Mike Bantick
Friday, 03 April 2009 06:56
Science -
Energy
Page 2 of 3
The easier of the two devices to discuss is the TV TrickleStar: Designed for the home entertainment complex, the master connecter is the same as the slave, being a female power cord designed to be plugged into the TV. The slave connection is then used to “power” a power board.
The idea is, when you switch off your television, anything connected to the slave will also be powered down. So game consoles, amplifiers, sub woofers, DVD players and so on will no longer be drawing juice. When the TV is switched back on, almost immediately the power board plugged slaves will return to stand-by.
Some thought needs to go into this, obviously you don’t want devices such as the VCR or PVR powering down when you switch the TV off, so these need to be plugged into a separate power source.
For me, with multiple game consoles hooked up, and with all the power-cords neatly tucked away from site, the TV TrickleStar is an excellent solution.
The PC TrickleStar requires a little more thought. The master connection on this model us a USB connection to your desktop computer. There is no driver software required; the PC TrickleStar simply works off current detection in the USB port. Other than the USB master connection, the PC TrickStar works much the same as its TV orientated sibling.
More thought needs to go into how you set your power boards, with devices such as wireless routers, modems and scanners that may have jobs to do when your PC is not powered up. These will require a separate power source to the one controlled by the TrickleStar. Note , the PC TrickleStar will work with your Mac as well.
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