Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "" video.

I've bought a few switches that are basically just a pass through from the socket to a new socket with just a break in the middle for the switch. It can be kind of useful at times.
2
@lasskinn474 If you're using a bunch of stuff at the same time, you can get power strips that monitor one of the plugs to decide whether to power the rest of them. It can be really handy for things like TVs and computers where you might have other powered devices taking power out of an outlet. It's kind of a cool application of relays.
2
I used to live in China and in some places there were these physical cards that you'd have to insert into a slot mounted to the wall to get electricity. If the card wasn't there, there was no electricity in the unit.
1
@DonOblivious Same here, the electric company funded them because they want people to cut down on the power they use so they can sell the power to utilities outside the state where they're allowed to charge more.
1
@GLJosh Those definitely exist, and the local library has some kill-a-watt meters that can be borrowed. Last time I did that, I found that most of the things I owned didn't really have much draw when they were powered down. But, I got my parents a power strip that would power down most of the outlets when the TV was turned off. It happens automatically, so the TV is on the monitored line and the DVR was on a bypass line, and the rest of the stuff would get completely powered down every time the TV was turned off.
1
@Zundfolge If you own the house, a better solution would probably be to have AFCI breakers installed to cover that stuff.
1
@JohnRunyon Yes, I think the times when that happened were probably times when the wiring wasn't very good, and the device was in a sort of quasi on state which created a bunch of extra resistance on the circuit and led to a fire. These days, I think the closest you'll see to that is those stupid dimmer switches that can be set to a position where they aren't on, but they're not completely off. My mother's shop had a small fire due to that when I was a kid.
1