[rescue] Phaser ink - turning off phantom loads.

[Curious George]

--- On Wed, 8/20/08, laz at moaa.net <laz at moaa.net> wrote:

> > --- On Wed, 8/20/08, Robert Darlington
> <rdarlington at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > I'm really annoyed with all the devices that don't outright
> > shut *off* (after a prolonged idle period).  Especially all
> > these things with stupid wall warts/bricks...
> > 
> > Unfotrunately, I can't arrange for the things that I use
> > "seldom" to all be on the same power strip or I could just
> > flip one switch to kill them all!
>
> get a few of these: http://www.smarthome.com/2040.html
> and a timer/controller, and a wall switch transmitter by
> the door you use.. 
> plug all your phantom loads into the controlled plugs, and
> turn them all off with one remote switch when you leave the
> house...

That won't be an improvement over my current setup.  I.e., I
would still need to be able to get all those loads into those
outlets.  If I can't manage to get them into common outlet STRIPS,
I surely won't be able to get them into FEWER *outlets*!

For example, I currently have 10 wall warts and 25 other "plugs"
in my (bedroom) office.  And, that doesn't count the loads that
I use *so* infrequently that I don;t even bother to plug them in!

My U60 (in another room) system has *17* plugs, alone!  :<

It would be *so* much nicer if you could just tell a device,
"sleep if idle for X minutes; shutdown if sleeping for Y minutes".
This is especially true of the many devices that don't have
real power switches, etc.

Also, I had bad experiences with X10 modules when I lived in
the midwest (lots of electrical storms).  That was many years ago
so *maybe* they've fixed that issue (it also may not be an issue
*here* since our utilities are below grade).  I'd just not like to
throw money away learning a had lesson  :<