Remote-Outlet

Monthly Archive: March 2014

Perfect for Charging My Cellphone at Night

Whenever someone forgets and leaves the iron on the tip gets ruined. Newer irons of this brand shut off automatically but we can’t really afford a new $500 iron. So, I bought this little socket and voila: no more trashed tips. It has paid for itself about 5 times over in the first week or two of ownership.

My daughter does this constantly and I am so tired of finding the iron on later in the day or the next day. This device works great for us now. I dont have to worry about the iron being left on and she’s content since the 30min setting seems to be just right for her needs. Now I’m looking at ordering even more of these things for other energy suckers that I have around the home as well -like my son’s Xbox.

I use the smart power strip in my living room so if the TV is off it cuts power to all the other devices (PS3, XBOX, Receiver…) so they don’t vampire power. I want to get a couple extra of these and another smart power strip for my computer and charging station. I love saving energy, even though it will take a long time to make up the cost of these devices.

It helps to convert your sockets in easy switch on / off bottons for many porpuses. Greate quality, easy and practical packaging. Don’t a bit to purchase it. The only small detail is the price, if you can get it as cheap as you can (the price sometimes dicrease for almost a dollar)

Instead of allowing the battery to charge for an extra x number of hours (slowly damaging the battery) this product lets you set .5, 3, 6 hour intervals until the outlet turns off. I find 3 hours is more than ideal to let my cellphone charge overnight.

Works fine, doesn’t hog space on power strips, and is more solid than traditional toggle switches. My one criticism is the excess cardboard in the packaging; it contradicts the energy and resource saving intent of the product.

Very often I leave my home in a rush and forget it on. This little thing really solved my problem (and money). I use it in 1/2hs setting and voila, problem solved.

Along with many other cost-cutting measures, but when I was visiting it was a pain for me to reach the outlet and awkward too. He said he really likes it. Music to my ears. Should last, good name.

She plugs it in, does her hair, then leaves it plugged in. All day. While nobody is home. You come home from work to find a funny smell inside your house. You then realize the iron was on all day and even turned a part of the bathroom counter brown/black. You COULD tell her to try to remember to unplug it, but you know you’d feel more comfortable just making her use one of these bad-boys. Plug the hot iron into this device. Push the button. Do hair. Even if the iron gets left on, the timer shuts off on its own before your house goes ablaze. $10 timer plug vs cost of a new house. Do the math! (and hey, you could use this for other stuff, like a soldering iron, for example.)

March 11, 2014 Outlet, , 0 Read more >

Just What Ordered and Needed

Every little bit helps. Don’t forget…..just because you powered down or turned off that tv, computer, ps3, wii, xbox, laptop…etc, doesn’t not mean its not still using power. These things are cheap enough and simple to use, buy a few. You’ll be glad you did. Example, having a 46″ tv plugged up 24hrs a day without the power being turned is exactly like burning a 60watt bulb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But when you go to bed at night, you turn those lights off don’t you??? Like I said, Buy Them!!!!

After 45 mins it switches to “averaging” mode, where the info displayed represents a moving average, not an instantaneous measurement, but you can disable averaging if you want, or just unplug the unit briefly to reset it before measuring a new device. I like it better than Kill-a-watt, which I never understood very well. Hope it holds up for at least a year, if it does it will get 5 stars from me.

I bought this to conserve energy, but also to save the life of my phones battery since I charge while I sleep. I wish they would have had an hour setting instead of 1/2 then 3 hour. The look of it is nice and simple though. The LED is not annoying and I like that feature. I would send it back simply for the fact it covers the other outlet, but I think I will just buy a power strip for my other electronics and either hook this onto the power strip or use the power strip on my other outlet in my room. Had it not covered both plugs, I would have gave it 5 stars. I will do an update later on after having it for a while. It seems to be working fine right now.

i purchased two of the other kind of this socket thingys, the kind where you can fit two in an outlet. those were for my microwave and toaster, and work well for that since they are not on a timer. but I like using this one for my living room lamp since it is on a timer. I can walk away and forget about it and 3 hours later it turns itself off. i just wish the 2nd outlet were accessible. otherwise i like it.

We all use many portable devices, i use at least 3 (2 mobile phones and a tablet) In the past i used to leave my devices charging through the whole night, now i set the time i want (30min, 3hr or 6hr ) and this device auto shuts off when time is over. This socket is really easy to use and looks good. For a con (if you want to force one) it is somehow bigger than expected but not really a problem.

March 10, 2014 Outlet, , , , 0 Read more >

Attractive and Useful

Anyway the product works well and i used my Kill-A-Watt and it did not draw anything to the level the Kill-A-Watt would have detected the light on the toggle switch so it’s fair to say the draw won’t cost you much but I still don’t see the purpose of the light since it is not bright enough to tell it is on in daylight. Overall a good product and the price is right.

The unit is functional and is being used to power a coffee maker (Krups Model 197, Thermal-Carafe version). The coffee maker operates as normal and is running at its normal power input of 1100 watts (120V AC). Because the coffee maker uses a thermal carafe there is no hot plate so the power drawn after the coffee is made is very low but the boiler is energized for about 30 seconds every five minutes as it tests to see if any water is there to be boiled.

We set the  timer for the “½ hour” selection. So after the initial 10 minutes the brewing is completed and thereafter the coffee maker goes into its test cycling. It would be expected that the timer would shut off the power to the coffee maker at the 30 minute point. Unfortunately our timer always fails to shut off at the 30 minute point but instead continues on for an additional 10 to 30 minutes (so the total timer ON time with our coffee maker connected varies randomly between 40 to 60 minutes).

Testing the unit with a much lighter load (100 watts incandescent) it works perfectly, it cuts off in 30 minutes accurate right to the second. So our Socket Power Timer works well with light loads but becomes erratic with loads over 1000 watts (but still well under the maximum rated level of 1800 watts).

Based on its specifications this product should work easily in our application. I would like to receive a replacement unit that would work properly in this application or if there is an inherent problem, receive information from Amazon as to the suitability of the product to this application.

There is a distinct advantage in using a timed socket such as this when charging devices and I honestly believe it can preserve a batteries lifetime. Plus you have the whole electricity and cost savings advantage built into it. If there was anything to improve it would be additional 8 and 12 hour timer settings. Also, some sort of on off switch would be nice. In the end they are minor gripes and I love this device.

This allows me to be confident that whether or not I remember to turn an appliance off, this socket will shut it off for me. I highly recommend this product. y average and cumulative power use, and not just “cost-per-month” and “cost-per-year.” I cannot understand why the power-use figures are not available for display, since they clearly have to be tracked and recorded in order to compute the “cost.” It’s easy enough to do the math and derive the numbers I’m looking for, but it’s silly that that step is necessary.

I guess it was trying to make this into a device to “wake up” lazy consumers, but it’s still geeky enough that it should be able to display the raw data, and the CO2 function is just somebody at stroking their ego. My electricity is generated with a shifting mix of natural gas, wind, and nuclear. At no two times during the week does a single watt of electricity create the same amount of CO2. That particular display on the outlet is going to be such a poorly educated guess that I doubt I’ll ever even look at it, and the real estate on the device and in the software could have been better spent.

It’s functional and good enough that the above gripes are certainly not a deal breaker. You won’t regret buying this, even if you’re looking for raw numbers. It just seems like they should acknowledge that control-and-information-freak nerds are using this.

March 7, 2014 Outlet, , 0 Read more >

Works Great for Coffee Maker or Other Appliances

I thought this switch can be programmed to come on and go off at regular intervals at a time of our choosing. Well, it doesn’t do that. However, what it does is allow you to set a time when you want it to go off. There are 3 time increments for this purpose. This works great when we want to leave the light on in our kids’ room to automatically go off after an hour once they have fallen asleep. This switch performs this function perfectly without a glitch. It’s a nicely made switch and is aesthetically pleasing.

Immediately shuts off the power once the time is up. The unit itself doesn’t draw any electricity when it’s off (according to the manual). Ideal for charging your cell phone overnight or when the wife uses her curling iron or hair straightener in the bathroom. The frustration-free packaging was a nice touch.

My roommates would get upset at me about leaving the toaster plugged in among other things. They work just as promised, one is used with the toaster. The other 3 are used with our phones and personal electronics.

My biggest complained is that they are too big. They they cover whatever sockets are near by (above or below them) so you can’t plug in anything right next to them.

We bought one for the breakfast area, where we tend to be on our laptops surfing or working on our work laptops. We liked how it worked, but kept unplugging to also use in the living room. So, we decided to just buy two, which may be worth it at the end since I heard laptops have pretty high vampire consumption loss.

I just wish we knew just how long it would actually take us to pay off the 9.99 cost (per unit) with the money we’re actually save on electricity. Guess we can plug in the laptop chargers through a Kill-A-Watt analyzer thingy that analyzes vampire power consumption, but we haven’t quite gotten there yet.

I just hope it was all worth the money we spent on these things. If anyone knows how long it may take to recoup the amount spent for these items, please let me know. Thanks!

Regardless, it’s nice to just push a timer button and know it’ll shut off in 30mins, 3hrs, or 6hrs. I wasn’t able to find any other similar product in the market, especially not with the trusted name as it!

I bought this so I could get an idea of the actual power usage of these appliances over a few days (the stickers only give maximum rated current draw). Comparing this to a Kill-a-Watt meter, the decision-maker was the remote display.

This unit works exactly as described – the documentation is a little thin, but it’s accurate. It would get a solid 5 stars if it had a function to display average and cumulative power use, and not just “cost-per-month” and “cost-per-year.” I cannot understand why the power-use figures are not available for display, since they clearly have to be tracked and recorded in order to compute the “cost.” It’s easy enough to do the math and derive the numbers I’m looking for, but it’s silly that that step is necessary.

I guess it was trying to make this into a device to “wake up” lazy consumers, but it’s still geeky enough that it should be able to display the raw data, and the CO2 function is just somebody at stroking their ego. My electricity is generated with a shifting mix of natural gas, wind, and nuclear. At no two times during the week does a single watt of electricity create the same amount of CO2. That particular display on the outlet is going to be such a poorly educated guess that I doubt I’ll ever even look at it, and the real estate on the device and in the software could have been better spent.

It’s functional and good enough that the above gripes are certainly not a deal breaker. You won’t regret buying this, even if you’re looking for raw numbers. It just seems like they should acknowledge that control-and-information-freak nerds are using this.

March 6, 2014 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

Good for Arthritis

Has an on/off switch, and emits a pleasant clear green glow when on. I use one for my microwave to stop it from flashing messages at me (and turn on a light bulb to warn me that the door is open) when I expect it to be off, and another on my Toaster McMuffin Maker to keep it from sucking in watts for the 23.5 hours a day when not in use. Some fellow shoppers have complained that these things cease functioning or otherwise malfunction after a spell. I’ve been using my two for a month now and I hope they never give me any grief.

I use this product on my radio. I set the outlet for 30 minutes and use it at night so I can listen to the radio for 30 minutes before I go to sleep. I also have another one in the bathroom to control my toothbrush sanitizer. After 30 minutes, it goes off and does not stay on all day long or until the next time I use it.

I turn off the switch in the morning and turn it back on when I use it to heat up my bedroom. I also use one in the kitchen for my hot water kettle. I turn off the switch for safety reasons. I do not want to accidentally turn on the kettle when there is no water in it. Great product.

This just makes it convenient without having to tug at my cell phone plug all the time. I have arthritis pain in my wrists, so it’s much easier for me to flip a switch than grab and pull at my power cord. I don’t use this on my computer mostly because it’s plugged into the surge protector. It’s a great switch if you know anyone who has arthritis issues or just appreciates the convenience of a switch.

I toss my equipment on a rack and hit the button on the unit to power the fan. I can set it and forget it. My hockey equipment dries 10x faster and the fans turn off automatically after the time I set. I used to have to let fans run all night because my games end late, but now I’m saving time and energy.

So far it seems to work great. She was a little concerned about 1/2 hour being too short of a time, and unfortunately there is no way to adjust the time beyond the 1/2 hour, 3 hour, and 6 hour times, but so far it has been fine. It’s a good concept, and it is nice that it draws zero power after it shuts off (not that that is very applicable to curling irons and straighteners).

I was a little surprised at how bulky it is, but it doesn’t block the outlet below it, so that is nice. The green light is also so dim that I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was on or off at a glance.

Overall this is a good product. It’d be nice if it was trimmer, more adjustable, and the green light actually lighted, but for the price it’s a great way to keep your house from burning down. Let me know if you have any questions. Hope this was helpful!

March 5, 2014 Outlet, , , , 0 Read more >

Simple and Effective Power Switch, Great for Christmas

Nice little gadget to check how much all of your other gadgets is costing you on electric bill – your computer, laptops, toaster, microwave, desk lamps, desk fans, window acs, tv, clock radios, WiFi router, iPhone chargers… Good quality and is easier to use than energy watts monitor.

The battery needs a 3 hour recharge and this outlet can be set for different lengths of time. This prevents overcharging. This outlet works as promised.

It’s awesome. I use it in the kitchen for my lights and appliances and in my bedroom where the socket is handier to reach than my reading lamp.

I have often worried about my poor habits with regards to battery conditioning. For example, I nearly always have my laptop plugged in when it’s at the house, regardless of whether it’s running or not, and I generally leave my cell phone plugged in all night long–even though both of these things really only need a couple hours to charge, and then “best practices” say to remove the power source.

That’s where the Converse Socket comes in. No, it doesn’t do some fancy detection of the power draw from the plugged-in device(s) like some of the more expensive devices, but rather it has a simple timer switch that will turn off the power after the configured time. The design is easy to understand: on one side is a switch that you set for 1/2 hour, 3 hours or 6 hours; and on top is a button that you press as you are plugging in whatever device needs the charge; while the countdown is running, the little green light remains lit, and when the timer has expired the light goes off along with the power.

The simplicity of the design makes it mindlessly easy to use–it’s not like programming one of those awful plug-timers with the dial of 48 tiny buttons that divide the day into 30-minute segments of “on” or “off”… just plug in and push the button, then forget about it.

My only wish is that the Conserve Socket were a little cheaper, or they would sell it in packs of 3 or something to bring the price down–then I’d buy more for all around the house. Currently, I only have one that I sometimes move between different plugs and devices, but I’d love to get some more so that each device or wall socket could have its own dedicated power-conserving socket.

The power switch creates a gentle green glow when the device is powered on. As illustrated, two of these fit well into a standard wall outlet. The frustration free packaging made it easy to open and protected the product well in shipping. Overall not a bad purchase at a reasonable price point.

March 4, 2014 Outlet, , , , , 0 Read more >