Using an Aeotec Smart Strip

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A while back I decided that it would be nice to have our son’s bedroom lamp, white noise machine and humidifier all plugged into Z-Wave automation switches. But I no longer had any free modules and this meant that I’d need to purchase three Z-Wave plug-in modules. That’s not a small cost and would require more room than was available at the outlet or involve a very ugly set of power cables.

To resolve this problem, and also reduce cost, I decided to purchase an Aeotec DSC11 Smart Power Strip. This power strip provides six power outlets with four of them controllable using Z-Wave. The four can also be controlled as a single unit to turn all of them on or off.

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This turned out to work well. I have it connected to my Indigo software and also an Aeon Labs Minimote. On the Minimote one button controls only the lamp and another controlls the noise machine and humidifier as a group.

I haven’t had any problems with this device.

Cleaning a Vicks Vaporizer (Humidifier)

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We bought a Vicks Vaporizer a few years ago. Last season we noticed that its performance had degraded and this week, when I filled it up and plugged it in, it didn’t appear to be working. I figured it probably needed to be cleaned but I wasn’t certain how so I located some posts in a few forums that described the basic process. Fortunately, it’s very simple.

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