When it comes time to automate our homes, many of us turn to smart plugs. We can easily upgrade our dumb devices with a smart plug, allowing us to do everything from turning them on and off remotely to programming timers and schedules. Whether you want your coffee maker to start brewing before you get up in the morning or turn your fan off after you’ve fallen asleep, a smart plug can make it possible without expensive upgrades. As convenient as they are, they don’t always play well with the other power accessories we have in our homes.
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If you use smart plugs in your home, you may have looked at your power strip and wondered if you could control multiple devices at once, or maybe you don’t have enough outlets and figured a power strip could make things easier. After all, most of us have power strips lying around our homes, especially if our wall outlets are limited, and smart plugs advertise pretty generous maximum wattage limits. Taking advantage of a power strip’s extra outlets feels like a simple way to get even more use out of your smart plug. While this may sound like a good idea in theory, in practice, plugging a power strip into a smart plug isn’t something you should do.
Manufacturers advise against plugging smart plugs into power strips
At first glance, using a power strip with a smart plug may seem harmless. You may even think it could be an easy way to control several devices at once. In reality, plugging a power strip into a smart plug can come with serious safety risks, and most manufacturers advise against this practice. These concerns come down to how smart plugs are designed. While there are many creative ways to use smart plugs around the house, plugging a power strip into a smart plug isn’t one of them. Every smart plug has a maximum amount of power it can handle, typically based on the combined wattage of all devices plugged into it. When you add a power strip to the mix, it becomes a whole lot easier to go over that limit without even realizing it. Even a seemingly small device can push the load too high if you connect enough of them at the same time.
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Beyond the risk that comes from overloading, there’s also the issue of heat buildup. If the smart plug you’re using draws more power than it’s rated for, its internal components can overheat, which increases the chances of damage or, in the worst-case scenario, fire. A smart plug is designed to be plugged into a wall outlet, where it can get a stable supply of power and be grounded properly. If you use a power strip or extension cord with a smart plug, it could interfere with how it manages power and even keep its built-in safety features from working correctly if something goes wrong. There are quite a few smart plugs worth buying, and you want to be sure you protect your investment by not risking damage from plugging a power strip into it.
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