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Saving money is something I'm sure we
all like to do. I know my bills go up all of the time, but yet I
don't make any more money, for whatever reason these companies think
that everyone gets raises all of the time. Our utilities seem to
think that we all have lots of money and just make more and more
every year, but that's not true as we all know, but they don't care,
they just keep raising the rates and tacking on more fees. It's
annoying really, I hate it, we're stuck paying whatever they tell us
to or we just do without and we know that's not going to happen. The
one I'm talking about today is electricity, our rates go up at least
once per year, and sometimes more actually, these companies don't
care as they know we'll pay it because we don't have any other choice
in the matter really. Sure you could argue about alternative energy
sources, but realistically most people can't afford to install them
so we're stuck with paying whatever they want us to. There are many
ways to save money of course, the easiest is just to turn things off
that you're not using, but with today's electronics they're not
really off when you turn them off, they go into standby mode still
sucking a small amount of power. So the option is to have a power
strip with an off switch to make sure everything is turned off, but
that can be a hassle having to crawl under or behind the desk to do
it, and most likely you'll forget to do it, in a hurry or just get
tired of the hassle of doing it.
Today for review I've got the PC
TrickleSaver from TrickleStar and it's a product that hooks up to
your PC and then to your peripherals like a printer and monitor that
automatically turns them off when you power off the PC. It works by
connecting via USB to your PC and then sensing when you turn your
computer off, then it disconnects power to the peripherals attached
to it. It's an easy way to kill the electricity vampires that you've
got connected to your PC and save you a bit of money in the long run.
It's nice because there is no user interaction required except for
the initial installation of it, and that's easy to do. So read on to
learn about a great little product that can actually save you some
money..
Product
Name: TrickleStar
PC TrickleSaver
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Sponsor: TrickleSaver
Tech
Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
TrickleStar
PC TrickleSaver
The TrickleStar PC TrickleSaver
reduces the standby energy consumed by PC Peripheral equipment. The
product connects to a PC via a standard USB connector and detects the
power status of a PC via the USB port.
When a PC is powered the
product will switch On all peripheral devices. Conversely when a PC
is switched Off, the product will switch Off all peripheral devices.
The product is easy to install and provides simple automation to
reduce wasteful standby energy consumption. The product is suitable
for residential and workplace PC applications.
The product can be connected
directly to equipment or connected to a standard electrical
powerstrip with a number of connected devices.
Key Features:
-In-built relay for switching
off devices that consume standby current.
-Rear mounting holes for wall,
under desk mounting.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
SLEEP STATE
The PC TrickleSaver requires
the PC to switched off completely.
The PC TrickleSaver will not
work when a PC is placed into a sleep / hibernation state.
If you require peripheral
devices to switch off in a sleep / hibernation state, a TV
TrickleSaver should be used.
HARD DISK DRIVE PRODUCT
Certain manufacturers of
products containing hard disk drives do not recommend hard switching
off of their products.
We recommend reviewing the
manufacturers documentation prior to use of a PC TrickleSaver with
these products.
Product Warranty:
The product is supplied with a
1 year product warranty against defective manufacturing and
components.
A
Better Look at Things:
The PC TrickleSaver comes in a
small box with pictures and info in it:
 
Inside you'll find the PC
TrickleSaver itself along with a few instruction manuals in different
languages.
The device itself is just a small
box with male and female power plugs coming from it and a male USB
cable as well.
 
The box itself seems well made,
and it looks good too. On the front is the TrickleStar logo and on
the back you'll find holes to mount it out of the way if you wish to.
 
Installation,
Testing and Comparison:
I don't have any pictures of the
PC TrickleSaver installed for you, because it's a mess under the desk
where it's installed.
Installation is easy though, just
plug it in to the wall, plug the USB connection into the computer and
then plug the power strip with your peripherals into it, but it's not
quite that easy really, well it is and it isn't.
What I mean is that the PC
TrickleSaver is not a surge protector itself, so if you want to
protect your PC, you'll need to have two or actually three of them,
or at least two surge protectors and one power strip. You'll need to
plug the PC TrickleSaver into the surge protector that's plugged into
the wall, and you'll plug your PC into a separate one, then you'll
plug the power strip with your accessories hooked to it into the PC
TrickleSaver.
The alternate method would be one
surge protector and one power strip where you'd plug your PC and the
PC TrickSaver into the surge protector and then you'd plug the power
strip into the PC TrickSaver.
So essentially, the PC
TrickleSaver is not the only thing you'll need to make the setup do
what you need.
This isn't that big of a deal
really as I'm sure most of us have a few surge protectors and power
strips lying around to use, but just something to be noted as a
possible need to go with the PC TrickleSaver.
The PC TrickleSaver does work
though, when you power off the PC whatever is connected to the PC
TrickleSaver turns off as well and then when you turn on the PC the
devices turn back on.
Summary
and Comments:
The PC TrickleSaver is an
interesting little product that will save you money in the long run.
It's easy to use, small and unobtrusive and it seems well made.
As is the PC TrickleSaver can be
installed easily but you might need to purchase one or two more surge
protectors or power strips, but most likely you'll have a couple
lying around to use, and of course you should have the one you were
using originally. Depending on your configuration and what you
already have, you may have to spend more money to use the PC
TricklSaver, but in the long run it will be worth it to save money on
your electricity bill.
DragonSteelMods gives the
TrickleStar PC TrickleSaver a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
+Saves you money
+Easy to use
+Well made
+Automatically works
Cons:
-Requires power strip
-Not a surge protector
I
would like to thank TrickleStar for the chance to review the PC
TrickleSaver and for their support of DSM.
review# 610
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