The Smart Power Strip basicsmart power strip comes with a range of fancy features, but they all have two basic components: a power outlet and a circuit that monitors those outlets.
For example, when a printer inserted into the basic Smart Bar enters standby mode, its power consumption decreases.
The circuit detects the change and cuts the power off to the socket.
The rest of the outlets in use are still open.
Many smart power boards also have one or two that are not monitored, always-on outlets.
These are the devices you use to plug in that always requires power, such as your cordless phone base or alarm system.
Monitoring several outlets and cutting off the power of each outlet separately can reduce your total electricity consumption, but in some cases this is not the most effective way to do this.
Think about the device that you can really use only when the TV is turned on ---
Like DVD player, PlayStation 3, speaker and a/V receiver.
Some power strips allow you to combine these items together and turn all items on or off at the same time.
One of them is Smart strip LGC3 from Bits Limited, which has 10 colorscoded (
Blue, red, white)outlets.
The blue socket is the control socket and all white sockets are connected to it.
If you plug the TV into a blue socket, plug all the other accessories into a white socket, the smart strip will control the accessories according to the work of the TV.
The red sockets are always on, so you can use them for TiVo or other devices that may require power even if the TV is off.
The smart bar does all this by monitoring the control socket.
When the power supply moves 10% above the preset threshold on the control socket, the sensor circuit detects that you turn the TV on and triggers the power supply of the outlet that controls the TV-
Related accessories.
When the power supply of the control socket drops, the Smart Strip cuts off the power supply.
Next, we'll look at some of the other features that can make the smart power strip more useful or convenient.