Smart Strip ECG-7MVR Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 7 Outlet

I live in an old house where the two-prong plugs were replaced, but they're still not grounded. Someone said the green plugs don't work without a ground. But I've found they do work; the surge doesn't, or it isn't guaranteed. And while mine works right away, there is a little screw that can be adjusted to be more sensitive to smaller power draws or adjusted to a higher voltage. Apparently, it goes both ways; you have to turn it on enough so that it senses your computer/TV coming on (it was out of the box). But if you go too far, apparently, the green plugs don't cut off. So find the sweet spot. And always, read the instructions, folks!! On the photos, see the entire strip, all was on, and see the hard drive on top, speaker in the back, and monitor, all LED's and powered off when I shut down the computer. Let the savings begin.

This device switches power on and off for devices plugged into the "AUTOMATICALY SWITCHED OUTLETS" based on how much power is being drawn through the "CONTROL OUTLET" while also providing a couple "ALWAYS ON OUTLETS" as a nice convenience. For my unit with it's sensitivity adjustment turned fully counterclockwise "-" I was able to switch devices on and off with a control load of about 7 Watts minimum and not less. The LED lamp illuminating my pictures, for instance, only uses 3 Watts so it would not be able to act as a master controlling device for anything being switched. Only devices that use 7 Watts or more can be used to control things. I found the limit by hooking up a tunable soldering iron and started turning the dial, finding that threshold. Below 7 Watts and it gets ignored, above and it can turn the switched devices on and off. (15W - 60W is the adjustable range in the specs) The trick is get that threshold solidly between the idle wattage of the control device and it's active wattage and you are golden. :-) Other users seem to have reported flashing on and off which would be very possible if the sensitivity adjustment wattage is close to the actual power of the controlling device while it is on and if the switched devices were using sufficient power to effect the voltage (and power) of all other devices in that circuit. Control device comes on....Switched devices come on and sag the voltage a bit...power through the control device dips (because of the voltage dips) below the switching threshold and the switched device is turned off. The voltage dip ends and the power going through the control port returns to normal, above the threshold and then the switched devices are turned back on again....over and over again. This "problem" (or amusement :-) ) should be manageable by adjusting that sensitivity control...why it's there in the first place :-) Smart Strip is the first (and only) manufacturer that I discovered to include a user accessible sensitivity adjustment to it's power-saver power strips. I plan to buy more as need arrives since the features and quality I need seem to be nicely present.

I don't write a lot of reviews, but this does exactly what I want it to do. I will say that the shutdown is not gentle; its abrupt so if you have speakers attached through amplifiers, be sure to keep the levels low when you walk away; you can blow a speaker. However, with the levels set it drops the power, and cuts back on reliably. There is a slight delay in power on that can be annoying; however it does everything it says on the box. I'll give it 4/5 stars, if they could add a soft shutdown feature or some way to buffer power and let it bleed out slowly rather than instnaly; maybe add a few capacitors or something. Anyways, great product; will save a good bit of power, adds a reassurance I'm not just running speakers all of the time. connected the display to the contorlport, the streamer and the dac to the always on and the amps to the "smart" ports.

This thing actually works and works well. Shuts down the 'puter and all peripherals with one switch.

Not effective. Constantly having to adjust the sensitivity is annoying. Unfortunately this strip makes wasting power the more practical solution. Disappointing.

I am using this smart strip in a home theater system to switch devices on and off when the a/v receiver is turned on and off. It works great straight out of the box. No adjustments were necessary.

Had a nasty wind storm and bad power surges. The smart strip was not sparec but it saved my computer. Bought another to replace it immediately. Thanks smart strip

The tv plug and the on plug work but the one that you are the plug VCR’s into or DVD players are not working. I tried to play with the little thing beside it and that only makes it come on and right back off so can’t see how it’s saving you when you can’t turn a device on in them settings. And I could not find manuel to help me tried looking it up and still got nowhere.