[warpdriver]

I have so many things around the house that have power bricks. For example, I have a external drive enclosure that has a power brick, and to turn it on, I flick a power switch on the back of the enclosure. Is the power brick on this drawing power from the wall even though the drive enclosure is probably not drawing any electricity? I can understand that some other devices always have idle current because they are in standby

 

[Gigabomber]

I'm wondering as well cause they still do get hot...
I've trained myself to unplug them though I don't like fooling with the contacts so much.

 

[pne]

i believe some of the larger ones i own get warm as well. Any EE's on the board wanna elaborate?

 

[tyre]

AFAIK, they do use a little bit of current when idle. The transformer inside will draw several mA, which probably varies a lot depending on the size of the transformer. Also, a lot of bricks have switching regulator integrated circuits inside that will draw a small amount of current when idle, which also will vary depending on which one happens to be. Some bricks and wall-warts don't even contain a transformer anymore, just a switching regulator tied directly to the mains.