Remote-Outlet

Tag Archive: Convenience

Every House Needs at Least 1!

I COULD use 1 instead of having 3 stationed around the house but the convenience of being able to leave on the appropriate setting and have it where I need it is awesome. I never have to worry about having left something on or the phone charger just draining energy. My dad uses one for his phone (3 hours while sleeping) and boyfriend for his humidifier (6 hours while sleeping). Great little product and I have been unable to find in any stores!

These use so much vampire power. Cell phone chargers use power all the time even if the phone isn’t attached. Plug it in, select the time, hit the button. Simple!

It beats unplugging and re-plugging things if you’re concerned about saving a little on your electric bill. Just flick the switch when you need it and flick it off when you don’t.

I use it with an office electric heater to make sure it turns off after several hours as I have to often forgot to turn it off at night just to have the heat run unnecessarily. It is very compact and just requires a push of a button to turn my heater on and then turn it off in the set time.

It works perfect because half an hour later, their reading lamps go off automatically and I don’t have to worry that the lights are on all night.

I notice that someone else wished that the light on the switch would be on when this was switched off. I beg to differ: the way it is, I can easily see when I’ve inadvertently left something turned on.

Instead of always keeping the device plugged in or unplugging it every time, just flip the switch. It will help save electricity and prevent the connectors on the devices from wearing out by unplugging and plugging.

The only thing I wish was that it would offer a 9 hour option, it only gives us half hour, 3 hours, and 6 hours… just would be super if I could get it with 9 hour option too! But overall, I love the device, I have several of them now.

The settings are super easy to use and simple. It would be nice to have more time options but I don’t mind. My only complaint is That if you want to turn the device off before the time expires, you must unplug the entire unit and plug it back in.

Another great use I have found is a auto shutoff for those new electric wax warmers. Save the sent of the wax and power! :)

This saves you from having to reach behind that dresser over and over by just hitting the side of the outlet. We use it for our bedroom tv as we rarely use this time, the outlet is easy to reach but if the cord was pulled each time we would be reaching and searching for the cord. Also makes thing like laptop chargers easier to deal with. Well worth it.

March 26, 2014 Outlet, , , , , 0 Read more >

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 >

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 >

It Did What I Needed It To Do

I didn’t realise it would come with an earth pin attached (yes, stupidly I did not deduce this from the fact that there are three holes in the front). Not the end of the world, though – the hollow earth pin was made of copper so I just cut it off with a hack saw in a couple of minutes. It’s a nice-looking little doover-lacky, and the action of the switch although not exactly crisp is sufficiently robust. No regrets. I’d buy another if I ever needed it.

When the switch is on, you get a dim light reminding you that the switch is on. Turn the switch off and it shuts down the outlet completely. Turning the switch off is essentially the same as pulling the plug out of the socket. You have to decide if the convenience of a switch (vs pulling the plug) is worth the cost of this gadget. Personally, I think the price is kind of high for the limited functionality. Also, the device is kind of big, so it may block 2 outlets (depending on the layout of your socket).

It measures power with 3 significant figures. I tested my laptops, desktops, and other stuff. It shows that desktop computer consume much more energy than laptops. This one give me a reasonable precision power of my stuff. It is good for home use.

Once activated by the start button on top of the timer the, power runs to whatever is plugged in until the set time elapses. Perfect for single uses like a battery charger or portable heater. But, and I’m deducting one star for this, you cannot renew (extend) the timed cycle midway through by pushing the button again. You must wait for the cycle to time out or unplug the timer and restart it. Otherwise, great device for safety and conservation. Doesn’t block the lower plug-in on wall outlets. Made in China, of course.

Plug something into it and it will display how many watts are being sucked out of the wall. Push a button and it will display the dollar cost.

I always wondered how much energy the space heater used. How much energy does the computer use when it is in energy save mode, does the phone charger suck energy when the phone is not plugged in?

I work out of the home and run several computers all of the time. I also have a room full of aquariums. After finding the biggest electricity hogs and changing to using them only when needed I have cut my electric bill down significantly. This unit has fulfilled it’s purpose.

I use it when charging our cell phones so that the battery won’t get ruined by being charged excessively. It elimintes the phantom energy consumption, but I like the idea of having my cell phone battery last longer as well. It is also really handy for a device that didn’t have a switch. Now it does. It would be useful for any heat produciing fire hazard like a curling iron or coffee maker that doesn’t turn itself off.

This thing is well built, can be set for 30 minutes, 3 hours or 6 hours, and can handle any device drawing up to 1800W.

February 12, 2014 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

Knowledge is Power… and Money Saved!

This is why I chose to review the Conserve Insight F7C005q Energy-Use Monitor via the Amazon Vine program. I haven’t used any other type of energy monitor in the past, so I don’t have anything to compare this to in my experience. But what I’m getting from this device is pretty cool… I like it a lot!

In terms of mechanics, it’s extremely easy to use. You plug the three-prong monitor plug into whatever outlet you’ll be using for the device you want to measure. Then you plug the device into the monitor outlet. There’s a display unit attached to the plug via a cord, so you can place it in a position that’s viewable regardless of where the plug might be (like behind a cabinet). That’s it… you’re now able to see what’s going on in terms of energy use.

The display shows CO2 output (per month/year), cost to run device (month/year), and wattage. Once you’ve had the monitor plugged in for awhile, it starts averaging the cost, so if you have something that is turned on and off during regular use (like a TV), you can get a good feel for what your actual energy cost will be to run it based on actual use. The CO2 output doesn’t mean much to me, as I’m not interested in that particular measurement. Wattage is interesting, as it confirms what the device is supposedly using according to the specs. For me, the most important aspect was cost, and it was here that I found the most benefit.

I tried this out on the aforementioned radiator heater to see exactly what this was setting me back to stay warm in my home office. The wattage reported by the display conformed pretty closely to the specs listed by the manufacturer. But the cost aspect was a real eye-opener. If I left the unit on 24/7 at the high power setting, the heater would set me back $144 a month. Wow! Popping it down to the low power setting took it to $40 a month. So now I know that using the heater to take the chill out of the basement is good, but leaving it on past that can get a bit expensive. Knowledge is power… and money saved!

Now that I’ve used my Conserve Insight F7C005q Energy-Use Monitor, I can see myself making a concerted effort to check out stuff that I leave plugged in and turned on for the sake of convenience. Knowing that I can get a real dollar total linked to everything I have plugged in, I think I’ll be much more aware of what I’m using. I might even start turning green! :)

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

Great Device, Far Superior to the Kill-a-watt

This device tells you that a 60 watt light uses 60 watts of energy, or a 20 watt device uses 20 watts of energy, or a 100 watt device uses 100 watts (who would have guessed?)… and then tells you how much it would cost if you had it on 24/7. Does not calculate how much cumulative energy items that turn on and off use, which is what you probably actually want to learn. This device does all basic math you could do anyway if you tried with a calculator. I did figure out my cable TV box uses 19 watts of energy. My microwave uses almost 1.5 watts for the clock. Other than that not much use.

Simply put it at the origin point of your plug and it will keep your device from draining power when you aren’t using it.

I thought this would be a perfect item for the house, in my neck of the woods electricity is expensive so such a device would pay for itself quickly, and it would…in theory.

Not that it doesn’t do what it’s designed to do, you plug it in and simply use that switch to power down and up the device that is plugged in, piece of cake right? Not exactly.

You see the only problem is one could accomplish the same thing by unplugging the device each time. People don’t do this because it’s too much of a bother to get up and unplug the device, hence the Belkin conserve power switch.

But it only takes a few days to discover that people who aren’t willing to get up and unplug a device, aren’t willing to get up to turn it off via the Belkin. and when they DO remember they forget they’ve done so and end up upset when they have to get up and turn the switch back on to use their gaming systems.

So there is very little difference overall. It’s a great idea in theory but frankly a person that concerned wouldn’t have to buy it. Now if you can get a wireless control for the switch.

I set in my cost of electricity from my power bill, plugged in my freezer and found out how much a month it costs to run. I love a product that does exactly what you want it to do. I bought this one because of the 5 ft cord. The plug in is behind the freezer making a none cord thingy unusable.

Easy to set up and great real time calculation of energy use. Has helped me put a few energy hogs in my home on timers or other ways of saving them from running up my power bill.

January 24, 2014 Outlet, , , , 0 Read more >