Remote-Outlet

Author Archive: outlet

So Simple, It’s Fantastic!!

Plug your item in and the Socket will automatically cut power after the setting time expires. When ready to restart the time again, just press the switch on top of unit and power is reactivated for the duration of the time set. Only feature I would incorporate is to have a switch to turn off the power to override the preset time. As it is now, you must unplug the  Socket from the power source to turn it off manually. Not a big deal, but would be convenient if you could just hold down the top switch for more than 6 seconds to have unit turn off.

Works as described. I do wish the green light would stay on even when the switch was off, so you could see it in the dark, but that’s not what the product was described as.

I was a little skeptical about this b/c of the mixed reviews. Like the other switch this also has a Led on the switch which is brighter but my Kill-A-Watt meter does not register it as it draws very little power. So why did i give it 4 out of 5 stars, well b/c of the design. It is too big in that it covers the socket above so you have to mount it at the top socket. Second the time interval is not adjustable and there are only 3 preset times. The 1/2 is great but it would have been nice to have an hour as well. I will see how long this lasts and report back with updates in the future as people have reported failures with this product. If it lasts I will change my rating of 4 to 5 stars as the preset times alone is not a reason to take a star away.

I bought 2 for my kitchen appliances and one for my light in my garage. It’s just a switch with LED that illuminates when it’s ON. Yah, so simple… but so effective! In the past my wife and I would literally yank the power cords out of the wallsockets for our portable water boiler and toasters before leaving the house. You know, applicances these days are cheaply made using cheap parts. Who knows if it will start a fire while you’re out and about. Burn down a whole house due to a faulty $0.25 switch? no way!! With this simple switch, it works as added insurance with convenience! No need to pull power cords out of the wall sockets. Just turn it off when you leave the house. done. very clean and easy and my boiler and toasters are completely turned off. :)

I use this in my garage for my wall heater. Timer works fine. Timer can be set 1/2 hr, 3 hrs, and 5 hrs. It does the job and at $10 bucks, why not buy it.

I used it for switching my microwave off so the clock and the humming it made would stop. Mission accomplished. It is easy to switch it back on when I use it. Now I have to find other ways to stop other energy vampires.

March 14, 2014 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

Simple Solution to a Simple Problem

In order to prevent them from draining electrical power unnecessarily they need to be unplugged when not in use. This is where the this power switch comes in.

I purchased this to use with my USB wall charger that stays connected to the wall outlet 24/7 even though it’s never charging any device for more than a few hours a day. This  product makes it much more convenient by just flipping the switch instead of having to constantly plug/unplug the charger from the wall to prevent it from continually draining electricity. When I’m ready to use my charger I just flip the switch and when my charger is done charging my phone or whatever device I flip the switch to turn it off…no more wasting electricity while plugged into the wall while not being used.

Great for conserving energy!! Want to buy more for around the house! I also have the timer plug which is great for refreshing batteries and electronics.

I use these wherever I have chargers. Chargers for shavers, toothbrushes, waterpiks, battery chargers, drill chargers. Particularly since overcharging batteries can damage them, it saves energy and increases lifespan of batteries. They could be used with humidifiers or air purifiers. Basically anything that can handle shutting off unexpectedly. Set the duration, tap the button. Need it to go a little longer, tap the button again.

It wears out the cell phone batteries if you leave them charging too long. With this little device we plug-in our cell phones before bed and it automatically shuts off in 3 hours, so we wake up to fully charged cell phones and we are saving electricity and the cell phone battery itself by not leaving it plugged in all night. I especially want my kids to go our the door in the morning with fully charged cell phones, so we can keep in contact during the day. No more excuses that my phone wasn’t charged. Shipping etc by Amazon was quick and reliable….

This device calms a lot of otherwise frayed nerves.( I’ve found she unplugs the iron anyway, but the safe feeling is still there.)

I used to unplug electronics (fans, laptop, taoster, etc) when not using them so I didn’t expect to get too much utility out of this switch (I purchased it accidentally when purchasing something else and Amazon told me to keep it and refunded me rather than send it back) but the switch is a little nicer than having cords laying on the ground near outlets. So I guess if you want to cut off power to your devices and gadgets but really don’t want to plug/unplug them, this is a useful, cheap solution. The switch on the side even glows green when it’s on for a visual cue as well. Good product.

March 13, 2014 Outlet, , 0 Read more >

Simple, Good for Rechargeable Devices

It worked exactly as it was designed to do, that is only be active for the designated time. I have it set at 3 hours, which is more than enough time. 1/2 hour and 6 hours are the other choices. It does not block the other electrical socket from being used.

I am using this with an AC power 92mm fan. I have a subwoofer that gets EXTREMELY hot when in use and standby… Actually it’s known to fry eventually because there is no airflow going into the sub… thanks to the company saving $2 worth of parts you end up with a $400 sub that dies years later.. I’ve gone through 4 of them so far, luckily it’s been replaced..etc. That being said I installed a 92mm AC fan inside the subwoofer so that it exhausts the hot air OUT so it doesn’t act like an oven and keep cooking everything… I have the little fan plugged into this and then I just simply switch it on when I turn my speakers on.. it’s great. I was planning on tieing the AC fan into the psu on the subwoofer but I didn’t want to start soldering and doing all sorts of things in such a tight cramped space… This works perfectly! I do however wish it would make this just a TAD smaller.. in my opinion it’s a little wide… if it was just slightly smaller I would really like it more and it would get 5 stars. Does what it says!

And in case you don’t know, it is not good for these rechargeable batteries to frequently overcharge. It shortens their lifespan over time. So this outlet does a bit to prevent that for me. You can set it to stay on for 30 mins, 3 hours, or 6 hours. After setting it, plug in your device. Press the grey button (seen at the top in the picture) to turn the outlet on. It will then stay on for whatever length of time you set it at.

The only minor issue I see with this is remembering to press the button to turn it on when you want to use it. I generally leave mine set at 3 hours since that is enough time to recharge my phone. I just have to press the button each night when I plug the phone in.

If you have a use for this (it is certainly a niche product), such as preventing overcharging of rechargeable batteries, it’s a great little device.

I have just a couple of comments about it, which are the reason of avoiding filling the fifth star. There is no a timer reset button, you have to unplug it and plug it again in order to do the reset, and also it should have an additional 9-hours option. I am quite happy with it, it remembers and awares me about reducing electrical power consumption…. :)

March 12, 2014 Outlet, , 0 Read more >

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 >