For $330, an Extension Cord With a Brain

How smart does an extension cord need to be? Well, if it’s in a garage full of exotic cars or in an antiques restoration shop, you might want it to be pretty smart.
To address that presumably small audience — along with all-out gadget freaks — Great Stuff manufactures RoboReel, a $330 robotic extension cord reel that uses a motor to carefully rewind a 50-foot three-outlet extension back into the spherical housing.

Why does that matter? Garages and shops commonly use wall-mounted retractable power cords that are spring-driven. Those cords zip back into a housing quickly, but the end can whip around, potentially scarring paint and wiping out delicate items in its path.
RoboReel uses a motor to retract the 12-gauge cable at a controlled pace, and the computer inside will slow the last bit to a crawl, so that it doesn’t slam into the housing. You can even set the distance at which the cable slows down.
The smarts don’t end at winding the cord, though. The reel can’t retract when in use; it stops trying to retract if the cord is obstructed. If you cut through the cord, the power shuts down to avoid shock. There is also a 15-amp circuit breaker mounted in the wall plug.
If you are going to charge this kind of money for a winder, it had better look pretty sharp, and it does. The cleverly designed power plug has an on/off switch with orange LEDs that tell you the sockets are active. The LEDs match the high-impact plastic safety-orange housing and cradle.
The reel comes with a 4-year or 4,000-retraction warranty. The retractions are tallied by the computer inside.
Of course there are less expensive solutions. You can make a skein for free if you know how to properly wrap cable, or you can use a device like the hand winder from Griot’s Garage and retract the cord at the speed you choose. Of course, then you can’t brag that you have a robot in your garage.

View the original article here