Intelligent mains extension lead panel. I seriously recommend you buy one...

[autopilot]

http://www.oneclickpower.co.uk/home.htm

Even if you don't care about the plannet, it will save you money and a load of hassle. I have one and it's great. Picked mine up at PC World for £19.99, but can be found cheaper elsewhere. I dont have to bother climbing under my desk to turn my speakers off anymore.

Buy one you lazy hippies

[hoodmeister]

So it cuts the power when something goes into standby? Neat!

[autopilot]

Yep. You you plug your PC into the black master socket and when you turn the pc off it turns off everything else thats plugged in. There is a 5 second delay to account for reboots etc.

[hoodmeister]

Thats groovy, although, thinking about it, I don't have an awful lot plugged into my PC that has its own power socket. There's my monitor, but I always turn that off anyway, cos' the standby light is very bright, and flashes...

Other than that, I can't really think of anything else. There's the router, but that needs to stay on incase other machines around the house want to access the 'net, and there's my speakers, but they're hooked up to my TV // DVD player, too... So I wouldn't want those flicking off.

So actually, it would be very little use, to me

[RedPutty]

I've been wondering about these.
Presumably some power is still being used as PCs have power running through them all the time to and it wont turn that socket off as its the one it uses to detect usage and control the other sockets.

I just use a normal extension strip with all my PC connected things plugged into it so I can switch them all off at once, including the PC.

[5lab]

i just leave my pc on

[autopilot]

i just leave my pc on

If its a server, Then you could use your monitor as the master. Turn that off and off goes your speakers, printer, force feedback wheel etc. Personally i think its a waste of resources leaving a PC running thats not doing anything. I have about 5 things to turn off with my PC though.

[DR]

If only I could feed this via my UPS - I hate how unstable power is around here

[autopilot]

You might be able to. Cant you plug it into your UPS?

[DR]

Would need to have a different plug on the end

[shelley bda]

I could do with one of these for my PC in the bedroom, the Monitor light flashes green, the power light inside the PC glows red ( my PC is in a clear case ) and the sub from my Soundsticks II lets off an eerie blue light which reflects around that corner of my bedroom

[Timmy!!!]

Will this work with my laptop? Does a laptop draw enough current when turned on/just charging to make it work properly? If it does I'm getting one!! Finally a way to turn on and off the external hard drive, speakers etc

www.quietpc.com/uk used to sell this i think.

[TheAnimus]

Would need to have a different plug on the end

Its not hard to change the plug to a kettle socket! I just soldered one of the kettle extension leads to a regular plug bar, easy.

But do you really want your speakers to be on the UPS'd line? No.

As for power useage, my biggest draw are the speakers, next its the charger for my mouse, don't want that to switch off now do i? Followed by my headphones charger.

Pretty much the only thing i want turning off our my speakers. Might nock up a simple schematic for those who are in this dilema, as my speakers are used by 2+ sources.

[Workaholic]

For me, I have my tower, speakers, monitors, printer, house DECT phone, battery charger, bluetooth headset charger all phugged into the same multi-socket.

Now my phone charger is plugged into a USB port and I leave these on charging over night.

In order to use this I will need to get a 2 way splitter, one for my existing externsion and one for my new intelligent extension, as I do not want my phone to be drained, battery charger, charger (If left plugged into the computer and its off, but on at mains - it charges, otherwise drains/discharges and I have no phone to use the following day.)
Also my DECT phone will cease to work, making me have to reprogram it if the battery's out!
Also I won't be able to know if anyone rang me etc.......

Lastly for anyone with a router, you don't want it connected to this intelligent extension as your other computers will not be able to access the net when this ones off.

[autopilot]

Will this work with my laptop? Does a laptop draw enough current when turned on/just charging to make it work properly? If it does I'm getting one!! Finally a way to turn on and off the external hard drive, speakers etc

www.quietpc.com/uk used to sell this i think.

Should work well with a laptop. I have asked Scan to stock these and Lee says he is looking into it.

[TheAnimus]

it would depend on the laptop, whilst the battery was charging probably no it wouldn't work it would just leave everything turned off. When the battery is trickle charging (that is to say its feals like its fully charged) then it would allow everything to switch off..... i think.