Blew $50 on a 'smart' power strip that literally made things worse

I saw this ad for a power strip that claimed it could automatically cut power to devices on standby and save me like 30% on my electric bill. Ended up ordering one for $50 off some random tech site. Hooked it up to my TV and game console in my apartment here in Austin. First thing it did was randomly kill power to my PS5 in the middle of an update because it thought it was on standby. Then the TV would flicker off during quiet scenes because the strip thought it wasn't drawing enough power. Total garbage. Had to unplug the whole thing after three days and now it's sitting in a drawer. Anyone else fall for one of those 'energy saving' gadgets that just caused more problems?

2 comments

2 Comments

paulb9819d ago

Honestly I've seen a ton of those things and they always sound like snake oil to me. A $50 power strip probably isn't going to save you 30% on your bill unless you already leaving everything on 24/7. Plus the way they detect standby is super basic, it just looks at the current draw and guesses. Your PS5 pulling power for an update looks totally different than it idling on the dashboard so yeah it's gonna mess up. I'd say just get a regular power strip with a switch you can turn off manually if you really care about vampire draw. The hassle of replacing a corrupted console is way more than any savings on your electric bill.

the_jason18d ago

Stop acting like one corrupted save file is the end of the world. Most people aren't running critical updates every single night, and your console isn't going to brick from one unexpected power cut. If you're that worried, just turn the strip off before you go to bed, it's really not a big deal.