Sleeping to Save Power and Optical Mice
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I have an optical mouse with a USB dongle that plugs into my keyboard. I found that cheap batteries only last several days or a week.
Should I switch off the mouse using its power button when taking a longer break than five minutes to make coffee?
Trying to do that leads to my second problem. How do I send the PC to sleep without using a mouse? I searched for Windows Logo Key shortcuts for sleep commands, but found nothing. The sleep timer is set to 20 minutes. I guess I could set it to five minutes, but then it triggers if I stop to think too long, or just answer the door.
I found an option in Advanced Power Plan Settings for the Power Button to trigger sleep, but that does nothing, and rebooting is not what I want to do.
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@Pesala I had a wireless keyboard with similar issues. In the end I had to make sure I got the best batteries and try to make sure they had a long expiry date. After that they usually lasted about a year before changing.
Sorry I can't be of further help. -
@Pesala said in Sleeping to Save Power and Optical Mice:
How do I send the PC to sleep without using a mouse?
Win + X
to open the start menu's context menu. ThenU
to open the shutdown menu, and finallyS
to put the PC to sleep. -
I hate wireless mouse and other. Wireless mouse, keyboards and headphones always run out of batteries at the worst moment, any interference can interrupt the connection, etc. Although these wired things are perhaps somewhat more uncomfortable (it is relative) but more secure (Bluetooth can be intercepted in 50m, bad for keyboards), they turn off and are suspended with the PC and on top of that with the same benefits they cost less.
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@Komposten Thanks, that works well enough.
Another workaround I discovered is to position the cursor over the sleep item, lift, the mouse off the desk so that movement is not detected, then click the LBM before switching off the power to the mouse.
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Using the keyboard to activate the Sleep option is easy enough for me, if I had some reason to do so. My wireless mouse lasts roughly a year without turning it off - it sleeps on its own if you haven't touched it (you need to tap any button to wake it as the laser shuts down when it sleeps and thus can't sense movement).
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