it comes to a keyboard, look on the bottom and see iff maybe it has a battery compartment. Seriously, some of them, even high end ones, some have a place where you can stick like eight or ten "D" cells. Do you know what good alkaline "D" cells cost ? And even in the absece of that, most of them run off DC so they know it might be run off of batteries someday.

You're right about that. I hate filling something with batteries. I
hate using batteries at all. When I was little, the only thing that ran
on batteries was a flashlight (and the car starter) and we only had one
of each.

At least one model keyboard said it took 2 AAA, which is not bad

The second one I mentioned, in the other post, is big, and I have the
image that it must need more batteries because it sends big bursts of
radio waves instead of the tiny bursts that the tiny keyboard must use.
And the keyboard is longer too, so it probably uses more energy to get
from one end to the electronics at the other end. So it needs more
batteries. At least that's how it feels.

The webpage for that other one says "Enjoy using the keyboard for a full
year** without the hassle of changing batteries. The on/off switch also
helps you save power when the keyboard is not in use. ... ** Keyboard
battery life calculation based on an estimated two million
keystrokes/year in an office environment. User experience may vary."

If I do 4000 keystrokes a year, I'll be surprised. I wish I knew if it
was a standard battery. Here it is, 2 AA batteries. That's okay.

My father bought in the '50's a tube radio that also ran on batteries.
The tube names began with 1 and 2, and maybe one was 5 because that was
the voltage the heaters used. It used two rectangular cells, and when
I was in college I thought I'd fix it up. One of them was $3 in 1966
and the 42-volt battery was for sale but it was $42 or so. That's about
$420 dollars in today's money, so I gave up the plan

[jurb...@gmail.com]

>"Who's going to be able to detect that against their megawatts of
>background? "

The same kind of bleeding heart liberals who threw the vitamin tablet industry out of the country. (too expensive to handle the waste products) The same kind of "scientists" who came up with "carbon credits". The same kind of money grubbing assholes who make it so you have to get a pollution check on your car and won't give you license plates if the fucking overdrive doesn't work right and you have to spend two grand on a car that is worth $500 to get to fucking work to pay the taxes they use against you.

You asked.

Want more ? The same kind of asshles who mandated lower wattage from the already most efficient lighting - flourescent. When I was in business I used flourescent lighting because it was more efficient and the tubes lasted a long time so I did not have to get up on a ladder and change them much. But then the bleeding hearts got ahold of power and because some fucking eagle dies in Death Valley they had to "improve" things and now a flourescent tube does not last ten years, it is lucky to make it a year. And it flickers or won't start when it is cold. These fucking assholes, for a matter of a few watts, have proceeded to make the flourescent tube manufacturers a ton of money and do not have the common sense to realize the cost, environmental wise, of the manufacture of gazillions more flourescent tubes because they do not last.

Here's more, lead free solder. Because they know the junk the build now is soon to hit the landfills they use lead free solder. There is ZERO talk of making a product that lasts longer, that would be contrary to business interests. Seriously, think about that. And while you do, if you really grasp it, you will see that industry writes the rules.

All the standards for automobiles for example, are for the car companies. They serve to make it harder for an upstart to get into the business. (remember Tucker ?) Not one environmental law or safety reg was ever passed without their approval. Got that ?

The laws in this country are set up to make the big guys the maximum amount of money and to protect their "turf" and if you really look, open your mind and see things how they are, this comes apparent.

[Madness]

Simply put: wouldn't YOU get tired of people banging on your head all day?

[jurb...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:07:19 PM UTC-5, Madness wrote:
> Simply put: wouldn't YOU get tired of people banging on your head all day?

Never tried it unless you count trying to watch TV during election time. Actually, now that I stopped watching TV I guess my head feels a little bit better.