I was about to design/build a gizzmo that will detect when one mains device is switched-on/off and then switch on/off some other slave devices - but it occurs to me that this might be like most electronics these days: it's cheaper to buy than build.
Where's the cheapest place to buy such a gizzmo?
Dave
I've got couple which I bought from Maplins (or was it Dabs?) a few years ago, and which I use with computers. Each has 6 x 13A outlets - five of which are automatically switched when a load is sensed on the 'master' outlet. So when I switch a computer off, all its associated devices - monitor, printer, scanner, speakers, etc. - automatically go off at the same time.
How about one of these?
You mean something like this
I have a feeling that one of the electricity suppliers may have been giving them away to customers recently as part of their energy reduction obligations. My parents got one. But it may have been restricted to OAPs.
Andrew
If power consumption is your concern it might be worth checking the data plates as modern devices use very little on stand-by. For example my TV uses
0.8 of a watt (Although I rarely put it on stand-by)
Incidentally, I believe some variants of "Stand-by Savers" have a delay built in so that devices like Printers can properly shut themselves down before the power cuts off.
I use mine more for the convenience of shutting everything down when I shut down the computer than strictly for power saving. It does seem to have some delay before turning the peripherals off but I am not sure if that is built in or due to the time that Windows takes to shut down.
The only thing that I would wish for (and this is not a function of the device) is that if a peripheral was powered up when shutdown then it would power up again when I next switch on the computer.
Andrew
And if power consumption is an issue, those sockets also consume power...
That's the sort of thing - it's to turn-on a home made (actually, based on Dyson bits) bench cyclone vac when any one of a number of other devices are switched on. I thought they'd be cheaper, at that price I'll make one. A couple of diodes to sense, a couple of transistors to amplify and a Triac to switch.
D0.4W according to the spec I found. Still it would take over 4 years to pay back using it for my monitor - must remember to turn off the screen when I turn off the PC.
How does that work? Can the printer tell when it is about to be switched off?
Yes - the look very much like the IntelliPanel shown on that site.
On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:58:48 +0100, "dennis@home" mused:
They can if the PC tells them it's shutting down.
On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:59:08 +0100, Andrew May mused:
I would assume it would be Windows shutting down that causes the delay, the power strip doobry doesn't know when you press the shut down button, only when the PC finally switches off.
Eh?
My printer has a 'soft' on switch. If it is switched on and the power strip removes the power it obviously goes off. But reapply mains and it will remain off until the on/off button on the front panel is pressed.
An older printer would some straight back on if it had been on when power was removed despite having a similar 'soft' power switch. So it's a function of the printer and not the socket.
I hope that makes sense.
Andrew
On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:53:35 +0100, Andrew May mused:
Yep, that would be handy for a lot of devices. Many a time I've powered something down then repowered it and stood looking at a screen for 10 minutes only to realise it hasn't actually powered back up, or has powered up in a different state to which it was in before powering it down. Damn technology!
Sorry - I've lost the start of this thread, so I'll reply here:
Something I've meaning to say about the slave socket strips. Printers more often than not do not like having the plug pulled on them (which is what these socket devices are doing) without having switched off at the printer first. The reason is that many (most?) printers need to go through an orderly shutdown procedure, cleaning and parking the heads etc.
A reasonable test would be: hit the off button on the printer. If the printer busies itself for seconds/minutes moving the head, making whirring sounds or similar, chances are it is doing something that it really needs to do.
Pulling the power externally may run the risk of shortening the life of the printer.
Cheers
Tim
Or more likely cause a head block on a ink jet type - the head gets parked on a pad to help prevent drying out.
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