Customer Reviews

Smart Strip LCG5 Energy Saving Power Strip with Auto-Switching Technology and Modem/Coaxial Surge Protection

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you want something to help you save a few buck on your energy bill while also prolonging the life of Equipment, this is the tool for you.

I had an idea what this SmartStrip could do but i really wanted to see it for myself. This guy is as simple as it sounds and just as convient.

You have 1 outlet that you plug your switching device in. The switching device is the device that when you turn on or off turns everything else on or off. You also have 2 Always ON outlets (for DVR boxes or Broadband Modem, etc). And 4 "Controlled" outlets, 1 of which is an extra wide one. Now, the 1 outlet for the switching device is an Always ON outlet.

There is a little knob on the side for helping you tweek the switching setting that power off everything else when you put the main device into a low power state or off. Because some things draw power even when turned off so you may need to tweek it.

I bought this to try it out at work. If you want something to definitely help at home or at the office, this is perfect. At work, i had my Laptop at the switching port. I plugged the Monitor, the Speakers, the Desk Lamp, my cell chargers, any and all accessories into the controlled ports. I tweeked the knob on the side so that when I put my laptop into Standby, that it will also shut off everything else as well. To tweek it, you must put the computer into Standby mode and adjusted the knob until all the devices turn off.

This is great because the moment i shutdown the computer at night, it turns everything off and i don't have to forget about turning anything off. All that littles of electricity its saving is great.

You could easily use it at home. You can have it setup where your TV is the switch, your DVR is in the Always ON, your DVD, VCR, Game Consoles, Stereo, Home Theater, etc are all plugged into the Controlled Ports, So that the moment you turn the TV off, everything else turns off. No more nagging the kids to make sure they turned everything else, no need to round through remotes to make sure everything else is off.

The price is right as well, you are going to pay about the same price for something that also does about the same amount of Surge Protection, so why not get something that will save you in long running cost as well. It could pay for itself in the first year alone.

I bought this for use on my computer. It worked as promised. I did have to adjust the sensitivity dial on the strip to get it to shut down when putting my system into standby, but worked fine after that.
A couple of items to note:
-I couldn't plug my cable modem into one of the switched outlets without getting an error every time the system started back up.
-The phone cord that comes with the unit is only a two lead wire, so don't use it if you're running multiple phone lines out of one jack.

I plugged in the first one that was shipped to me only to hear a high frequency noise. I checked the manufacturers website and found out that the noise was due to a displaced filter that occasionally occurs during shipment. I returned the unit to Amazon, who promptly sent me a new one.

The second unit worked as advertised. I thought that this would be a great way to turn off those energy drainers from my home theater setup. Unfortunately, I found out that many of the devices that I have require a trickle charge to maintain settings. When the devices were turned off, the clocks needed reset, the TV lost the channel settings, the media player required to scan the hard drive, etc, etc.

I think the product does well for what it says to do. I do think that I fell into the trap of "save more money by reducing energy sucking appliances" mantra. The amount of energy saved could not compare to the cost and frustrations associated with this device. Furthermore, I would expect that a device that costs this much would not have filters so easily displaced during shipment. Poor quality control?

It does what is says it does, but I would re-evaluate if the cost savings really match the price, in which my wouldn't.

I have to say this simple device is amazing. You plug your computer into the control outlet and plug everything else into the other outlets and when the PC is off, the monitor, speakers, mice, keyboard or whatever else you power with your computer turns off. Much easier than trying to figure out where to put a power strip so you can reach it.

The really helps with those energy vampires that seems to live under computer desks.

I'm saving about 50 watts of power by turning off my speakers when the PC isn't on. (The speakers didn't come with their own power switch.)

I bought and returned two APC versions of this outlet, since their shutoff sensor could not be adjusted. The Smart Strip overcomes this with a potentiometer dial and simple instructions.

Note: The adjustment still does not work with very low amperage devices plugged into the master outlet (e.g., small cable box).

I wanted to use this with my Mac Mini. I have lots of peripherals like powered speakers, printer, powered USB hub, scanner, tape deck etc. Unfortunately the current draw from the Mac Mini isn't enough. The result is that despite tweaking the sensitivity settings the device, the outlets I was using for the peripherals wouldn't turn off. This problem is noted on their web site. Maybe I should have read it before buying? Anyway I called customer service got a call from a nice person and sent the unit back. I paid shipping, of course. When they received the unit they shipped the replacement. Perhaps I should mention that I spent a lot of time trying this and that trying to make it work.

Unit 2 arrives and sort of works. That is I would get it to turn the automatic outlets on and off using the Mac Mini in the "control" outlet. When I started plugging in peripherals I got all sorts of strange behavior. Cycling on and off in the automatic outlets for one. Sometimes the automatic outlets just wouldn't switch off. It actually worked properly on occasion. The instruction manual tells you how to set the sensitivity but nothing about this sort of unexpected behavior. It seemed that it functioned better with fewer devices plugged in so I tried that using various combinations. I cycled the computer on and off dozens of times trying to find a consistent workable combination. I tried moving the Mac's external transformer away from the device, thinking there might be some sort of electromagnetic field interference. Ultimately nothing helped. Maybe it was defective but I didn't want to spend another $8 sending it back for a replacement.

What I have ended up with is the use of a conventional power strip. I plug the computer into an "always on" outlet so that I can switch the peripherals without waiting for the computer to power down. That had been my goal from the start and a little thinking before ordering would have been a good idea.

I did buy a "Kill a Watt" and found that the standby power draw of the peripherals is pretty low. Still, I like being able to easily shut them off.

So after much time and frustration I discovered that I didn't really need a smart strip. I was happy when it came in the mail from Amazon and equally happy when I decided to cut my losses and frustration and toss it.

I bought a couple of Smart Strips and a Kill-A-Watt about a month ago. This is such a great idea -- we talk about how much energy is wasted by wall-warts and devices in standby mode, but it's not at all realistic to say you'll unplug every device every time you're done with it. I, for one, am always in a hurry and have to stand on my head to reach my inconveniently-placed outlets, so my wall-warts stay plugged in.

After some thought about where I have clusters of related electronics, I installed one strip in the TV area and one at the computer. The TV one has worked great -- not only are several DC converters turned off anytime the TV is off, but I also get better network security by making sure that my XBox and its router are off the Internet when I'm not actively using them.

However -- and here's why it gets four stars rather than five -- the unit hums audibly. That's fine in the living room, which remains unoccupied unless the TV is on, but it's unacceptable in my bedroom where the computer lives. I had to change back to a regular power strip on the computer, which is a shame since the savings from automatically turning off the monitor and speakers would have been significant.

After seeing the Smart Strip on the Oprah show I thought it was a good way to be green and protect my home theater system . I bought several strips from Amazon.com While Sitting in our family room with our home theater system off,but fully connected to the Smart Strip. A storm came through,a nearby lightning strike and there was a pop in our receiver. Our circuit breaker was blown and the receiver was blown. I spoke with Joe Coons from Blitz LTD (Blitz Ltd owns the company of the Smart Strip)and was told to send the receiver out for a repair estimate and he would be put in a claim for me with the company. The repair company stated the damage to the receiver was due to a power surge, and Blitz Ltd denied the claim saying they had NO PROOF the receiver was connected to the strip. If they paid claims related to power surges like mine they would be out of business. Meanwhile their packaging states clearly $30,000. connected equipment warranty protection.

With desktop PC plugged into control outlet, Windows "Turn Off Computer.."
also powers off monitors and other peripherals plugged into controlled outlets.
Power cord is substantial enough for a laser printer.

Perhaps 15 years ago, Radio Shack also sold well-built master/slave
power strips, but they are far too easily confused by modern products
with substantial peak current drains when nominally powered off.
Many modern products draw relatively high peak currents with very
short duty cycles. For example, a nominally-off appliance averaging 6 watts
may draw 60 Watts for 1/10 of each cycle of 60Hz power.

All external connections to a system should be surge-protected
at a single ground point; surge suppression on power without phone
and cable asks for trouble.

Our LGC5 phone surge suppressor sacrificed itself during a recent
storm; Bits Support shipped a replacement module free,
even though our strip is well beyond the 2-year warranty.

Replacing those F connector and RJ11 surge suppressor modules
is well within the capabilities of folks comfortable with
screwdrivers and a soldering gun.

I bought this to replace my ten-year-old current surge protector, and I love it. Like others have said, it is very simple to use. The CPU, of course, is in the "control" outlet and my monitor and printer are in the "switched" ones. The modem, my cell phone charger (I charge my cell phone on my computer desk) and the charger plug to my Nintendo DS are on the "constant hot" outlets, and sufficient space was provided for both of the chargers' adapter-like plugs, which was a definite plus. It seems like most surge protectors I have gotten never have enough room for all of that. I like how the unit gives a choice of having something switch off with the control plug or be constantly on.

This didn't work right out of the box, though. At first, everything that was supposed to switch was remaining on. That was easily fixed by turning the small dial on the side just until the components that were supposed to be turned off did so. So, if this happens on your unit, don't be alarmed or think it's broken.

Overall, I love it and I think it's a great idea. I went ahead and bought a different model from this line to go with the home entertainment system as well.