remote control wall sockets ?

albalad

does anyone have any experience of these ?
I'm thinking of buying some from aldi's , as a lot of our appliance sockets are quite inaccessible - meaning that they are forever left on standby ..... which frustrates me.

But not entirely sure if they would be any better , as they themselves must use a certain amount of power ...... or do they ?

does anyone know if these would be better (use less power) than leaving my washing machine, dishwasher, hob etc on standby

thanks

Tallymanjohn

I'm pretty sure you'll find that washing machines, dishwashers etc. don't use any power if they're not being used - the 'standby' situation only tends to occur on equipment that has remote control operation. I shall now go & check my dishwasher just to be sure!!

The remote control sockets will almost certainly use power whilst they are in standby so you gain nothing. Also I'd be a bit cautious about operating washing machines & dishwashers (which can draw quite high current) through one of these switches.

alanobrien

I use them for various purposes, very handy they are to.
Power consumption on standby depends on what you buy and where you buy it from !.

The following for instance from Maplin use 20ma or less on standby which is significantly lower than any of my domestic appliances. See the FAQ on the maplin site.

Currently on special offer at £24.99 for 4.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?TabID=1&criteria=remote%20socket&ModuleNo=42504&doy=23m11

tr3mor

I got some in a Lidl car park sale. I've plugged them into various lamps in corners of rooms. They're much easier to switch on and off than walking over the the lamp.

Kinda green since it means I'm more likely to switch them off!

beckyw_2

I bought some of these sockets from Lidl a while ago. They are really handy and cost £9.99 for 4

albalad

alanobrien wrote:

Power consumption on standby depends on what you buy and where you buy it from !.
The following for instance from Maplin use 20ma or less on standby which is significantly lower than any of my domestic appliances.

cannot find anywhere on the box or instructions where it mentions ma or any figure even remotely like it , is there a way of figuring this out ?

what would the average appliance use on standby ?
these were £15.99 for 4 from aldi

Tallymanjohn
The remote control sockets will almost certainly use power whilst they are in standby so you gain nothing. Also I'd be a bit cautious about operating washing machines & dishwashers (which can draw quite high current) through one of these switches.

this has got me a bit worried - they are rated as "maximum load per socket receiver 3,120 watts"

but also says "maximum current per socket receiver :16A"

220-240v/50hz


is there a serious danger in using these with a washing machine / dishwasher ?

maninthestreet

albalad wrote:

cannot find anywhere on the box or instructions where it mentions ma or any figure even remotely like it , is there a way of figuring this out ?

what would the average appliance use on standby ?
these were £15.99 for 4 from aldi



this has got me a bit worried - they are rated as "maximum load per socket receiver 3,120 watts"

but also says "maximum current per socket receiver :16A"

220-240v/50hz


is there a serious danger in using these with a washing machine / dishwasher ?

240v X 13A = 3,120watts - no risk here, assuming the plugs for your washing machine / dishwasher are fitted with 13A fuses. But do you really need a remote control plug for your washing machine or dishwasher?

Cardew

alanobrien wrote:

I use them for various purposes, very handy they are to.
Power consumption on standby depends on what you buy and where you buy it from !.

The following for instance from Maplin use 20ma or less on standby which is significantly lower than any of my domestic appliances. See the FAQ on the maplin site.

Currently on special offer at £24.99 for 4.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?TabID=1&criteria=remote%20socket&ModuleNo=42504&doy=23m11

20mA(20 milliamps) significantly lower than your domestic appliances on standby?

20mA @ 240v = 4.8 Watts - which is way more than most of my appliances on standby. All my TV's less than 1 Watt

albalad

maninthestreet wrote:

But do you really need a remote control plug for your washing machine or dishwasher?

THe plugs are inaccessible , and i would rather turn them off than leave them permanently on standby................. but only if the remote plugs use less energy than the appliance on standby

Cardew
20mA @ 240v = 4.8 Watts - which is way more than most of my appliances on standby. All my TV's less than 1 Watt

do you have any idea what an average washing machine , dishwasher, etc use ?


these things are beginning to look less and less feasible/moneysaving/green

Cardew

albalad wrote:

THe plugs are inaccessible , and i would rather turn them off than leave them permanently on standby................. but only if the remote plugs use less energy than the appliance on standby




do you have any idea what an average washing machine , dishwasher, etc use ?


these things are beginning to look less and less feasible/moneysaving/green

I know the standy consumption of all my appliances.

Frankly there is a lot of hysteria talked about huge standby consumptions and this has been discussed countless times.

As soon as the subject is raised on this forum the spectre of a fire risk is raised. The 'Green Police' can't wait to say how selfish people are to waste the earth's resources by leaving items on standby.

So to hopefully pre-empt such comments, I am not advocating leaving things on standby.(although personally I do leave some on! - but I feel dreadfully guilty about it;) )

If you do a search you will find lots of posts about this subject.

As a guide 1W consumption left on 24/7 will cost approx 80pence a year.

My TV's are 0.6W, 0.9W, and 1W.

Washing Machine, Dryer, Dishwasher, use just about nothing - doesn't register on meter. Microwave & Oven about 1W(for clock) and I don't intend to reset them hundreds of times a year. Video/VCR about 2 Watts

Biggest offender is the SkY and Sky+ boxes at about 14 watts.

I haven't seen these switchable sockets but my gut feeling is that they use much less than 20mA as 4.8 Watts would get such a small device pretty warm.

alanobrien

albalad wrote:

cannot find anywhere on the box or instructions where it mentions ma or any figure even remotely like it , is there a way of figuring this out ?

what would the average appliance use on standby ?
these were £15.99 for 4 from aldi



this has got me a bit worried - they are rated as "maximum load per socket receiver 3,120 watts"

but also says "maximum current per socket receiver :16A"

220-240v/50hz


is there a serious danger in using these with a washing machine / dishwasher ?

If you follow the link i gave to the items above, below the item you will see another link to "show all FAQ's" which links to this page

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=42504&FAQS=Y&doy=23m11

Halfway down the faq you will find this statement

Q) What is the power consumption of these devices under no load i.e standby? - Ed
A) Negligable under 20 mA

Unless the Lidl ones are made by the same manufacturer that maplins use, they may not have the same standby power usage.

Standby power usage varies from appliance to appliance. My PC for instance is around 35 watts while the total load from my TV, PVR and DVD is only 18 watts.