Energy Egg

[bm]

Has anyone had experience with the Tree Green Energy Egg and if so what is their verdict? Blair

[mike]

So you give them money and they send you a gizmo that duplicates the effect of... turning something off? Is that a late April Fool?

A quick trawl round their website reveals their attention to detail and commitment to quality control:

"TreeGreen is an ambitious company with a raft of innivative developments"

"This is an economic and simple solution which could save them millions in the powering schools"

"The technology should be advanced enough to tackle with the general habits of people"

"It understands the human interaction with the appliance and when it knows there isn=92t any the power cuts"

"This would waste energy and you might think you had poltergeist."

[Skipweasel]

Having just watched their little film...

fist impression is that if it isn't a scam it's using scammy techniques to sell.

Saving 14.5kWh over a few minutes while you run to the ice-cream van is ridiculous.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well if you need an expensive device that consumes nasty batteries to switch off the lights when you leave the room, its probably for you.

For the intellgentsia, is another green con.

[Adrian Brentnall]

Hi Blair No experience with it - but I don't like the idea of something that turns off my (home) office computers just because I'm not in the room.... seems plain daft to me!

I'm not sure how happy the average pc is having the mains pulled, rather than going though some sort of orderly shutdown..?

Adrian

[Tabby]

If I leave something on its because there's a reason to leave it on.

[Ericp]

Most pointless load of junk I have seen this year so far. :))

[Andy Champ]

The average PC is very unhappy with it. It'll go through an extended recovery process on reboot - which will make it use more power.

And as for that document you were editing...

Modern PCs go into low power modes anyway, less than lightbulbs. Which as this device is going into the sockets won't be affected...

You'll also affect the lifetime of all your devices if you power cycle them more often.

And there's another one - it seems to be a PIR based device. It'll detect movement. So there you are cuddled up in front of the romantic movie... and as you aren't moving it turns the TV off. This is a well known side effect of PIR controlled lights in offices - the people working there jumping up and waving their arms about.

Finally, FORTY QUID? They're having a laugh. Most of my power goes into things I don't WANT turned off when I'm not watching them. Like the washing machine, heating pump, and alarm clock.

Andy

[Dave Liquorice]

The idea is sound, I fitted a PIR to the kitchen lights before now. They (3 x 60W) used to get left on as it 'twas 'ard to turn 'em off when your hands are full of drinks/food. I'd then forget they were on and not go back to switch 'em off.

I am struggling to come up with anything, plug-in appliance wise, that could usefully be connected to this device. PC's don't like the power being pulled and can be configured to shut down when not used which is probably a better basis than room occupation anyway.

DTTV/DSAT boxes tend to need to be in standby rather than powered down to retain EPG data and/or tuning information and get firmware updates.

[Skipweasel]

We have one in the downstairs loo, but that was 'cos it's got no window and once the door shuts it's too dark for kids to find the switch. After the first few visiting smalls got into a panic I fitted the PIR and it's been spiffy ever since - even runs a CFL without demur.

[Tim Streater]

FiL uses something similar to run fans in the loos rather than the lights. He has also set up a PIR on the staircase to detect MiL's nocturnal movements. Reason: she's sadly reduced by Alzheimer's.

[Owain]

Mummy leaving the iron on with a child in the kitchen is very irresponsible.

And it looks like all their flexes have the sheathing cut too far back from the plug.

Owain

[Owain]

And as soon as you get even more romantic in the dark, the TV comes back on, you find the film's finished and Newsnight puts you off your, erm, stride.

Owain

[Dave Liquorice]

=A0It'll

You'd be put off your stride before that as the description says it gives a minute warning before switching anything off.

[jgharston]

film...

plugs appear to have the protective sheath cut short on the flexes.

JGH