Fighting stand-by power with stand-by power. A review of a gadget.

I used to be very pro-active about turning stuff off at the wall, my career depended on it but now it bores me.

I saw these the other day at ALDI-  the VIVID Remote Control Socket Set (not a good name) for around $25. Four sockets with one remote control that can turn them all off. I've heard about fighting stand-by power with remote controls and here it was.

All remote controls use power - just a little bit. I plugged it in and measured it's power use with my Power-Mate (another gadget that is worth borrowing from your library).

Guess watt it was? 

0.7 watts. That's a small standby draw but not insignificant. This unit's good if you are using it to turn off something with a bigger stand-by power draw ...it is not worth putting on something that has a stand-by of less that 1 watt.  

The main thing I want it for is the computer and IT stuff under the desk. Modem, router, computers, phones and printer use a total of 34 watts on stand-by.  That's three CFL light bulbs on all the freakin' time.

I plugged in my little contraption, followed the intructions and with the push of an easy to access button, I could turn it all off over night.

I know it sounds like just another gimick but it seems like a good gimick if it means I turn stuff off and save that little bit of power that I wouldn't have otherwise bothered saving.

I'll give it a go.