Remote-Outlet

Tag Archive: wireless remote

Works as Intended, Christmas Lights

I bought this to attach to a Christmas tree in my house, and for Christmas lights that i have lining my gazebo (which i use all year). All the outlet controllers work fine. I am able to turn the gazebos lights on/off from inside the middle of my home. That means the signal goes through two walls and about 20 feet outside to the gazebo. The outlet that is outside is wrapped and tied in a plastic bag as well to protect it from moisture which further shows the range and power of the remote. It does not require line of sight like a tv remote. I can’t speak about the longevity of the product because they are new but i will update if they die. As for their form factor, They take up an entire outlet which many complain about, covering the second outlet besides the one they are plugged into. I would recommend simply using an extension cord. My mother has bought two sets of similar products from a local retailer. Hers were cheaper and didn’t cover the second outlet, but both remotes died within the year she got them and she had to buy a new system, leaving her with extra outlet controllers. This is a different brand so i am hoping to not suffer from a broken remote like her. They are labeled to easily know which one is which. In the end, the only negative is their size or else it would be a 5 star.

These are the perfect solution. I have owned two sets for over a year. The switch’s battery lasted 9 months with pretty heavy use; the other is still going strong. The farthest socket is about 25 feet from the switch, and we never have a problem with reception.

I recently bought a third switch set for another room, but somehow the frequency bled into one of the original two sets (the frequencies were labelled exactly 1000 “units” apart). The seller was very good about responding to my problem, assured me that this is rare, and I returned the product for a full refund before buying a replacement. This speaks to two points: the seller is great at customer service, and the range of the switch is very good, even through one or two walls. The new switch only interfered with the nearest two lights, so with two walls in-between, I would guess the max range is about 45 feet — YMMV.

I use this remote to control the lights in our bedroom, so far I have used two out of three and both remotes works well. I also want to credit the manufacturer for including a battery in the remote controller and saying so in it’s description of the product. I had a remote, different brand, the same packaging, three socket oulets and one remote. Two out of the three remote socket oulets failed in just over a year. So I am keeping my fingers crossed how long this brand would last.

December 18, 2013 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

Nice Remote Switch, Very Helpful

Now instead of having to wander round the room turning lights on I just flick the room switch and every lamp comes on together. No setup hassles, just press a switch on this device then hold the light switch for 10 seconds and the two are linked together. No addressing, no reliability issues, it just works. So much better than X10.

I live in a ~2500 square foot loft with ceiling outlets, so it’s needless to say that i was relieved to find a product like this one.

So far, the range of the wireless remote is quite impressive– 30 feet away through a wall (these are rf as opposed to infa red, so line-of-sight isn’t required) is no problem.

I was initially put off by the reviews mentioning having to walk right up to the outlets, but being stubborn took a gamble on them. Not sure what the case is in these other reviewers– the outlets work great, even from far distances/through walls. perhaps they were running into radio interference of some sort?

I recommend keeping the remote in the same place all the time – you’ll never want to turn anything on/off the regular way again! I plugged my christmas houses into an extension cord and then plugged the extension cord into on of the outlets so that all house work on one switch. It is awesome!

I didn’t have any issues with the battery compartment on the remote, as some of the other reviewers did, and I’m not trying to control anything through the wall so range hasn’t been an issue. My biggest complaint is that the outlet boxes are obscenely large, and the plug is oriented such that if you’re plugging this directly into a wall socket, it will block both outlets. Also note that they require 3-prong outlets, so if you’re thinking about using a multitap extension cord, it will have to be 3-pronged as well. This may work best plugged into something like a PowerSquid.

The only draw back for this particular style is that the units are very large. They have been used daily for many months now and have worked beautifully. Some reviews mentioned the difficulty in putting in the batteries and I would have to agree.

The two cons are the following: (1) The remote has only a single button for each outlet versus a separate on and off (this makes a difference if you cannot see the light and just want to be sure it is off). (2) The socket outlet is huge and you can barely plug another item in the empty outlet.

if you want this get it it is the best outlet controler i have ever had.i love it. i dont just use it for turning stuff on and off i also use it for pranling people:p i also like how this has this has a switch on the device its self so you dont have to use the remote an inch away. so i think you should get it i love it and i hope you love it.

December 17, 2013 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

Best Beal Ever

Unit said used refurbished. But when I got it there was not a scratch or Ding it was perfect. It was shipped super fast it works perfect I love it I might even buy another one. When I say one I mean the total product. It came with three outlets switches and one remote it’s a beautiful product I just can’t tell you buy it if you can.

I use these devices to “unplug” my home theater projector when it is not in use. I can go one to two weeks without watching my home theater projector, and because the retro-fit installed electrical outlet is on the ceiling, I wanted a method to completely disconnect the projector from the house current for surge protection. While I have a surge protector between this outlet and the projector, there is no better surge protection than unplugging the electronic device entirely- which this does! When there are lightening storms and I am at work or away on a weekend, I don’t have to worry if my projector is safe from a lightening strike with this. Do not hesitate to buy it.

Hurricane Sandy blew threw with some power surges, but my equipment (home theater projector, amplifier) was safe- safer than anything plugged into an outlet- thanks to these devices. I have read other reviews that their devices failed; my are working great. They are large and consume a single gang outlet giving you only one working outlet, but you can use a short multi-outlet extention cord if need be. The large size of this device is apparently the price paid for the confidence of not risking your equipment.

The remote is nice and compact, but the actual switches themselves are very bulky and can take up a lot of space. They sometimes end up covering up an extra outlets because of how bulky they are, and on power strips they can even take up three outlets all together.

Now they don’t have to stumble in the dark to walk across the living room to turn on a lamp, they just reach for the remote thats place near the entrance when they first walk in. These were a pleasant surprise item from Eforcity. I wouldn’t plug in large appliances(A/C) with this as they are meant for lamps and such. Another good use was xmas lights inside the apt.

It works exactly the way I need it to, and there hasn’t been any part of it that has made me regret buying it. I’ve had it for over a year now, and I haven’t even had to change the battery in the remote yet, and I use this thing every day over and over again. Now if you are trying to get something professional, than this probably isn’t the way to go. I use it in my bedroom. Only for the reason that the remote is made of cheap plastic, but the plastic is sturdy, and while your using it, you don’t notice anything about it feeling cheap. Overall, this is a great product, I would buy it 100 times, and it just makes life easier.

ch of the units for the lamps in her room allowing her to push a button on the remote to turn lights on and off. The product works great, just plug it in and go. She has been using it for a few months now and it is still working great. My mother-in-law thinks it’s great.

December 14, 2013 Outlet, , , , 0 Read more >

Awesome DSI Outlet Wireless Remote!

FYI, if they are unpowered the default is for them to shut off when you restore power to the plug, so you have to use the remote to get the lights, etc, working. I use them to individually control lights that otherwise would all go on at the same time, but I shut the power to the outlets off when not in use.

I am very happy with my purchase. Wife was not convinced but she now appreciates not have to manoeuvre behind the furniture to turn on /off the light. I told her we needed this gadget – I was right ! (for a change!)

Then I decided to buy this one. I’m glad I did. This one is built more sturdy and so easy to use. I can be quite a distance away from the light source and it goes on right away when I click my remote control. I am very,very pleased with this set. I’m going to order the 5 pack right after I’m done with this review.

Now, we can turn both on and off with the simple click of a button on a remote. The third outlet is used for our TV set up, because it saves energy to cut all of those electronics off while not in use. The buttons turn on the outlets with no delay; we even tricked a few friends and family by making it seem like it was voice controlled with the remote in our pockets.

They nearly block out the other plug in the outlet. Kind of inconvenient. But, they function nicely. I have 3 different lamps plugged into these units, and I can use the single remote to turn them off or on. Kind of neat! The remote is nice and small, but those wall units are ridiculously huge. I’ve had a remote-switch set before that wasn’t nearly as cumbersome as these are. But, it does work just fine.

I was in need of a light switch, since my apartment is not equipped with ceiling lights, much less wall-mounted light switches. I needed to be able to turn on lights without having to cross a darkened room tripping over furniture. The DSI Outlet’s remote activated outlets came in super handy. Especially since I can plug a power strip into the outlet and be able to switch off several things at once. Also it gives me the ability to be able to remotely activate lights in other rooms as I move from one to the other; very useful when shutting things down for the evening.

So I bought it. After it arrived, I admired it’s appearance, it looked sturdy and carried through the U safety grounding principle. So I put it to work. It did not false trigger, but reliably turned remote items on and off just as I had desired. I then congratulated myself on just having one of the best purchases of my life. house and just loves it. Now if she could only control me….

December 12, 2013 Outlet, , , , , 0 Read more >

Good Remote Control, But Limited to Three Channels

The newer designs do NOT block the second outlet, while the older ones do. I bought the 3-pack for the newer version.

I’ve been using them in my 810 sq ft. 1-bedroom apartment for a few months now, and I love them! I have three lamps, the switches of which are difficult to reach on a regular basis, and the remote control makes it extraordinarily easy to turn them on and off at will. It was also very easy to program the buttons to each switch (I labeled the buttons on the remote with Sharpie to help me remember which switch was controlled by which button, but the control is labeled with numbers by default), and it was also a matter of seconds to program the 4th button to turn all the lights on or off simultaneously. I’m certain if I bought a 4th switch, it would be easy to program it to the same remote.

My only con is that there’s no built-in loop or attachment to enable hanging the remote from the wall or something. I could envision the little control getting lost easily in a house. I worked past this by putting a rubber band with an attached jump ring around the circumference of the remote and hanging it from a thumbtack, but it’s worth noting.

I have two washers, each plugged into a one hour timer outlet, then plugged into this remote outlet. In this way I can “click” to turn on the plug that feeds the timer and the guests have one our to complete the load. They are hidden behind the washers, and I do have to hold the remote close to the wall to activate them, as the signal doesn’t seem to penetrate through all the metal of the washers. Might do well in an open living space, though. But I am happy with them.

However, I had a similar system when I lived in Germany, which had two important features that I have not been able to find in the U.S.: First, the German system came as a set of four receivers and a transmitter with four corresponding buttons (similar to this one with three receivers and three buttons), but it was possible to buy additional receivers and transmitters and to assign different channels to them. This way, it was possible – for example – to have separate remote control systems (using different channel ranges) for the lights in the bedroom and in the living room, or to control up to 32 individual receivers with a single remote control (using the four buttons and the channel selector). Second, the German system offered the possibility to add receivers with built-in dimmer functionality. If I find a system with this combination of features in the U.S., I will probably replace the Eforcity system, but aside from its limited functionality I am very happy with the latter.

December 5, 2013 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >

They Are Exactly What We Expected

The newer models allow you to program each socket to respond to any of the buttons on the two remotes provided. The instructions that came with the device are very poorly written. Poor English in some cases and incomplete instructions. There is no explanation of how to ‘un-program’ a button, and I was finding it impossible to get the two remotes to replicate one another. In some applications you want to program the remotes to control different devices, but in what I believe is the more common application you want the remotes to functional identically. If I program button number 1 on remote A, I want button number 1 on remote B to control the same socket. I would setup one remote, and then when I went to duplicate the process for the second remote some of the buttons stopped working on the first remote and vice-versa.

I reached out to customer support via email and got a quick response. The customer service rep (Tyler) was very helpful and informed me that each socket can only remember up to 3 buttons. So as soon as I tried programming a 4th button to a socket that had already been associated with 3 other buttons, it removed the association for one of the 3 previous buttons. Each button sends out a specific frequency. 5 different frequencies for buttons 1-5 on remote A, and another 5 frequencies for each of the buttons on remote B.

I explained that this is the setup I wanted, and that I wanted all buttons on both remotes A and B to behave identically. They are all hooked up to various lamps in my kids’ bedroom.

Button 1 – Device 1

Button 2 – Device 2

Button 3 – Device 3

Button 4 – Devices 1,2,3 (all at once)

Button 5 – Device 4

I wanted to place one remote in the dark and scary hallway for my kids to press on the way to their bedroom, and the the other remote right next to their bed so they can turn off the lights from the safety of their bed. They would especially like button #4 which turns all 3 light on all at once.

The rep informed me that this was not possible because the two remotes used different frequencies, and you couldn’t have socket associated with more then 3 frequencies (buttons). This is when I got pleasantly surprised. The rep offered to send me a remote that matched the frequencies of one of the remotes I already had. He explained that one remote had a number on the back, the other remote had no number. He would be sending me a duplicate remote in essence for the one without a number on the back – at no extra charge! He sent it USPS First Class. I reprogrammed the matching remote, and the one he sent me duplicated the programmed remote without any additional programming.

I was disappointed it uses strange batteries (12v A23) instead of the standard ones that the original non-learning remotes use, but I read they are smaller and provide more power for this type of application. I just ordered a five-pack of them on Amazon for under $7 and stuck them in my spare batteries drawer.

My kids are super happy campers and I am a happy parent, and now loyal customer of it. All companies should treat their customers this way.

December 1, 2013 Outlet, , , 0 Read more >