Should the optical modem on the router at home be cut off when traveling far? I made a blackout checklist, crossed out the optical mode's section, and wrote it again

before last year's National Day holiday, I asked in the family group, "Should I cut off the power to the router at home when going out?" My sister said unplugging it would save power and be safe, while my dad said not to touch it, because once you do, you won't be able to get online. After arguing for a long time, I simply made a list of my own weak current boxes, spent two long holidays in one year, and dug out two more extra notes before leaving during this year's National Day holiday. Here's the conclusion: should break a row, keep a chain, break wrong and save six yuan, but lose seven days' worth of eyes.

Let's start with the electricity bill: if you keep it on for seven days, it's actually just six yuan

Before I

start writing, I checked last year's measured power outlets: optical modem 6 watts, main router AX3000T 5 watts, 8 switches 3 watts, NAS standby about 10 watts, six surveillance cameras each 4 watts totaling 24 watts, set-top box standby is the worst at 15 watts. Altogether, it was around 64 watts.

64 watt-open for seven days is 64×24×7≈10.8 kWh, which is calculated at 0.55 yuan per unit, less than 6 yuan . Even if you remove the entire box, you'll only save six yuan in seven days. Remove the 15W from the set-top box, drop the whole box to 49W, and make just over four yuan in seven days—the big deal has never been a network device, it's the standby king. So the reason "cutting off electricity to save electricity" itself doesn't hold up. If you really want to cut it off, it's about fire risk; If you really want to keep it, it's about the functionality. Once you understand this premise, the rest of the list becomes much easier. I have listed specific power meters one by one in this home network equipment electricity cost test , so I won't repeat them here.

official term, it's called a scientific power cutoff, not a complete cutoff

research, I saw that the Office of the State Council Safety Committee and the Ministry of Emergency Management held holiday travel press conferences, with the original message being 'Cut power scientifically, keep what is necessary, and ensure safety'—for appliances like TVs and set-top boxes that are powered on for long periods, unplug or turn off the power to reduce fire risk; For refrigerators that must have continuous power supply, keep them but make sure the wiring is fine.

this caliber fits perfectly on home networks. Whether a network device is 'essential' or 'non-essential' depends on one thing: during your days out, do you want to use your phone to check your home? My house has six cameras: the one at the door is facing the parcel rack, the one in the yard is facing the car. When going out, I rely on them. To guard the household, the chain of optical modem, router, and camera must not be broken; If you don't watch the house, you have to follow the rules before making a break; you can't just pull it out.

my checklist: three must be kept; if you cut it off, remote home monitoring is all

this link is like this: the camera hands the image to the POE switch, which is attached to the main router, the router is sent out via the optical modem, and finally to the phone. Four segments: if any one of the middle links is cut, six screens on the phone spin in circles together. Last year, I tried just disconnecting the switch—hoping to save those 3 watts—but ended up with all the cameras offline, and all the effort was for nothing.

NAS I keep it, the reason is practical: six heads record continuously for about 260GB a day, a 4TB surveillance drive can be used for about thirteen days, seven days out in the loop window, and you can flip it over when you get home. If your home video drive is small or you don't watch videos at all, go to the background and click Off. Wait until the fan stops and the indicator light is off before cutting off the power—normal shutdown and direct power unplugging are two different things. I'll cover this pitfall in the article NAS whether to reboot regularly Don't take apart the UPS either; its job is to shield you from an unexpected tripping while you're out. I've written about this in my NAS UPS.

I crossed out the

section for the light cat once, but later wrote it back down. At first, I thought the optical cat was idle anyway, but then I remembered that the landline at home was through the optical modem's phone line. I unplugged it and called the landline to call the elderly man, but it went silent. I've written a separate article about this detail the optical modem connects to landline phones, and if your family has a landline for elderly people, don't disconnect the optical modem.

the line that should break: the set-top box is the standby king, so I pulled it all out without a second thought

set-top box must break. It has 15W on standby, which uses almost as much power as powering it on. When the remote is turned off, only the screen is off, and the motherboard keeps running—over 70 yuan a year, which is worth more than it itself. The desktop, printer, TV, and that row of charger plugs are all typical examples of "long-term continuous power" in fire safety standards, which I unplugged before heading out. If you travel far during thunderstorm season, the outdoor route must be completely cut off. Lightning strikes can enter the house through power and network cables, burning in a continuous chain. I have calculated the lightning protection costs in this article thunderstorm equipment lightning protection .

here's a step to remind you: before disconnecting the NAS, shut down the device softly; before disconnecting the modem, think about the landline; everything else can be unplugged directly. Let me add one more thing: disconnecting once is fine, but frequent disconnections are worrisome—the laser is hit every time it powers on, and unplugging it every day is the only way to use it for a longer life. This conclusion is based on whether modem should be restarted regularly. Interrupting every seven days is perfectly normal.

Smart Device Keep-Your-Own: No Need to Worry About Door Locks, Leaving Speakers Working Wonders

smart door lock is battery-powered; whether the mains power is off or not is unrelated to it. Just check the battery level in the app before going out. If the robot vacuum loses power, it loses contact, but during those days outside, it doesn't need to sweep. Water heater habit: If you like to preheat remotely on the way home, its network module can't be disconnected, otherwise the sudden power on the way will be pointless.

speakers for me. Last year, I saw someone in a community owners' group share a trick: while you're out, you can remotely play speakers for broadcasts every few days. If there's movement inside, it's more effective than posting a 'No one at home' sign. Of course, the premise is that the chain is still there—if the router is disconnected, all smart devices in the house lose contact, and the cameras go blind too. This collective responsibility is something I couldn't see when going out I wrote a complete investigation chain in that article.

also has a common leak: the router's own old issues. After a long runtime, lag and signal falter are problematic—set a scheduled restart to once a week, so during the week you go out, it will run on its own as usual. After restarting at three or four in the morning, the remote screen during the day is actually more stable than if it never restarts. For this task, I wrote the paths for five brands in the router reset . The day before leaving, just check if the switch is on.

three things to do before leaving and after returning home

Before going out: First, stand outside the door, turn off your phone's WiFi, use data to open the camera app, and open all six screens one by one to see them clearly—checking your home WiFi is cheating, but what you see outside is a whole different matter. Second, check your broadband payment balance. If your phone is suspended during the days you go out due to unpaid bills, your entire security chain will be cut off. You'll still be in the dark. The trick to disconnecting due to overdue bills is in this article for broadband overdue network outages. Third, take a photo of the light degradation count in the optical modem's backend and save it. After coming back, you can compare it. The difference before and after going out is mostly due to the temperature, referring to the home network checkup periodic table.

after getting home: first plug in the light mode, wait for the PON light to switch from flashing slowly to steady for about three minutes. Don't rush to restart—if the registration freezes, all your efforts will be wasted. I've suffered losses before, and I wrote about the article about PON lights that can't register. Then put the router, switch, and NAS at the end. Once all the lights were steady, the phone connected to WiFi, and the six camera screens went through one by one before I was home. By the way, while you're out, don't let anyone change the name and password of your home WiFi. The device recognizes the combination of name and password. With a single move, the whole house is reconfigured, and the vacuum cleaner's camera has to be re-installed. I actually touched this once in the article about new router.

to wrap up, here's a negative example. Last year on the 11th, my cousin directly pulled the main circuit breaker of the weak current box to save trouble. On the third day, the door went off at home, and he didn't know that all the seafood in the fridge was ruined. The smell of opening the door when he returned is still a regular part of family gatherings. If he had broken by list, the fridge wouldn't even be in the broken section. When it comes to power outages, it's called 'science' if you cut it right, and 'if you cut it wrong' is just leaving it to fate.