I missed out on the last batch of surge protecting power boards, but these seem quite good …
seems about average price for the board, but the power saving, master / slave setup sounds pretty cool (and kinky) …
I'm mostly just getting it for the wider sockets to handle battery chargers because the wii & 360 go through a lot of AA's …
how does the master slave power socket work? Have no idea of it.
after a quick read, you can plug your TV into the master & something else into the slave, when the master is turned off, the slaves get turned off automatically (so if you have wii / xbox / etc and dont leave them turned on when you turn the tv off, then it'll work) … i'm going to have to learn to turn the console's off before i turn the TV off :)
But it has to be turned off from the power board obviously?
No, the boad has a circuit that senses when the power draw falls below a certain amperage… ie below 500mA… it then assumes that the Master device has been switched off (ie on Standby) and shuts down power to the slave sockets.
ie all the devices plugged into slave sockets aren't on standby they are hard powered down. drawing 0 Amps.
I was PVR'ing something and didn't notice that I had the PVR device in the slave …. not happy Jane
alternatively, a computer socket, hooked up to printer / speakers / scanner / etc etc etc, kill the computer & it turns the rest off
no usb
the concern is cut off the power directly (without switch it off first) could damage your electrical
Depends on the device but yes, that is a concern for some (few) devices.
xbox 360 doesn't like having power cut before turning to standby.. but it doesn't kill it..
Good price for this, but slightly gimmick-ish. The main device still draws power on standby, right? A cheaper option would be to just get a regular surge protected PB and switch it on/off at the mains.
Correct, but it means 1 power drawing standby power instead of 5 or 7 devices. and you still have the convenience of being able to use the remote to turn on the Master device..
Of course manually switching off the powerboard at the wall is better still, but you lose the convenience factor.
dam I wish there were induvidual switches on them..unless u have 7 things connected to a primary electrical good this is kind of hard to make full use of
but pretty cheap for 8 ports i guess
i think that'd depend on the item, speakers wouldn't be a problem …
would electrical damage, caused by a premature shut-down be covered under the surge component (it is a surge, but a surge downwards rather than upwards)
Besides a computer, what exactly can't you turn off whenever you want?
I have something similar which I got for free in that QLD promotion, works very well. I just turn on my TV and everything else turns on with it.
The great thing is that it only turns on with significant power so my TV can remain on standby without my other devices being turned on.
isn't this standard pricing?
well in theory its good but i mean if i had a tv connected to speakers, blue ray player and xbox thats alot of electricity being used if i say would just want to watch tv!
The other devices go into standby only (assuming they have standby)
a 2 second response time is extremely slow. your equipment will be fried by the time it clamps. it might still be useful as an energy saving board.
if you are in the greater brisbane area you can get a free quality crest energy saving 8-way powerboard (< 1 nano sec response time) through ezgreen (but it takes 8 weeks)
thats the first time i've heard about this,
has it been posted on ozbargain before?
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/28372
it is a council (or maybe qld government) initiative. the board retails for about $100 online.
thanks, just registered
@tom112: i'm still waiting for mine and i registered back in july. i just rang them up to check and they said the current eta is 10 weeks (lots of people wanting them!).
was posted on ozbargain. i love it. big props to the government for doing that. way better than insulation rebates
just read this, apply for one. save some money. thanks!
Guys quick question -
If I have my external antenna running through one of these will it also amplify the signal?
unless it specifically says so then i would say no. it probably has a gas arrestor tube between the aerial connectors and that is about it. ditto for phone line pair. probably 3 varistors for protection on power line.
Say the average consumer has an LCD TV (say 42" for arguments sake), 1000W sound system, DVD player and console.
Roughly, how much would one save in a year if you lived in Sydney metro? Enough to justify the cost of the board?
it's hard to say, but it will probably take a couple of years to recoup your investment. for example, for a 10W standby power saving:
10 / 1000 * 24 * 365 * $0.20 = $17.52 per year.
exactly how much you save is going to be determined what devices you have connected. the master device still has to be on, so there is no power savings for that. any power savings come from having all the slave devices switched off (minus the tiny bit of power used by the board). you could achieve the same savings by physically switching everything off after use.
if you've got an energy meter, measure the standby powers of your devices.
"you could achieve the same savings by physically switching everything off after use"
the whole point of this board is so you can achieve those savings without the inconvienance of having to physically switch things off
agreed, but there are lots of other devices around the house that you can simply switch off at the point after use and save money: microwave, washing machine, chargers, etc.
for the curious, i just measured the standby power of some devices at hand:
computer with 80+ power supply: 5w
amplified 2.1 computer speakers: 6w
22" monitor: 4w
microwave: 5w
adsl modem/router: 10w
gigabit switch: 8w
so if you have lots of accessories that are used in conjunction with one device (eg computer or tv) then a master/slave board might save you a bit of money in the long term.
how good are these as surge protectors though? and do they offer insurance like the DSE or Belkin ones?
I got one of these free from the Brisbane City Council, they are awesome, run my computer and peripherals on it, turn the computer off, and all my monitors and my speakers are turned off too while in standby mode, turn back on when i turn the computer on, have a couple always on plugs too which are great for running the wireless modem on and not losing connectivity while the computer is off
Not as good as the one I bought a few months ago. Same price, but each port comes with a on/off switch.
A bit of google research on these master-slave power boards indicates that they can actually damage laser printers if connected.
Are you referring to the warning on the Jackson green boards? I'm curious as to why this would be so. I sent them an email asking them to explain why.
edit: I have already received a reply from Jackson (kudos to them for a speedy response):
There are a number of issues with using laser printers with the PT9778
1) The lifespan of many laser printers will be limited if they are switched on and off frequently
2) Switching the laser printer can also damage the powerboard due to the large load that laser printers produce when they are first switched on
3) When a laser printer is switched on, it can produce power surges which can damage other appliances connected to the board
So it looks like it might be better to leave laser printers on an "always on" socket.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yes I was referring to the Jackson boards, but assumed the principals would apply to any brand. Thanks for going more in depth that I could be bothered :p
I know that a sudden loss of AC Mains is also bad for Plasma TV's, as the built in fans do not have a change to cool the unit down.
well i missed out on this but really want a couple of these, will keep an eye out
wow, i already have a +1 … or did i do that myself by mistake?
edit - yes, it was me, have now uploaded picture