Comments on: Review: Smart Strip Saves $1.60 to $5.70 of Electricity per Month

By: British Gas Energy Smart

British Gas Energy Smart — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:25:39 +0000

Seems a very good appliance for laptop users that need that extra bit of energy to finish off their work. Never thought that something like could exist, more because it has “smart” functions. Thumbs up for any kinda of device that turns your product into energy efficient. Nice one, will definitly buy one. Cheers for the info. Will recommend it.

By: Tom Harrison

Tom Harrison — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:51:12 +0000

Yep, I tried adjusting the sensitivity (actually tried it with both a Dell laptop and a Mac mini, haven’t tried with my new macbook) — none drew enough power to trigger the turn off. But no worries — my monitor has its own (non-operating system) power-save mode; I just set that for a short time and when the monitor goes into power-save, all the other peripherals are switched off.

By: pressingonalways

pressingonalways — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:02:17 +0000

Did you try adjusting the “adjustment” screw? That changes the sensitivity… I have a macbook pro and a macbook and have no problems with smart strip turning off my devices when it is in standby.

By: Gary Ingalls

Gary Ingalls — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:08:21 +0000

If we would all go back to “horse and buggy” and newspapers, and candles etc., we all would save money and live with a lot less stress in our lives! All Aboard!

By: Tom Harrison

Tom Harrison — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:20:28 +0000

Laurel –

There are three kinds of plugs on a Smart Strip: master, switched, and always-on on the Smart Strip. For a TV/Cable Box (sound system, etc.) setup you would typically plug the TV in to the master; when it is turned off, the other peripherals in the switched plugs are turned off, too.

In the case of a DVR, you would most likely want it to be on all the time, since shows may record at various times when the TV is otherwise off.

The master port works by determining that the thing plugged in has stopped or started using electricity; the change between and off needs to be significant. But even when a DVR isn’t recording, it still uses about the same amount of power, so the Smart Strip wouldn’t be able to tell.

What we need is a Really Smart Strip, I guess :-)

To answer your question, I can’t speak for all DVRs, but I suspect most are like TiVo (which I have) and synchronize their clocks to some master time at the cable company. So if you did turn off the DVR, it would probably come back up just fine.

One thought I had for this was to instead use a simple night-day time-of-day timer for the DVR (simple ones are available to make your house look lived-in by turnings lights on and off while you’re away). I don’t think there are any shows we record that are after midnight or before 7am, so little or nothing would be missed.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:53:38 +0000

Will the smart strip work for A DVR if it’s plugged into the master port or do you lose viability if the item plugged in has a digital clock?

By: Vampire Transformer Power Supplies | Five Percent: Conserve a Little Energy

Vampire Transformer Power Supplies | Five Percent: Conserve a Little Energy — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:01:59 +0000

[...] want it. Of course the power strips often have a light in their switch! (Update 2009 — get a smart power strip, which turns off power to vampires when they are not in [...]

By: Save Electricity — Our 45% Reduction Saves $1,250/year (Updated) | Five Percent: Conserve a Little Energy

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:48:02 +0000

[...] more by replacing a computer file server with an Apple Time Machine. And I just ordered another 2 Smart-Strip power strips for my wife’s computer, and for our TV/Stereo system. Yes, some of these things cost money, [...]

By: Tom Harrison

Tom Harrison — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:59:43 +0000

Lisa –

The smart strip worked just fine for me when I used my laptop as you have described (no external monitor or keyboard) — when it turned off, the smart strip responded by turning off other peripherals.

It was when I tried to get it to work with an external monitor and keyboard that I ran into problems (solved as a described above). This was the scenario of others who reported problems in online reviews.

So I think the Smart Strip should work fine for you.

Tom

By: Lisa Seal

Lisa Seal — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:34:40 +0000

I was just about to order some Smart Strips when I saw your post on terrapass. I have 2 laptops, no extra monitors or keyboards being used as desktop replacements. Will the Smart Strips not work for the printers and other peripherals when I turn the laptops off?