Experience with the LIDL Silvercrest USB power strip
Who does not need such a thing? A power strip with three sockets and four USB ports. Okay, maybe a bit much, but let’s be honest: There are not too many connections. My experience with the LIDL Silvercrest USB power strip is that it delivers what it promises and therefore very positive. I start with the most important positive and negative characteristics:
- Positive: Unagitated design and really many ports
- Negative: The USB power strip is unexpectedly large with a length of over 30cm
First impression
As already described above, I was first a bit surprised at how big the power strip turned out. But I quickly got used to it and now find it absolutely no longer annoying. At the end of the day, it’s just the way it is: All the connections have to be stowed away somewhere, but LIDL Silvercrest certainly still has some potential in terms of size.
Offers exactly what a power strip must be able to do
Design
I’ll keep it short: Functional, but a bit large. On the other hand, probably no power strip has won its own design award. That’s why the design is not the decisive factor in this category. But, of course, it should be possible to place the power strip as unobtrusively as possible.
Installation
The power strip is basically ready for immediate use and does not require installation. But if you want to use this also smart, then you need either the LIDL Home App (I can not help, but as far as I know is very easy to connect) and for all those who have Home Assistant and the Conbee II in use, can connect and use this as follows via the Zigbee network:
- Launch Deconz in Home Assistant
- Start search
- Then press and hold the On/Off button on the power strip for five seconds
- The 3 sockets are displayed as “on/off plug-in
The three individual sockets are then visible as separate entities in Home Assistant and can be controlled accordingly.
Functionality
The big advantage of this power strip is that the sockets can be switched on or off individually via the various apps or even Home Asisstant. On the power strip itself, it has a button to turn it on and off. The three sockets are controlled all at once. Also very helpful is the function that a small LED per socket signals whether it is on or not.
Important to know: The USB slots cannot be switched manually individually.
In the app of LIDL Home you can realize the following functionality according to the description:
- Multiple timer programs
- Countdown function
- Automatic power on/off (at sunset/sunrise)
- Automatic time change (summer/winter)
Conclusion
My experience with the LIDL Silvercrest USB power strip is very positive. This means that everything has worked as it should from the very beginning. No fancy stuff, no features, but simply a power strip that can do everything and can be integrated into a Zigbee network. I never had a failure or problem, which is why I can recommend it without reservation. In the end, of course, for such basics, the price is always an important factor: CHF 34.90 is a really good price, at which you can also overlook the somewhat clunky design 😉
More information is available here.
