This is a 2 for 1 deal at DSE.
Idividually switched 6-way power board with surge and overload protection, EMI and RFI filtering, long 2m mains lead, 275 Joule surge rating. Lifetime replacement warranty.
Individually switched 6-Way
Surge and Overload protection
EMI and RFI noise filtering
Lifetime replacement warranty
Cheers
It's a pretty good deal.. not an absolute bargain, but pretty decent.
Its quite a low joule rating indeed
good for individually switched boards.
im risking electrocution with my $5 safeway boards =)
too bad you have to buy 2.
A cheap and nasty power board.
The outlets are placed too closely together. There isn't room for a wall-wart style power plug without fouling adjacent sockets. There is probably only room for 3 wall-warts.
At 275J, it has a very low joule rating. While most lighting strikes are less than 100J, a close-by strike can easily exceed 1KJ.
MOV's have a finite life. They can typically on absorb only 2 or 3 events. This board doesn't have an indicator to show that the MOV's have gone open-circuit (and are no longer providing protection)
Even as a two-for-one deal, this is not attractive. I wouldn't trust my expensive equipment to this kit.
Just to indicate how poor these boards are, I did a quick eBay search and turned up:
A single socket APC surge protector rated at 1KJ for $26 + $9.90 shipping to any major city
An 8-way power boardwith widely spaced sockets rated at 3.4KJ for $34.90 + $15 shipping. Another similar for $36.90 + $7.90 shipping.
A Digitek 8 Way power board rated at 3.4KJ for $30 + $15 shipping.
The Dick Smith boards, even at $25 each, are poor value. If you are serious about protecting your gear, get professional-level APC gear. It will cost well over $100 for a power board, but you can reasonably expect it to protect the equipment.
interesting read, Thank you…
What about this one?
http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/4b5da55503c04cf…
Half price at $60 atm, 2kJ and accommodates lots of input types
EdIT: weird… I've written this as point 4 and even when I edit it it still says point 4 but in the actual post it says 1…
It's a 6 way board but in reality only 3 or 4 are usable if you have a couple of plug packs. Why are they still making un-spaced power boards? Don't they realise plug packs require wider space?
It saves them a bit of copper. It's the same reason why the cords are so short now compared with older power boards.
I bought this mostly for the individually switched option. This way I can stop power to plasma/xbox/ps3/stereo as required and save some electricity. Not sure if there are individually switched boards lower than 25$. The surge protection is a bonus.
Does their warranty cover damage to any equipment connected through it when they fail to protect against surges?
This is something else I thought of when reading this. If it doesn't, it's really not a good buy at all. I'd much rather spend the extra $ and get something that insures all of my electronics.
Why do manufacturers insist of on putting the power sockets so close together? No romm for atandard size power packs. Poor design.
Definitely a good deal. I bought this a year ago when they had the same deal.