There are people out there that don’t trust electricity, and definitely are concerned about a piece of technology staying on and consuming, watching the dollars disappear when they’re not at home using it. Sure, you can always reach around behind the telly and turn the switch off, putting out your back, or you can try an Australian solution.
Available online for roughly $20, the EcoSwitch is a local idea that aims to solve the problem many people have with power switches.
Perhaps you’re heading out for a day, a weekend, or maybe you just don’t want to leave your appliances or gadgets switched on to standby; whatever it is, if you’re the sort of person that normally digs behind the back of your technology searching for the off switch on the wall, this gadget is for you.
The EcoSwitch is literally an extension of the power socket on your wall, extending it and splitting it into sections: a power socket and a power switch.
From here, you can plug in single devices – such as a TV, an amplifier, a washing machine, etc – or a power board with multiple devices plugged in.
Whenever you want to switch the device off – and we mean completely off – just use the EcoSwitch and kill the power to every gadget.
Testing it with Belkin’s power metre, we found that yes, the EcoSwitch does exactly what it says it does, dropping used wattage to zilch and switching everything off.
The EcoSwitch is available now for $19.95 and could be a useful idea for anyone slightly concerned about the electricity bill, or just a little paranoid.
Simple calculations using 25c per kilowatt/hr, the Ecoswitch would save on a .8 watt current draw approximately 14.4c per 30 day month. At $19.95 cost for the switch, it would take over 11.5 years just to pay off the switch. Another con IMHO!
do the units turned off have to be re programmed when turned back on?