Belkin Conserve Socket F7C009q Energy-Saving Outlet

Full Overview

Belkin Conserve Socket - Energy Saving Outlet (F7C009q).Makes your home safer by automatically shutting off space heaters, curling irons, coffee makers.Can be used throughout home for multiple devices including fans, cell phone chargers, lights, kitchen appliances, electric toothbrushes.

Technical Details

- Easy to set timer; 30 minutes, 3 hours or 6 hours. Continuous Duty Electrical Rating: 120V~/15A/60Hz/1800W. Operating Power Consumption: 0.18W
- Saves energy; completely cuts power after timer expires
- Makes your home safer by automatically shutting off space heaters, curling irons, coffee makers etc.
- Can be used throughout home for multiple devices including fans, cell phone chargers, lights, kitchen appliances, electric toothbrushes etc.
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging

With many "Conserve" products, Belkin doesn't necessarily create a brand new concept with their creation, but they excel in design and execution!

I am a fan of their remote-switch "Conserve" power strip, and I love this little gadget too.

It's essentially just a timer for an outlet, not unlike the existing products you can find on Amazon, but Belkin greatly simplified the controls, and made it so the power timer is on-demand instead of on a schedule.

Unlike the relatively complicated dials of some other timers, the controls on the Belkin Conserve Socket are pretty much idiot proof. There's a switch on the site that lets you choose from one of three time increments (1/2 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours), then a button on top to start the timer. It then shuts itself off when the time elapses. That's it! Easy.

It's perfect for keeping a lamp on while the kids go to sleep, for charging gadgets where you want to reduce phantom draw, and this Christmas, I think I'm going to try it out for attaching my Christmas tree lights (turning the lights on only when we want to for a time).

Overall this is a nice, simple (and inexpensive!) product.

This product works as advertised. It is just a relay that kicks off after the set amount of time. I like it because:

* It's dead easy to use
* It draws no power when off
* It is small and nice looking enough that you don't mind leaving it in a power socket
* It's rated for 15 amps, as much as any outlet can deliver, so you don't need to worry about whether you're plugging in something that could burn it out

I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars because I'd like more timeout choices than 1/2 hour, 3 hours and 6 hours.

My battery powered drills always need recharging and I was concerned about leaving them on the charger until I needed them. I've heard they could cause a fire if they get too hot. This product allows the tools to be charged but removes the danger. I purchased 4 outlets and also use them for our cell phones. You can keep your chargers plugged in but they do not draw electricity until you turn them on. The best thing is the time can be easily adjusted to 30 min, 3 hours or 6 hours. I am very pleased! The product is made very well, not shoddy.

I originally bought three of these, as I knew I wanted at least two right away. I sort of figured another usage would show itself eventually.

Anyway, I bought one for my stereo system, as I like to go to sleep with music. Yet, I wanted it to turn off the entire system after so many minutes, as I usually fall asleep pretty quickly. The 30 minute setting was perfect for this, and it performs flawlessly. I really like that the unit has a LED on the same side as the button, so you KNOW when it's on, AND, it's a green LED that turns bright immediately, then drops to a dim glow until the unit turns off. This is wonderful for bedrooms as the light is so low, you don't even notice it.

The other usage I got it for is to turn off my space heater in the winter time, as this unit can handle up to the full 15 amps of pass through current. I tested that, and that also works. I am not sure whether I will use the 30 minute, the 3 or 6 hour setting. See this is for my computer room, and I expect I'll only need it for the first 30 minutes, as my computer does a good job of heating the room after it's on a while.

Update: After only a couple of months, one of the units stopped working as a switch. It now just passes the electricity through, effectively leaving it turned on forever. This makes it worthless when it fails.

Got this as a Poka-yoke* for the women in my home. Seems any appliance with word "iron" in it has a tendency to be left on. This little device is great. It leaves the plug energized for 30 minutes, three hours or six hours (selectable). It is a bit bulky, but with a little effort, we were able to still plug in the GFI protected hair dryer in the bottom plug (there is no tendency to accidentally leave the hair dryer on). The only thing that I think would make this appliance better would be a one-hour setting. Sometimes the plug shuts off before the women in the house get to the iron. A simple push of the button grants an additional 30 minutes, so it really isn't that big of a deal. It came in frustration-free packaging (thanks Amazon) and was a breeze to open and install in minutes. It came with instructions, but I don't think I would want to meet the type of person that would need them. This thing is SIMPLE. I'm very happy I found this product. You should give it a try.

*Poka-yoke is a Japanese term that means "fail-safing" or "mistake-proofing". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System. It was originally described as baka-yoke, but as this means "fool-proofing" (or "idiot-proofing") the name was changed to the milder poka-yoke.
-Source: [...]

I bought this device for one specific job. I have a straightening iron that doesn't have an auto off function, and I often forget to unplug it, leaving it burning hot for hours at at time. The risk of burning my house down is too great for me to ignore, so I looked for a timer device on a plug. This fits the bill perfectly. It's a simple device, a slider switch on the side decides the on time between 30min\3 hours\6 hours, and an on switch to turn it well, on :).

This device does what it advertised well, and is reasonably priced.

My only complaint is that there isn't a 15min option.

Got 3 of them to use for all types of stuff. Good example now is I use them in room with a fan so I can turn it on when going to bed and have it turn off by the time I'm asleep. I also use it with my toothbrush charger that I don't need being powered for 8+ hours. And plan to use this winter with holiday lights! Highly recommend.

This is real handy for attaching to leave on accidentally like an iron (if you have one that doesn't shut off by itself), or (in my case) a small space heater. Having it avoids that annoying walk back, usually once I'm in bed, because I forgot if I remembered to shut the heater off.

However, it's not all gravy. The switch is on the socket, the socket is plugged into the wall, and that is not necessarily in the most convenient location. I've had to run an extension cord so the Conserve Socket would be in a place where it's convenient to reach.

Another reviewer made the excellent observation that there is no off switch. That's true and the manual that comes with this says that if you want to turn it off you just unplug it from the wall. It's not a bad solution but also not the most convenient.

Here's my suggestion to Belkin. (Are you listening Belkin?) Make a "Conserve Socket Plus" (you heard about it here first) that turns on when the thing that is plugged into it turns on. At that point the timer starts. The socket turns off either with the timer runs down or when the device is switched off. When the device is switched back on the timer resets. How would that be built? Got me, I'm no engineer. Well, I am but that's besides the point.

All that said, even if you don't have the "Plus" model that doesn't exist yet, this is handy and useful if you are aware of it's limitations and drawbacks.

As far as energy savings... the claim made by Belkin is that "in a typical American household, there could be up to 40 devices drawing constant power. This can average up to $100 year in additional energy costs." Estimates, averages, and rounding aside, that's $0 per device per year savings for an investment of about $10 (plus shipping). That's a 4 (plus) return on my investment for a device that comes with 1 year warranty. Like I said up top, this is good for the safety and convenience but probably not for the savings.

My wife told me recently that this was one of the most useful gadgets I have purchased for her. I agreed. She uses it in the bathroom on her hair straightener. It turns the straigtener off after 15 min. I no longer have to wait in the car in the driveway, while she runs inside to make sure she unplugged her hair appliances.

With the proliferation of handheld and other portable electronic devices, our homes have become veritable warrens of cables, cords, and power supplies. In my own house there is hardly an outlet that is not used up by a power supply for an electronic device or a computer. Aside from their aesthetic downside, many of these power supplies waste power even when your gadget is not being charged. This so called "vampire" power waste is becoming an increasingly serious problem for the home electronics products. There are several new products and devices that aim to curb this wasteful power consumption. Belkin conserve socket is one of the most straightforward and elegant of these solutions, but it comes with some limitations. It has a good, solid build quality and it also looks pretty good attached to any outlet. It is designed to completely shut itself off after ½ an hour, 3 hours or 6 hours depending on which setting you choose. Due to the limited number of options and settings this socket is ideal for use with the devices that need to be charged on a schedule, such as cell phones and power tools.

I find that this conserve socket has a couple of minor design flaws. It is rather large and it cannot fit easily on a power strip if you want to attach more than one device. I am not sure if all of the recent wall outlets have the middle pin hole at the bottom, but in my house all of them are on the top. This means that when I plug in Belkin conserve socket it will be placed upside down, and hence all of the socket settings and on/off button will not be easily accessible. I am not sure if the particular pin layout at my house is something that is an anomaly, but it would be useful if the Belkin conserve socket were able to be adjusted so that it can accommodate different electric outlet setups.