Wait- so if it’s not a refrigerator, and not an electrical noise filter, and definitely not a power-saving device, what is it? Is it a scam? Or is or an e-waste? Or is it a duck?
I've never really trusted most of these type of units, especially when you have expensive equipment in use. I always unplug from the wall when not in use. Great informative video as always, thank you.
You already know this, but if they don't list the UL 1449 VPR for this SPD, I wouldn't trust it to do anything with surges, no matter the joule rating. At least it actually has MOVs...
Great review, thanks for presenting a real life example. So many products out there in the market trick buyers into buying products that don't really benefit them. Keep up the great work. Love the reviews
Funny to see these types of surge protectors again. I used to have one made by Woods which had an adjustment knob for the main outlet. I absolutely love it but they stopped making it and at the time no one else made anything like it. With the newer more powerful PC's and electronics I had I opted to retire it. It wasn't about being green, it was just convenient . I hope other companies will make a better version.
For those of you who have a dollar tree nearby, you might be able to find power strips like this by another brand for $1.25. I've bought a lot. In my case they were $1 because I bought before dollar tree raises their prices. I was always interested in these stripes back when they were $30 but couldn't justify the price. But $1 for a name brand was a no brainer for me. It also has a toggle for sensitivy.
Your setup 1 assumes everyone owns components that have low stdby power consumption/ even offer it at all. My speaker setup at home, as an example, is very old. They're exceptional speakers that don't need upgrading, and neither do the 5.1 receiver, amp, and sub. The sub does not offer a standby mode, and instead is on all the time. For me, having something like this is a godsend.
Thanks! Yeah, that's kind of what I was looking for. There is a reason this exists, it isn't really saving energy, it's convenience. The video does assume newer equipment compliant with DOE regulations. I did for a while have a pro sound amplifier for a subwoofer amplifier and yeah, I had to turn it on and off every time, so I just didn't use it. This switch power strip would help with that for sure!
Glad you did a surge protector finally haha. Can you do a simple breakdown for power banks? I’m trying to see if I want a 20k-25k mah bank or just get a new 10-15k mah if I don’t care to use it for my steam deck, phone, or GoPro.
Would love to see this compared to other larger companies making "energy saving" strips like TrickleStar and Cyberpower. Would also love to see the internals and intricacies of some really high EMI/noise blocking devices. Maybe some pure sine wave converters as well
Pretty niche, especially these days when almost any device idles at extremely low power consumption. Possible applications: - For some reason, you have a room laid out with a floor lamp with a built-in switch or something that you'd like to use as the main switch for the rest of the room lights. Maybe you're renting and there are no switched outlets in the correct location? - You're pairing some sort of vintage sound system like an old receiver to a TV, so you can switch the receiver on automatically when you power up the TV. Modern devices don't waste so much power at idle and usually support stuff like CEC anyway, but vintage gear won't on either count - You have some floor fans to cool off a room. You can use the switch on the fan itself for the convenient one near the doorway to turn on two or three fans simultaneously - You have some kind of an off-grid home and have a full set of internet equipment, but only one computer (and in this hypothetical scenario you don't have phones and never use wifi for some reason). You could turn on your switch/router/modem whenever the computer is on, saving a decent chunk of power. It would be a lot nicer with a little 3-position rotary dial or something so you could set the trigger wattage to something like 5, 20, 100W or something like that to better match the master device.
Nice options for uses for this! Yeah, they sell one with a selector but the wattage values are all still too high. The sensitivity is an issue with the current shunt size. To sense 5W with a current shunt made for 15 amps with any kind of reproducibility on the production line... Hence the 15-18 watt range. Yeah, there's other ways to sense that power is moving. I'd misuse an RCD circuit.
I heard of this product called brickwall power filter/ surge protectector over thirty years ago. No sacrificial MOV's used? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this.
And the capacitor in capacitive droppers degrade with time until it loses too much capacity(as it self-heals) and it can't latch the relay(the heaviest load in the circuit).
It's a lazy solution for people that don't want to reach down for the swtich on the power strip, in an household environment. I guess it could work if it's tucked away somewhere in a shed where the switch it's hard to reach. Still it was interesting to see it's inner workings and understand more about these products presented as black boxes to the consumers.
Do the Z-wave, WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. Microcontroller/relay power strips actually save power? It's getting around the holidays/first frost where I'm at and I wondered if I could run a switched space heater, christmas lights, and some stuff off of one smart strip. Not all at once of coarse, 15a-20a 120v N.A. Breakers/wiring would trip if you put a tea kettle on the same breaker as a space heater, but My sister wanted an automatic "reading cycle" to warm her chair and brew her tea before she wakes up to Christmas lights in her 3.5 season sunroom. 😅It kinda needs the space heater to help fight the room up to a sunrise/sunlight maintained room temperature when it's -20°f/-28.9°c outside on a cold winters night.
Yeah, I looked at two a long time ago, the basic one used a basic capacitor dropper and a zener power supply, those mostly break after a couple years, I also tested a smart wifi outlet and that used a switching buck power supply and has been reliable for me, and a bit more efficient. I need to look at a lot more of them. That is one heck of a use case!
Ugh. I have an 8 year old one (Mi? Can't read the weird font they're using on the front) and almost certain I've been spending more money than saving after watching this. I have an Apple TV 4K, an 8 year old LCD TV and a sound bar plugged into it. Time to get a new power strip :(
Depends on the equipment still. If the sound bar doesn't have a low idle/standby state, it could very easily use several watts in the on state. So, you could be one of the savers. But yeah, there is no reason other than cheapness that this power strip idles at 0.7w instead of a more reasonable 0.1w.
I was going to buy this to keep my drinks cold but after your teardown I realized this is not a refrigerator.
It is also not a can opener. So weird right?
Wait- so if it’s not a refrigerator, and not an electrical noise filter, and definitely not a power-saving device, what is it? Is it a scam? Or is or an e-waste? Or is it a duck?
That's what I said but Technology Connections helped set me straight
I've never really trusted most of these type of units, especially when you have expensive equipment in use. I always unplug from the wall when not in use. Great informative video as always, thank you.
Can you make a video testing those very small size car chargers that go fully(or almost fully) inside to the 12v port
You already know this, but if they don't list the UL 1449 VPR for this SPD, I wouldn't trust it to do anything with surges, no matter the joule rating. At least it actually has MOVs...
Great review, thanks for presenting a real life example. So many products out there in the market trick buyers into buying products that don't really benefit them. Keep up the great work. Love the reviews
Thanks for watching!
Funny to see these types of surge protectors again. I used to have one made by Woods which had an adjustment knob for the main outlet. I absolutely love it but they stopped making it and at the time no one else made anything like it. With the newer more powerful PC's and electronics I had I opted to retire it. It wasn't about being green, it was just convenient . I hope other companies will make a better version.
For those of you who have a dollar tree nearby, you might be able to find power strips like this by another brand for $1.25. I've bought a lot. In my case they were $1 because I bought before dollar tree raises their prices. I was always interested in these stripes back when they were $30 but couldn't justify the price. But $1 for a name brand was a no brainer for me.
It also has a toggle for sensitivy.
Yeah, that's real cheap. I need to go check that out.
Your setup 1 assumes everyone owns components that have low stdby power consumption/ even offer it at all.
My speaker setup at home, as an example, is very old. They're exceptional speakers that don't need upgrading, and neither do the 5.1 receiver, amp, and sub. The sub does not offer a standby mode, and instead is on all the time.
For me, having something like this is a godsend.
Thanks! Yeah, that's kind of what I was looking for. There is a reason this exists, it isn't really saving energy, it's convenience. The video does assume newer equipment compliant with DOE regulations. I did for a while have a pro sound amplifier for a subwoofer amplifier and yeah, I had to turn it on and off every time, so I just didn't use it. This switch power strip would help with that for sure!
Thank you for this review. We like to view more reviews of surge protector strips from different manufacturers. Good job as always👍🙏
Thanks!
Glad you did a surge protector finally haha. Can you do a simple breakdown for power banks? I’m trying to see if I want a 20k-25k mah bank or just get a new 10-15k mah if I don’t care to use it for my steam deck, phone, or GoPro.
pretty sure end of last year he did a big powerbank comparison
Would love to see this compared to other larger companies making "energy saving" strips like TrickleStar and Cyberpower.
Would also love to see the internals and intricacies of some really high EMI/noise blocking devices. Maybe some pure sine wave converters as well
This is same as the TrickleStar. They make another model. Maybe the Cyberpower is different though, something to check out.
Pretty niche, especially these days when almost any device idles at extremely low power consumption. Possible applications:
- For some reason, you have a room laid out with a floor lamp with a built-in switch or something that you'd like to use as the main switch for the rest of the room lights. Maybe you're renting and there are no switched outlets in the correct location?
- You're pairing some sort of vintage sound system like an old receiver to a TV, so you can switch the receiver on automatically when you power up the TV. Modern devices don't waste so much power at idle and usually support stuff like CEC anyway, but vintage gear won't on either count
- You have some floor fans to cool off a room. You can use the switch on the fan itself for the convenient one near the doorway to turn on two or three fans simultaneously
- You have some kind of an off-grid home and have a full set of internet equipment, but only one computer (and in this hypothetical scenario you don't have phones and never use wifi for some reason). You could turn on your switch/router/modem whenever the computer is on, saving a decent chunk of power.
It would be a lot nicer with a little 3-position rotary dial or something so you could set the trigger wattage to something like 5, 20, 100W or something like that to better match the master device.
Nice options for uses for this! Yeah, they sell one with a selector but the wattage values are all still too high. The sensitivity is an issue with the current shunt size. To sense 5W with a current shunt made for 15 amps with any kind of reproducibility on the production line... Hence the 15-18 watt range. Yeah, there's other ways to sense that power is moving. I'd misuse an RCD circuit.
I heard of this product called brickwall power filter/ surge protectector over thirty years ago. No sacrificial MOV's used? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this.
And the capacitor in capacitive droppers degrade with time until it loses too much capacity(as it self-heals) and it can't latch the relay(the heaviest load in the circuit).
ha, nice.
Can you make a test for Ugreen Uno 100W RG Charger next?
Thank you
I would also be interested in seeing the new Ugreen 100w robot charger put to the test
Hi, great channel. Are you planning on taking a look at the Anker nano 100w?
It's a lazy solution for people that don't want to reach down for the swtich on the power strip, in an household environment. I guess it could work if it's tucked away somewhere in a shed where the switch it's hard to reach. Still it was interesting to see it's inner workings and understand more about these products presented as black boxes to the consumers.
mmhmm.
Do the Z-wave, WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. Microcontroller/relay power strips actually save power? It's getting around the holidays/first frost where I'm at and I wondered if I could run a switched space heater, christmas lights, and some stuff off of one smart strip. Not all at once of coarse, 15a-20a 120v N.A. Breakers/wiring would trip if you put a tea kettle on the same breaker as a space heater, but My sister wanted an automatic "reading cycle" to warm her chair and brew her tea before she wakes up to Christmas lights in her 3.5 season sunroom. 😅It kinda needs the space heater to help fight the room up to a sunrise/sunlight maintained room temperature when it's -20°f/-28.9°c outside on a cold winters night.
Yeah, I looked at two a long time ago, the basic one used a basic capacitor dropper and a zener power supply, those mostly break after a couple years, I also tested a smart wifi outlet and that used a switching buck power supply and has been reliable for me, and a bit more efficient. I need to look at a lot more of them.
That is one heck of a use case!
Are there any other strips or brands in this arena you like more?
Not particularly, I have a smorgasbord of power strips, power conditioners, quad boxes, extension cords...
Ugh. I have an 8 year old one (Mi? Can't read the weird font they're using on the front) and almost certain I've been spending more money than saving after watching this. I have an Apple TV 4K, an 8 year old LCD TV and a sound bar plugged into it. Time to get a new power strip :(
Depends on the equipment still. If the sound bar doesn't have a low idle/standby state, it could very easily use several watts in the on state. So, you could be one of the savers. But yeah, there is no reason other than cheapness that this power strip idles at 0.7w instead of a more reasonable 0.1w.
This ain't good to me cuz I will always stick to my vintage power strips/surge protector!
haha, yeah, this measured the worst of all the power strips I could find.
Nice vid mate
It always wants to auto translate to English.
@@AllThingsOnePlacemust be my accent
Great video though
Can you do panamax products.
hello
Doesn't support EU plug.. 🤦🏻♂️
Yeah it’s made for lower voltage and 60hz.