Rosewill RPS-200 6 Outlets Power Strip with INDIVIDUAL ON/OFF switches

[c627627]

$7.99 sale, no coupons, no rebates:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119283



Obviously we are not buying this for power surge protection but for the individual switches which, for some bizarre reason, are not widely available from manufacturers. I mean this is a no brainer: if you have a Shredder, Scanner, Laser Printer, External Hard Drive(s), etc. all of which you rarely use, then why not simply SWITCH them ON only when you need them through an individual ON/OFF switch device like this one? You know, have little labels underneath. Why are these not widely available everywhere, it's 2014.


The only alternative appears to be http://www.tripplite.com/sku/TLP76MSG which is also a "real" power surge protector but at three times the price. Which, if you are ordering three of these for example, gets up there price-wise.



So, can someone please post what the problem is with simply plugging the Rosewill into a real power surge protector and have the individual switches be protected by real power surge protection that way, since Rosewill protection may not be enough by itself?

On other forums they posted this is not recommended, but did not post reasons why.

 

[Neuromancer]

Not recommended because you will have 6 power drawing devices going through a single outlet on another device.

While one can easily make sure the wattage draw of the 6 devices being utilized is kept under a safe level, not everyone will do so and will try running an air conditioner, a microwave and there 1500W Computer system through it

jk, but I think that is their point.

 

[TiZakit]

Why don't more of these exist? Probably because electricity is cheap. Our outlets also don't have switches on them, like exist in other countries. Why should that leap have been made to power strips? I'm also a bit lazy I guess. I'm not sure I'm going to go under my desk to turn my shredder on, so I can save less than a dollar per year.

 

[freakdiablo]

Why don't more of these exist? Probably because electricity is cheap. Our outlets also don't have switches on them, like exist in other countries. Why should that leap have been made to power strips? I'm also a bit lazy I guess. I'm not sure I'm going to go under my desk to turn my shredder on, so I can save less than a dollar per year.

There are a lot of things that lack the obvious. I've got a surge protector that both expands and has the outlets at a 45 degree angle, so it can accommodate almost any size and shape wall wart you can imagine. Why don't more have that?

 

[c627627]

Why don't more of these exist? I'm not sure I'm going to go under my desk to turn my shredder on, so I can save less than a dollar per year.

People accidentally shred papers and cables, etc. It's not about money. External drives controlled with an on/off switch physically cut access off. Desk lamps can be turned on/off. Why have a scanner on if you use it once every few months. This is not about money but about a very useful product for a lot of people.


So I suppose if we use devices like that and not Microwaves, vaccums, etc. We are ok plugging these into a real surge protector?

 

[Luke1978]

Surge protectors don't improve power delivery under normal circumstances, just saves you a trip to the breaker box (if your electric install is up to snuff that is) and protects against power anomalies coming IN to the system such as lightning strikes, malfunctions on the hardlines that might cause spikes in the power delivery etc.

I think this little power strip is a great idea for anyone with common sense. neuro is right though, I wouldn't use this AND a surge protector.

 

[c627627]

External hard drive connected to it or a scanner or even a printer do not draw much, correct?


If they were directly connected to a real power surge protector, they would be protected, also correct?


You need to post why then, connecting the Rosewill to a real power surge protector would not be a good idea for them, since we established that it may be not a good idea for high powered devices, but why not specific devices mentioned, which should not overload anything under full power.

 

[GaldedRaw]

Because the safety factor of causing a fire with a daisy chain set up? Yes. People do it with no problems, but that doesn't guarantee that it will never happen. That's just my father in me talking (He's in the fire fighting business for over 40 years now). The young, stupid, and Marine in me, if your gonna bend over and flip a switch, what is the extra effort to just unplug the dang cable? Some people are lazy, even with convince in technology today. Ya, I guess you can just hit the switch with your toe too.

Most devices today still draw power even if it is not on. Shredders and scanners are a good example, or a more common item everyone should be used to by now, cellphone chargers. Unless there the circuit is completely open, power is running through it and being used.

 

[Luke1978]

Besides, it is a surge protector.

The Rosewill RPS-200 power strip delivers superior power protection for home / small office appliance and other connected devices. 6 outlets with individual illuminated switch offers you the flexibility to turn off the equipment independently so you can always keep some devices on, such as modem, router and the video surveillance. 15-amp circuit breaker is equipped to instantly react to catastrophic events and overloads, providing the maximum protection.


SUPERIOR SURGE PROTECTION
With 1875W maximum power and a 15-amp breaker, the Rosewill RPS-200 protects your valuable equipment and data from AC surges and spikes.
newegg
6 OUTLETS
6 outlets with individual switch for every outlet allow independent control for connected devices.

 

[c627627]

I suppose we would be back at the old discussion on how there is no standard label so there is absolutely no way to tell what the quality of a given power surge protector is just by looking at it or its specs.... but we do know that they are not all the same and they cannot protect you the same, and please do post and correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Tripp Lite costs three times more and I don't think I've read anybody saying anywhere the price is arbitrary or that they're all the same. But yes it is an assumption that the Rosewill strip, though better than nothing, will not protect the same as Tripp Lite.


As for the other poster making a point that these are rare on the market because "screw the lazy people" first of all, yes, hiring managers have already hired people who think like that, they swell the ranks of Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec and other companies, especially other software companies and they cost their companies $ millions for not catering to the "lazy"


Here's how I have a similar product set up:






The on/off switch to my laser printer is *extremely* hard to get to, it was not meant to be accessed quickly or often. With this product, as pictured, it is within my reach on rare occasions that I do need to print at home, I suppose I could just have it ON all the time, making noises, warming up and what not, right? No, I'm not going to do that.

I use the scanner a lot less frequently, some scanners have their light permanently on by the way (design flow?) either way, this type of product switches it ON/OFF easily and quickly.


This has never happened to me but I am amazed how often I talk to people who accidentally dropped stuff in their always ON shredders! Most recently, I know someone who shredded their satellite radio antenna cable because, incredibly it fell right into the shredder, activating it and damaging it, expensive trip to the store followed.


In their wisdom, some shredder manufacturers also made it difficult to access the on/off button, my shredder has a slider, it doesn't switch, you slide it left-right to turn it on/off. Easy, right?

Well, not for a frail mother in law who actually can operate an on/off switch but she cannot operate a sliding switch. Should we dump her into the lazy file too? Learn to not get old grandma



My favorite use for it is to turn my external hard drives ON/OFF. Newsflash: Many, if not most External Hard drives do not have an ON/OFF switch (!) Why would I possibly want to keep my two 4TB external drives ON when not in (rare) use?!?

I mean, by simply using the switch, I protect them from being accessed since all my back ups are there!

I have my DVD collection transferred to the other one, and the absolute only reason for that is because I cannot place my old DVD movie in the DVD player and press Play and watch the movie. Because you know the drill: first the previews, then the warnings, then some more warnings, then the movie studio logos and intros... Dealing with that each and every time just to watch a movie I paid for? I *had to* get rid of all that, and place the movies on the external drive, so now with a simple ON/OFF switch, once in a blue moon, I play the movies I own from my DVD collection directly from the external hard drive, through the HDMI cable onto the big screen Plasma, with the added bonus of picture being better than when played directly from the DVDs using the DVD player. I don't do that often, and it would be insane keeping those external hard drives spinning for no reason for a month or more when I could simply switch them ON/OFF with a product like this.


The point is, I don't see these at office stores, or at Walmart or Target. Maybe it's because the manufacturers don't want to cater to the lazy?

 

[Adragontattoo]

My father has an ANCIENT desktop CRT stand/surge suppressor that has a switch per outlet. He bought it new in ~1993(if not earlier) and other than a move, and construction it has been in use 24/7 constantly to this day. The lighted switches are either unlit or flickering now but it has never failed to work.

I constantly keep an eye out for one (or three) for my house. I would LOVE to be able to kill power to the various peripherals that I rarely use as needed without having to dig around the back to unplug or switch them off. All of mine would be plugged into a UPS (as possible, since printers aren't UPS friendly.) Hell I would have one under my Receiver as well, to kill my Boxee or Roku, or even my Sub if so desired.

The point is, I don't see these at office stores, or at Walmart or Target. Maybe it's because the manufacturers don't want to cater to the lazy?

Partly that and partly because it isn't what the majority wanted. Most folks won't ever use the individual switches and only need an extension or "power strip" to plug in more stuff. They don't know or care that the external HDD is spinning even when not in use, they just know it works.
For a while there was what my father had, this was back when CRT's and PentiumI,II,III,etc. was NEW. Those LOVED power and you wanted to kill them when not in use because of how much they cost. The CRT became an LCD, the Desktop wasn't so much of a power hog and the printer wasn't Dot Matrix. At that point that same piece of HW was rebadged, rebranded and installed in the entertainment center, to handle all the various components there. at a MUCH higher price. Eventually it too went away due to a lack of sales.

It doesn't matter that X item doesn't have a power switch, most folks don't care and only want it to work INSTANTLY!

The MAJORITY of people are lazy. Impatient. and very, very stupid. A switch will likely result in complaining about how crappy the equipment is because it "never worked" or it "just stopped working" or how "it takes forever to start up" because that person is impatient and wants it to work INSTANTLY!

Warning labels are funny but ONLY because most of the folks who read them AREN'T dumb enough to try to run the hair dryer to dry their hair while IN THE SHOWER or SURPRISED that a curling iron is hot or that the new Chef's knife they just bought IS SHARP and may cut things!

By the way, http://www.amazon.com/Patuoxun-Supe...=1395046466&sr=1-4&keywords=individual+switch

 

[TiZakit]

These used to be popular too.



Edit, looks like something similar still exists too: http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-MT...d_sim_e_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ND6GHKR2NQ7MK7SYYAE

 

[Luke1978]

Warning labels are funny but ONLY because most of the folks who read them AREN'T dumb enough to try to run the hair dryer to dry their hair while IN THE SHOWER or SURPRISED that a curling iron is hot or that the new Chef's knife they just bought IS SHARP and may cut things!

By the way, http://www.amazon.com/Patuoxun-Supe...=1395046466&sr=1-4&keywords=individual+switch

What i find amusing about warning labels is the fact that either A: someone actually tried that or B: Someone in a think tank thought of it.

Like the woman that burned her privates and was scared for life by McDonald's Coffee. Personally if i ordered a coffee and it was cold I would have been pissed. Welcome to America

Saw a warning label on a Bic lighter once, said Caution: Do not place in microwave...... seriously wtf.

As you mentioned, some of the Caution; May become hot warning labels dumbfound me.

 

[c627627]

This is off topic but a whole movie was made recently exposing how things were not what they seemed in that case and how McDonald's was at fault and that it wasn't about a frivolous law suit at all. It wasn't about coffee being a little too hot.

They usually put those warning labels to protect themselves from frivolous law suits, which McDonald's case was not. Corporations used our ignorance about that case to try to push through new regulations essentially allowing them to do what they want without being held accountable by courts.

We thought the days when GM knew about deadly problems with their cars and did nothing about them were behind us. Days when they asked how much does it cost to pay off the families of the dead vs. cost of recall. Just now in the news we hear how GM is under a criminal investigation for knowing about fatal problems in Chevrolet and other cars and doing nothing about them because they figure they can buy us and our representatives and not be held responsible. There are details about that McDonald's case we did not know about, it's a good example of how things work. Here: http://www.hotcoffeethemovie.com

 

[Adragontattoo]

What i find amusing about warning labels is the fact that either A: someone actually tried that or B: Someone in a think tank thought of it.

Like the woman that burned her privates and was scared for life by McDonald's Coffee. Personally if i ordered a coffee and it was cold I would have been pissed. Welcome to America

Saw a warning label on a Bic lighter once, said Caution: Do not place in microwave...... seriously wtf.

As you mentioned, some of the Caution; May become hot warning labels dumbfound me.

Look up the ACTUAL story about the Mcdonalds Coffee case and you will NEVER use it as an example again.

Short version:
They knew it was dangerously Hot and continued to serve it. The cup was completely full and scalding hot as a result she got burned badly. She originally asked for Medical and nothing else, Mcdonalds played dirty and lost badly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants

These used to be popular too.

View attachment 141051

Edit, looks like something similar still exists too: http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-MT...d_sim_e_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ND6GHKR2NQ7MK7SYYAE

Your picture was the example I mentioned Tizakit, my father is still using one very similar to that after ~20 years or so. Eventually Monster and other companies rebranded those for A/V use and multiplied the price by a factor of 20.

 

[Neuromancer]

Those things are great very retro, a buddy of mine found one at a thrift shop.

OT: I think WHY would they say do not plug it in into another power strip has been adequately covered. It covers their butts from people that have no understanding of electricity. (People I know might understand that a AC unit on high and there $400 vaccuum cleaner might trip the breaker if run on the same circuit, but have no idea what a circuit is or even how to tally up wattage requirements).

As for the current direction of the thread, "why would someone want this?" That is far too subjective to get people to agree on.

The efficacy of surge protectors aside, there are aesthetic, fiscal and environmental concerns.

Would you want this glaring at you on your desk/counter top? Some wont care, some might like it, others will not.

fiscally, it is worth $7 to have speedy access to turning on devices? Sure why not. Is it worth $7 + shipping, to save a few watts of power a day? No probably not. A free solution that would save those same watts (maybe more!) would be as mentioned, just unplug the stuff.

this goes back to aesthetics, if you have this on your desk great, if it is on the floor under your desk, then flipping hte switch really isn't easier than unplugging it.

Environmentally? One could market this to amateur environmentalists that do not realize that the production and distribution of a power strip may be more environmentally damaging than generating a few kilowatt hours of power.

there is no right or wrong answer. If you want one, get it, there is no need to defend the choice. If you do not want it, don't buy it. I am sure there is something else you can spend $7 on



Lastly I think it was the OP that pointed out external drives do not always have power switches on them.

If the external HDD is merely "additional storage" then turning it off is not a big deal. If however it is used for data backup, then it should be both physically unplugged data and power wise at the very least. If not physically moved to a more secure location. Even a few feet to the other side of a room can increase survivability from nature, theft or other psychical damage to the original system.

 

[Luke1978]

Look up the ACTUAL story about the Mcdonalds Coffee case and you will NEVER use it as an example again.

Short version:
They knew it was dangerously Hot and continued to serve it. The cup was completely full and scalding hot as a result she got burned badly. She originally asked for Medical and nothing else, Mcdonalds played dirty and lost badly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants

I'm aware she got burned badly, and sorry, but i will continue to use it as an example of a societal flaw. She ordered HOT coffee, she did NOT order luke warm coffee, nor did she order a half cup of coffee. If I filed a lawsuit every time I didn't like the results of MY OWN actions I'd have several made for TV movies, an HBO special, a few books, and my own wiki.

Coffee temperature
In 1994, a spokesman for the National Coffee Association said that the temperature of McDonald's coffee conformed to industry standards.[2] An "admittedly unscientific" survey by the LA Times that year found that coffee was served between 157 and 182 °F, and that two locations tested served hotter coffee than McDonald's.[27]
Since Liebeck, McDonald's has not reduced the service temperature of its coffee. McDonald's policy today is to serve coffee between 80–90 °C (176–194 °F),[28] relying on more sternly-worded warnings on cups made of rigid foam to avoid future liability, though it continues to face lawsuits over hot coffee.[28][29] The Specialty Coffee Association supports improved packaging methods rather than lowering the temperature at which coffee is served. The association has successfully aided the defense of subsequent coffee burn cases.[30] Similarly, as of 2004, Starbucks sells coffee at 175–185 °F (79–85 °C), and the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America reported that the standard serving temperature is 160–185 °F (71–85 °C). Retailers today sell coffee as hot or hotter than the coffee that burned Stella Liebeck.

 

[Bobnova]

Send one to me. I'll take it apart and ID everything, put it back together, then send it back. We'll see just how surge protectorish it really is. My bet? Not very.

Only reason they say not to daisy chain is the idiots who plug six power strips each with six devices that draw 55 watts each into an outlet with aluminum wiring rated at 15 amps that has a breaker rated for 20 amps, set the thing on fire, die, have a lawyer for a brother, and cost everybody a lot of money.
If you aren't an idiot, and pay attention to your load, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it IMO.

Bonus: I bet some/many power strips have wiring and connections that are actually too small for 15 amps.



EDIT: If you order something hot, don't (*#!%* spill it on yourself. I should sue somebody for burning myself with my soldering iron, it didn't have enough warnings on it. For that matter, maybe I should go poke something into an electrical outlet at an airport and then sue said airport when I get electrocuted, after all none of those outlets have warnings on them.

Or maybe I should take some (@*#&% responsibility and not be a bloody idiot, I don't know.


Coffee note: Coffee brewed at "safe" temperatures tastes blegh. Coffee stored at "safe" temps also tastes blegh. Coffee is supposed to be bloody hot.

 

[c627627]

It will cost more to ship one to you bra, than it would to just order one from newegg for $7.99 + Free newegg shipping + then you get to keep this incredibly useful six switch device


I'm not relying on it for surge protection, it's just a useful multi external hard drive on/off switch, desk lamp switch, etc.


Some people have no idea where the on/off switches are on some laser pronters and other devices. *incredibly* hard to get to. All the way behind in the back. No way anyone would opt to do that instead of a simple on/off switch device like this, given a choice for just $7.99.

 

[c627627]

I have an old DVD player that sometimes freezes on me. It's plugged in behind the stereo, behind the TV, major pain to get to that power cord.

Glad I bought three of these because the second one is going in there now Other switches on it I will use to plug in the router and the cable modem which sometimes need resetting. No mo' problems with that - easy switch ON/OFF