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Best smart Socket/Plug

OU812

Looking for a little advice from those in the know. Want to pick up a smart plug, was thinking demo, but is there a better one to go for ?

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Black_Knight

Hey all.

Any reason I shouldn't get a TP-LINK Wi-Fi Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring | HS110 ?
I don't have an Alexa, but i'd like to be able to turn a couple of sockets in the house on/off remotely (either while on the same network, or when my phone's using mobile data.).

kennM

Black_Knight wrote: »

Hey all.

Any reason I shouldn't get a TP-LINK Wi-Fi Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring | HS110 ?
I don't have an Alexa, but i'd like to be able to turn a couple of sockets in the house on/off remotely (either while on the same network, or when my phone's using mobile data.).

HS 110 is a little more expensive than the HS100 (Have a bunch of them myself), added feature is the monitoring. Both should serve your need very well. Personally can't fault the HS100s although I'd like a HS110 or two just to see how much energy certain things use.

Black_Knight

kennM wrote: »

HS 110 is a little more expensive than the HS100 (Have a bunch of them myself), added feature is the monitoring. Both should serve your need very well. Personally can't fault the HS100s although I'd like a HS110 or two just to see how much energy certain things use.

Cheers. Only €5 in the difference between them in HN. Worth the energy monitoring for it. I had plans to buy an energy monitoring plug/socket for the PC anyways, so win win. I'll use it for a benchmark and then repurpose the plug for something smarter. I dont fancy killing power to the PC just to power it of. Teamviewer does that for me.

Black_Knight wrote: »

Cheers. Only €5 in the difference between them in HN. Worth the energy monitoring for it. I had plans to buy an energy monitoring plug/socket for the PC anyways, so win win. I'll use it for a benchmark and then repurpose the plug for something smarter. I dont fancy killing power to the PC just to power it of. Teamviewer does that for me.

That is exactly how I'm using my HS110 at the moment. I'm moving it around the house from device to device to get a feel for how much energy everything is using. Once done, I'll just use it for remote on/off.

Black_Knight

Grabbed 2 in HN. 35 each. Happy out so far. Easy to setup and giving me consumption readings straight away.

Ha Long Bay

Could anyone recommended a wifi smart switch for an electric pump or immersion? The pump has a regular on-off switch like below.

http://www.immersion-heater.ie/img/pumpspur.png

Jaden

Look into the Sonoff stuff, it's been posted here before. You'd get a wifi switch to do this for under a tenner delivered.

Bluefoam

Got a Kasa update this weekend for the TP Link Smart Plug...

WHAT'S NEW

New products and integration coming soon. Stay tuned!
- Fixed various bugs and improved reliability

I'm interested to see what the new products are, but more interested to see how I can integrate it with my system... Since I bought more Hue system, I've not had much use for the TP Link Plug... To add it to Hue would be great, or even to integrate it with Harmony.

At the moment it is just waiting until December to operate the christmas tree lights.

Doodah7

I know TP Link have a range of wifi bulbs available in the US. I wonder if they are about to launch them in Europe now??

Ha Long Bay

Jaden wrote: »

Look into the Sonoff stuff, it's been posted here before. You'd get a wifi switch to do this for under a tenner delivered.

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any recommendations on WiFi switches?

Stoner

john4321 wrote:

Could anyone recommended a wifi smart switch for an electric pump or immersion? The pump has a regular on-off switch like below.

John, I'd strongly advise against getting something like the Sonoff switch for this.

They are ok. I have two, but they are pretty cheaply made, a standard immersion is rated at about 13 amps. The SNOFF claims its rated at 10 but personally I'd only use it for 5 so if have a fused spur , 5 amp along side it.

Using the SNOFF on an immersion would be very dangerous imo you'd need to get any wiring carried out here completed by a registered electrical contractor.

Lightwaverf RF have two options here both are 3000watt rated so a 13amp spur protecting them would be ok.
The electric heating connection unit or the larger single channel contactor would do the job.

Note lightwaverf is not two way reporting for its power modules so you turn it on and off but it doesn't confirm back if it's on.

I've have many of their devices and I have other power modules like Samsung etc that do feed back. However lightwaverf is a UK product and they are well made this is a big plus when it comes to larger inline electrical switching where copper and ratings come into effect.
I would only use SNOFF modules for small loads, certainly not for anything continuous like an immersion.

Ha Long Bay

Stoner wrote: »

John, I'd strongly advise against getting something like the Sonoff switch for this.

They are ok. I have two, but they are pretty cheaply made, a standard immersion is rated at about 13 amps. The SNOFF claims its rated at 10 but personally I'd only use it for 5 so if have a fused spur , 5 amp along side it.

Using the SNOFF on an immersion would be very dangerous imo you'd need to get any wiring carried out here completed by a registered electrical contractor.

Lightwaverf RF have two options here both are 3000watt rated so a 13amp spur protecting them would be ok.
The electric heating connection unit or the larger single channel contactor would do the job.

Note lightwaverf is not two way reporting for its power modules so you turn it on and off but it doesn't confirm back if it's on.

I've have many of their devices and I have other power modules like Samsung etc that do feed back. However lightwaverf is a UK product and they are well made this is a big plus when it comes to larger inline electrical switching where copper and ratings come into effect.
I would only use SNOFF modules for small loads, certainly not for anything continuous like an immersion.

Really appreciate the feedback. Im happy to leave the immersion as it is but would like to add WiFi switching to the shower pump. Looking at the lightwavef it seems like an expensive solution £90 hub and £80 switch.

Stoner

john4321 wrote:

Really appreciate the feedback. Im happy to leave the immersion as it is but would like to add WiFi switching to the shower pump. Looking at the lightwavef it seems like an expensive solution Â£90 hub and Â£80 switch.

It is expensive. I have the hub already it controls my heating and TRVs in the house I picked up the immersion switch for 40 pounds.

But as a once off its pricey , that said it's designed for UK loads so it suits us here too.

Their sockets look great too but the functionality offered by others is not there.

eBay is a good spot for it through.

Stoner

What's the rating on the shower pump? Typically switching loads like this is carried out by using a contactor you can tap into the lv side of the contactor then.

Ha Long Bay

Stoner wrote: »

What's the rating on the shower pump? Typically switching loads like this is carried out by using a contactor you can tap into the lv side of the contactor then.

Looking at the spec sheet the current is 1.9 amps and a fuse rating of 5 amps.

Stoner

john4321 wrote:

Looking at the spec sheet the current is 1.9 amps and a fuse rating of 5 amps.

That's reasonable. I'd still have a fused spur before the SNOFF , I fuse mine down so a fused spur with a five amp fuse before both the SNOFF and the pump would be good.

Ha Long Bay

Stoner wrote: »

That's reasonable. I'd still have a fused spur before the SNOFF , I fuse mine down so a fused spur with a five amp fuse before both the SNOFF and the pump would be good.

Looks like it will do the trick nice little unit. Can anyone recommend a seller? I see most of them are from China on eBay.

Stoner

john4321 wrote:

Looks like it will do the trick nice little unit. Can anyone recommend a seller? I see most of them are from China on eBay.

That's where I got mine

Ha Long Bay

Stoner wrote: »

That's where I got mine

Thanks ordered one now.

IK09

Does the TP Link HS100 smart plug integrate with Smartthings?

Stoner

IK09 wrote:

Does the TP Link HS100 smart plug integrate with Smartthings?

It's not a listed partnership. So you'd need to investigate a bit of custom settings work

TP Link Kasa smart products, including all their plugs work with GHome now

I can simply say:
"Hey Google, turn on plug"

They also support Alexa.

And while they don't officially support IFTTT, it seems you can get it working with just a little hacking:
http://itnerd.space/2017/01/22/control-your-tp-link-hs100-smart-plug-with-ifttt/

So it looks like the TP-Link smart plugs are getting a better ecosystem surrounding them, more similar to the Wemo plugs. However they still have a few things to add, hopefully we will see the following in time:

- Official IFTTT support
- Integration with Logitech Harmony
- Yonomi and Stringify support

OU812

bk wrote: »

TP Link Kasa smart products, including all their plugs work with GHome now

So it looks like the TP-Link smart plugs are getting a better ecosystem surrounding them, more similar to the Wemo plugs. However they still have a few things to add, hopefully we will see the following in time:

- Official IFTTT support
- Integration with Logitech Harmony
- Yonomi and Stringify support

Wemo don't support Homekit, correct? Do TP Link?

OU812 wrote: »

Wemo don't support Homekit, correct? Do TP Link?

Neither do. I suspect neither of them have the hardware required for Homekit support (needed for better encryption, etc.).

BobbyT28

Everything that is compatible with Apple Homekit

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/everything-that-works-with-apple-homekit/

Ha Long Bay

Jaden wrote: »

Look into the Sonoff stuff, it's been posted here before. You'd get a wifi switch to do this for under a tenner delivered.

Just a quick update got the Sonoff switch today. Connected up and working perfectly. It does exactly what I required. Had a few issues with initial WiFi setup but once registered its working 100%. Thanks for the advise.

J.pilkington

Have had the Tp-link energy monitor for a few weeks now and decided to try and use it today from outside the home for the first time and it seems you have to be on the same wifi. (I'm getting a message saying remote control disabled so maybe it's a setting issue).

Didn't realise this and if this is correct it's a big disappointment for me.

J.pilkington wrote: »

Have had the Tp-link energy monitor for a few weeks now and decided to try and use it today from outside the home for the first time and it seems you have to be on the same wifi. (I'm getting a message saying remote control disabled so maybe it's a setting issue).

Didn't realise this and if this is correct it's a big disappointment for me.

You have to set up an account with them and register the device while on the same wifi at home. It is just a one time thing, once setup it should work from then on.

J.pilkington

Hooked this up to my fridge, yesterday it read kw usage of over 3.2m kWh! seems to be working normally again

Anyone else ever see strange behaviour like this?

So I got the Energenie MiHome Start Kit for £37 at Christmas. It included 3 switches, so that worked out at £12 per switch, not bad. But even better I realised that the switches looked like a pack of 3 switches with remote that I had picked up in an Amazon sale three years ago for almost nothing for use with Christmas tree lights.

Yup, while different name on them, I was able to sync them to the MiHome hub, happy days, that makes it just £6 per switch.

However overall I've found the system a little poor. The lack of two way comms is certainly limiting. Also despite it having a hub, if you don't have internet connection, it won't work!!

But last night I discovered a fatal flaw that caused me to have to stop using 3 of the 4 I had found a use for.

It turns out of you lose power, they default to off when it comes back on! Complete pain in the ass, I couldn't figure out why my routers had come up after the power outage. Pain in the ass.

So overall I can't recommend this system, too immature and not well thought out.

I also have a TP-Link plug (energy monitoring one), which I was very happy to discover it automatically switches to the last state it was at before the power outage. So if it was on before, it defaults to on when it comes back up. Obviously much more expensive, but actually get the job done.

I'm liking the TP-Link, two way comms, still works when internet is down (but need wifi obviously), powers up to the last known state. My only complaint is that you can't reset the power measurement stats, for instance if moving the lug between different devices to measure them and get a feel for their power usage.