Don't get bitten by vampires! Posted
With the recent increases in energy rates, consumers are under intense pressure to save money. One major drain on budgets is 'vampire appliances’. Consuming power even when not in use, these appliances cost households hundreds of pounds per year.
Smart technology may significantly cut living expenses in respect of these appliances.
According to British Gas, up to 23% of residential electricity usage is due to 'vampire energy' drawn by phone chargers, set-top boxes, monitors, printers, and other devices that continue to take power when not in use or on standby. A Sky box, for example, can consume 30W, which costs more than £70 each year, and laptop chargers at £60 a year. With our modern homes being laden with gadgets, it's easy to see how it all soon mounts up.
Consumer demand for smart accessories initially sprang from the novelty, convenience and versatility afforded by such devices. However, now, in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis, additional benefits come to the fore, such as being able to better manage energy-burning equipment through voice or App control. Interestingly, Knightsbridge's last survey of over 1,000 electrical contractors revealed that a high percentage of the trade were very much aware of smart technology but there was less confidence about installing smart products. Happily, that's where the latest range of Knightsbridge smart products comes into its own.
At the heart of the Knightsbridge range are two 13A, 2-gang, smart switched sockets that can be controlled remotely or by voice. The sockets, which were designed to match the company's existing square and curved edge accessory ranges, have a power monitoring function that displays live power usage in kWh and a green LED that indicates which gang is in use. For outdoors, there is an IP66, 2-gang switched socket with a range of up to 40m depending on Wi-Fi coverage.
The range also includes a 16A smart plug adapter, a 10A 3-gang smart extension lead with a quad USB charger, and smart motion and entry sensors to help extend the smart capability of the home.
Knightsbridge also has a range of smart LED downlights available that may give a variety of illumination settings. Depending on the model, the homeowner can change not just the colour temperature from warm white to daylight and everything in between, but also the RGB colour, which has over 16 million variations.
Designed to be easily installed and quickly configured into Knightsbridge’s user-friendly SmartKnight app, the wiring accessories and lighting products can be controlled via a smartphone. To get started the user simply downloads the SmartKnight app to their smartphone from either Google Play or the Apple App store and follows the instructions.
Once downloaded they will be able to take advantage of a variety of features, including timers, schedules, scenes, and geo-fencing (so devices can activate when the user gets home). And users can also issue instructions to either Alexa or Google Assistant to turn on downlights or turn off connected appliances.
The Knightsbridge range of smart products makes use of existing home routers to install a simple-to-use smart system that provides ease, flexibility, and scalability – and, most crucially, cheaper energy expenses.
The cost-of-living crisis is hitting consumers pockets in a way not seen since the 1970s, and the Knightsbridge collection of intelligent app-controlled accessories have a critical role to play during this difficult time.