You mean to do the right thing when you shut down your home office for the night—turn off the computer, the printer, the copier and all those other energy vampires to save on power. Now, smarter power strips from BITS Limited and Belkin will save you from that little annoyance.
On a standard power strip or surge suppressor the outlets are all created equal; the smart models give different outlets different ranks. Plug your computer into the “control outlet” on the SMART STRIP Surge Protector from BITS Limited and, when you turn off the computer, the devices plugged into the “automatically switched outlets” shut down. But devices plugged into the “constant hot outlets” stay on, handy for wireless routers or clocks. Even better, the SMART STRIP senses when your computer goes into sleep mode and then powers down the other devices. You may have to tweak the setting with a knob on the side so the SMART STRIP recognizes your computer’s sleep mode.
The Belkin Conserve Switch surge suppressor also gives you control outlets and always-on outlets but doesn’t offer sleep-mode shutoff. However, it does have one big personal energy-saver: A switch that you can stick on the wall will wirelessly control up to six power strips within 60 feet. One click and all those energy vampires go back into their coffins.
