(upbeat music)
- Hey, it's Thomas here, and today we're doing
a quick review on the Kill A Watt PS-10 power strip.
If you wanna make sure you're plugging all
of your recent gear into a reliable, clean-looking
surge protected power strip with ten outlets
and a low-profile plug able to monitor the power consumption
of your system so you know that all of your gear
is working as it should, and ultimately is the same caliber
as the gear you're plugging in here rather than being
the weakest link of the system, then check out
the Kill-A-Watt PS-10.
I'm digging that low-profile plug.
Favorite kind of plug, hands down.
Reef tanks tend to have a lot of equipment on them,
like various pumps, dimmers, sterilizers
and lighting options that all need electricity to work,
meaning lots of power cords and lots of places
to plug them in.
It's really important to make sure that your solution
for power management is not only able
to provide enough outlets for all of the equipment
that you need, but also that it can do it
in a safe and reliable way.
Not just safe for the equipment to protect it
from being damaged but also safe for your home.
A rat's nest of cords plugged into your discount bin
power strip or two is not a recipe for success.
It's an accident waiting to happen.
The Kill-A-Watt PS-10 is a solid reliable power strip
with 10 outlets, surge protection,
an adjustable circuit breaker, and a whole lot
of cool tricks up its sleeve that can be useful
for any user.
The PS-10 has 10 outlets, 5 per side that face away
from each other, making it easier to fit all of your plugs
and power adapters without them getting crammed.
It also has a 90 degree low-profile plug
which I am very fond of.
It makes it a lot easier to get it in behind your tank
or other furniture if the outlet's covered,
or simply to keep the cord from sticking out from the wall
which makes it a lot easier to hide,
and right neatly across your baseboards,
and generally just less of an eyesore.
The LCD display is backlit and easy to read
and provides a real-time display of the power consumption
of all of the gear you have plugged into it.
The four buttons under the display that navigate
the various readings available, like voltage, wattage
or kilowatt hours.
And the on and off buttons do exactly
what you think they do,
giving you the ability to cut power to the outlets
and turn off your gear without having
to unplug the power strip.
The honest, more obvious application
of being energy conscious, monitoring the power consumption
of your reef tank can be a great way
to tell whether or not all of the equipment
you have running is working as expected,
or if, perhaps, something has failed,
or is in need of maintenance.
If you know roughly how much wattage
or power consumption your tank uses on a regular basis,
a drop in that consumption could indicate a piece
of equipment, like a heater or pump, has completely failed,
or is simply in need of some maintenance.
Like Ryan's mentioned previously, when pumps get grimy
and bog up and they stop working as efficiently,
the impellers are spinning slower,
and as a result, the pump actually uses
less electricity to run.
It's not uncommon for the pump to draw half
of the expected wattage and that would alert you
that the pump is in need of some love and care.
The PS-10 is going to show you the cumulative wattage
of everything plugged into the strip.
But, if you go from 700 watts down to 680,
that 20 watt loss is a pretty good indication
that something's not exactly what it's supposed to,
so you should go through all of the equipment plugged
into the strip just to make sure
everything's in tiptop shape.
The PS-10 also has safety measures
for the gear you're plugging into it.
Most notably, the surge protection
and adjustable circuit breaker.
Personally, if I'm going to be plugging in thousands
of dollars of reefing gear into a power strip,
I don't want the power strip to be the weakest link.
I wanna know that it's at least on par
with the gear that I'm plugging into it.
Otherwise, I'm just putting my gear,
and by extension, my tank and inhabitants
at unnecessary risks.
If a cheap power bar fails
and all of the equipment plugged into it shuts off,
deep trouble.
The PS-10 is not the only option for power management,
but it is definitely a trusted one of BRS
and has been used on various tanks including the 750XXL
and the BRS160.
Ryan actually has a fantastic episode
on how to wire up your reef tank.
You can check it out right here.
It gives you lots of options
and things to think about you probably haven't considered,
as well as tips on how to fix problems
that you don't even know you have yet.
So, give it a watch.
Even if your tank's already hooked up
and you think you've got your wire management right,
it's a good idea just to double check.
There's some really good tips in there.
(upbeat music)