Overnight turn off?

[mikeprice]

The last laptop trolley I had had a built-in timer so that the laptops and chargers didn't just warm the room up overnight.

 

Interesting - I have never seen one with the timer built in

 

At my last school we got a time for the 3 trolleys so that they were only charging at sensible times and not all night and all over the weekend.

I did attach the laptop via a surge protected strip - don't know if that was necessary or not

 

Anyone know whether or not this is a good idea/necessary - or just over kill?

 

I'm sure I read somewhere a long time ago (i.e. old tech) that on dodgy circuits you are better with a laptop because the charger system is better at protecting the computery bits (techy term) than a desktop power supply

can't remember the electrical reasons

 

or am I talking rubbish (again!)

[jthompson]

If it's a trolley full of USB-C chargers, will they not already be doing something smart once devices are at 100%?

[Rizzo]

We've been good at switching equipment off for years just because why does it need to be left on after hours.

 

Photocopiers - Make sure power settings are set but are balanced not to annoy the user . ie screen switch off after x mins

 

Registration units, raspberry pis with 9" screen(Used for attendance in each classroom ) - Switch off the PoE out of college hours, with them staying off in holidays. switching back on at 7am

 

Computers / classroom laptops - from 17.00 a PowerShell script (Written in house) runs. If there's a user still logged in stop and try again every 30 mins up to 22.00 where the computer is forced shutdown.

Before the computer shuts down. The script fires off and waits for Adobe RUM to download and install updates (If installed), if there's a pending restarts because of Windows updates, restart then shutdown. If the computer hasn't checked in with SCCM for a while force it to check windows updates, again give it time to check in and then shutdown.

 

So by 17.30 - 18.00'ish 4000 computers are switched off. Then by 22.00 after evening classes most equipment should be off.

 

Laptops taken home, almost the same process but if the user is logged in an application (Again written in house) with a countdown is shown. 10 mins to cancel the shutdown or mouse movement cancels the shutdown.

 

Server room, air con is set to something like 22, saving a lot of money.

[ITGURU]

YES! scheduled task via GPO for shutdown in the evening. When we had a ransomware attack, luckily all clients were off so we didn't have to rebuild them, only the server infrastructure. Done this for years as a security precaution and it served its purpose saving us time when restoring.

[Chris_Cook]

I think many POE switches have built in options to shutdown ports and status LEDs on a schedule,

 

Not sure I'd use that regularly though as you would essentially be doing an uncontrolled power off on a computer. You might also have issues with excessive log files being written to flash memory and causing wear issues. Probably less of an issue now than in the past. Most quality power supplies seem to outlast the useful life of a PC, so I wouldn't worry so much about that.

 

With recent discussions on here I have been starting to think about ways we might be able to save energy on core infrastructure. As others have pointed out, its spending about 2/3rds of its energy doing nothing (probably more if you include holidays). CCTV and access control excluded of course.

 

I think the best options are to use built in power management for things like wifi and phones (turning off screens, backlights and radios), and then maybe look at how many switch ports and printers etc are still required.

 

I've re-jigged our main comms rack recently so that we don't have every port in the building patched in. The let me remove 2x 48 port switches and a 24. Also helps with UPS runtime. There's another couple of little cabs that only serve a few PCs each that I've got my eye on. Might not be much in the grand scheme of things, but has other benefits like reducing the mass of patch cables in the busier cabs and the number of devices to manage.

 

I've also done some back-of-the-envelope calculations on the cost of running our desktop printers all the time (even in standby) and that surprised me. So that's something I want to look into reducing again over the next year or 2.

 

Another option to maybe reconsider is the whole 1-2-1 laptop vs classroom PCs. If staff take the device with them, then its not going to be on all night. Plus its more likely to work through powercuts and you might reduce the need for printing if they take them to meetings.

[junz]

We've been good at switching equipment off for years just because why does it need to be left on after hours.

 

Photocopiers - Make sure power settings are set but are balanced not to annoy the user . ie screen switch off after x mins

 

Registration units, raspberry pis with 9" screen(Used for attendance in each classroom ) - Switch off the PoE out of college hours, with them staying off in holidays. switching back on at 7am

 

Computers / classroom laptops - from 17.00 a PowerShell script (Written in house) runs. If there's a user still logged in stop and try again every 30 mins up to 22.00 where the computer is forced shutdown.

Before the computer shuts down. The script fires off and waits for Adobe RUM to download and install updates (If installed), if there's a pending restarts because of Windows updates, restart then shutdown. If the computer hasn't checked in with SCCM for a while force it to check windows updates, again give it time to check in and then shutdown.

 

So by 17.30 - 18.00'ish 4000 computers are switched off. Then by 22.00 after evening classes most equipment should be off.

 

Laptops taken home, almost the same process but if the user is logged in an application (Again written in house) with a countdown is shown. 10 mins to cancel the shutdown or mouse movement cancels the shutdown.

 

Server room, air con is set to something like 22, saving a lot of money.

 

 

Would you be willing to share this script?

[mavhc]

Remember to point out how much money you've saved the school, so now you can afford SSDs.

 

1 watt * 1 year = 9 kWh = ~£4. Turning off 100W = £400/year saved

[Norphy]

Remember to point out how much money you've saved the school, so now you can afford SSDs.

 

1 watt * 1 year = 9 kWh = ~£4. Turning off 100W = £400/year saved

 

If you think that's how things work then I've got a lovely bridge I can sell you.

[mavhc]

Only works that way if you promote your own work

[flyinghaggis]

 

Server room, air con is set to something like 22, saving a lot of money.

 

 

That’s something we’ve wondered as our IT director suggested raising the target temperature on the AC by a couple of degrees to save power. But realistically how high should you go as 22 seems quite warm for a server room ?

[FN-GM]

That’s something we’ve wondered as our IT director suggested raising the target temperature on the AC by a couple of degrees to save power. But realistically how high should you go as 22 seems quite warm for a server room ?

 

We have ours set to 25.

[mavhc]

Check the temps internally to the devices against their spec.

 

Usually higher than you expect, Google says 26C but obviously depends on the airflow, how much above room temp are the CPUs in the devices?

[chazzy2501]

@mavhc you've mistaken watt hours with kilowatt hours... that should be £4/year

 

I made it 8760 watt hours a year so in kwh 8.76 x £0.28 (28p a kwh) so £2.45 a year.

[chazzy2501]

I leave my home amplifier on all the time and it takes 40 watts, that is £98 a year!

[mavhc]

@mavhc you've mistaken watt hours with kilowatt hours... that should be £4/year

 

I made it 8760 watt hours a year so in kwh 8.76 x £0.28 (28p a kwh) so £2.45 a year.

 

yes, the £400 was for 100W, based on new 50p/kwh prices.

 

Does bring up a question, how much is your school paying per kwh?

[chazzy2501]

our school made over a megawatt of solar energy this month and we'll only pay the difference, so not a lot.

 

https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.com/solaredge-web/p/kiosk?guid=08b64b50-4fac-46cf-bd04-4db23825b1cf

[enjay]

We use PowerMAN on all the desktop PCs to hibernate them at night (quicker boot up and logon, compared to fully off and they wake from key/mouse with no need to scrabble under desks) but also during periods of inactivity during the day. Have a look at your empty room timetable in SIMS, then add on break and lunch every day, plus the time from 3:15-7pm or whenever you are running your scheduled shutdowns, and there's still a significant power saving to be had.

 

The reporting on PowerMAN has also proven useful when we tried to remove some computers and were told they were used "nearly every lesson". The power reports from PowerMAN said otherwise!

 

Next task, getting teachers to turn off their projectors when not in use....

[mavhc]

Turns out we don't even know the kwh we pay, because council does it and we pay them apparently

[Davit2005]

At a previous place we were finding loads of projectors left on i.e. firing light at the screen. We rolled out a shutdown policy and set the projectors to go standby when no signal recieved. Reduced electricity and bulb cost.

 

But I did have some rooms I set to startup automatically earlier for updates etc.

 

1 staff member out of about 200 wasn't that happy but the change was OK with SMT so it stood.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Davit2005

[enjay]

At a previous place we were finding loads of projectors left on i.e. firing light at the screen. We rolled out a shutdown policy and set the projectors to go standby when no signal recieved. Reduced electricity and bulb cost.

 

We have that too, and teachers all have laptops so the "no input blue screen" kicks in pretty quickly and the projector turns off. That doesn't help during the day though, when it seems many teachers turn their projectors at 8:30 then they stay on until 10 minutes after the teacher leaves that evening.

[mikeprice]

We have that too, and teachers all have laptops so the "no input blue screen" kicks in pretty quickly and the projector turns off. That doesn't help during the day though, when it seems many teachers turn their projectors at 8:30 then they stay on until 10 minutes after the teacher leaves that evening.

 

My last job every half term and end of term was to go round all the rooms and turn off the projectors

 

there was always one or two left on - and that was a small Primary!!

 

I did notice a couple switched on over the weekend a few times as I passed - but as the school was locked there was nothing I could do

 

Setting a time-out was apparently not acceptable

[enjay]

Setting a time-out was apparently not acceptable

 

Did they understand what the time-out was? I've had teachers object to a time-out because they thought it was like the password lock, and didn't realise the time-out would only kick in if there was no input from the computer (either laptop disconnected, or PC with activated screen-saver). Once they understood that, they had no objections to the time-out.

[mikeprice]

Did they understand what the time-out was? I've had teachers object to a time-out because they thought it was like the password lock, and didn't realise the time-out would only kick in if there was no input from the computer (either laptop disconnected, or PC with activated screen-saver). Once they understood that, they had no objections to the time-out.

 

I tried to explain

 

but...........

[ICT-Joe]

We have three PC shutdown schedules here: one at 16:00, one at 18:00 and the last at 21:00. The first two times turn off unless someone is logged in and at 21:00, the PCs shut down regardless. Staff at quite good here in that most know we won't shut down switches and servers. Regarding wear and tear on devices, I can't say we've ever seen any issues with PCs after a shutdown.

[DrBeaker]

We have three PC shutdown schedules here: one at 16:00, one at 18:00 and the last at 21:00. The first two times turn off unless someone is logged in and at 21:00, the PCs shut down regardless. Staff at quite good here in that most know we won't shut down switches and servers. Regarding wear and tear on devices, I can't say we've ever seen any issues with PCs after a shutdown.

 

How do you do the shutdown tasks can I ask?