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New Power Adapter Fixes Space Issues

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the for-those-who-didn't-like-the-clutter-of-the-squid dept.

Tributaries has just announced a solution to all or your oversized power adapter woes. The new T12 power strip features 12 different outlets and eight of them are located on the edge and can be rotated by as much as 90 degrees. The adapter also provides surge protection for RJ-11, RJ-45, and Coax if you so desire.

4 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Why by ZoneManSPW · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is a press release "stuff that matters?"

  2. I don't like it by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The thing is overpriced and it won't work as advertised. Look at your big wall wart, it is considerably wider than the plug and usually hangs out below the ground plug on the bottom. Look how close together those side plugs are. You would think the operative mode would be to alternate between top and side to plug in the most, but if you have them turned all the way down to the side then the wall wart will smack on the floor (causing the whole strip to rest at an angle).

    From what I see this strip won't be able to handle more than 5 oversized wall warts (two on each side, one on the top) without interfering with other plugs, which is not something I'd spend $120 on.

    Frankly, the plugs look rather jammed together on there. I have some power strips like that were even regular three prong plugs occasionally have problems (some manufacturers go crazy on the plastic around the plugs).

    For the next version of this strip, I suggest a few changes:
    1. Forget this rotating stuff, just space the plugs out on the top and put two of them on each side.
    2. Spread the plugs out a bit more
    3. Drop the price by half, or let Monster rebrand your equipment
    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  3. Re:What's in it for then uncooperative companies? by swm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wall warts are driven by the fact that UL ignores anything under 30 volts.

    If your product plugs directly into the wall, then it's a 120V device, and you have to get it UL approved, which costs $$$.

    Instead, you buy a wall wart.
    The wall wart is 120V, but the wall wart vendor already got it UL approved.
    Now your device is low voltage, and you don't need UL approval.

    This is a true, global economic saving, because the single UL approval for the wall wart saves the cost of UL approval for every product that uses it.

    Wall warts inconvenience consumers, because they block adjacent outlets on power strips, but few consumers make purchase decisions based on wall wart form factor, so there isn't much market pressure on vendors to deal with this problem.

  4. Re:A makeshift fix at best by lexarius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not necessarily for everything. When I look at my powerstrip jungle, I see that the only AC cables running into a device belong to the workstations and monitors. Everything else (which is most of it) is a mess of bricks and giant plugs. If those devices were standardized, one brick could service all of them. Or have a couple categories with different plug shapes for 5, 12, or other voltages. These devices don't have their converters physically close to their circuitry to begin with, so it shouldn't be a problem.