Which smart plug to buy

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acetone

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#213974 21-Apr-2017 19:30

Hi,

I am looking to get a smart plug. The main use would be to power a heater and be able to have custom schedules.

Which plugs let you have some sort of API access where I can write my own software to turn them on or off?

What plugs are other people using and recommend?

At the moment I am thinking of getting the dlink smart plug.

https://www.dlink.co.nz/home-solutions/dsp-w215-mydlink-wi-fi-smart-plug

edit: spelling.

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#1768585 21-Apr-2017 20:40

Depends. Budget? How handy are you with scripting etc?

I have several plug brands.

WeMo is good but SDK is closed so you need to use IFTTT

If you are good at scripting or programming I'd look at the Orvibo plugs. Good value and easy to control over your own network. Look on Trademe and they are also sold at Bunnings under the arlec brand.

Whatever you do don't get the Kankun smart plugs as the have no local control even though they are esp8266 based.

tchart

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#1768587 21-Apr-2017 20:43

Oh and for the D-Link ones they are way over priced. You can get a WeMo for less than that. The Orvibo on the other hand you can get for around $30.

If you really are wanting to write your own controls then lock at ninja blocks or open hab because if they aren't supported on those platforms then your unlikely to be able to develop against it easily.

acetone

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#1768626 21-Apr-2017 21:35

I code for a living, just depends how much time I want to spend working on it I guess. I might get a WeMo and then start looking at the Orvibo ones.

I just don't like the fact that in order to have a smart plug I have to have it hooked up to the companies server in order for it to work. Who knows what they are/could be recording from my network.

tchart: Depends. Budget? How handy are you with scripting etc?

I have several plug brands.

WeMo is good but SDK is closed so you need to use IFTTT

If you are good at scripting or programming I'd look at the Orvibo plugs. Good value and easy to control over your own network. Look on Trademe and they are also sold at Bunnings under the arlec brand.

Whatever you do don't get the Kankun smart plugs as the have no local control even though they are esp8266 based.

acetone

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#1768629 21-Apr-2017 21:51

tchart: Oh and for the D-Link ones they are way over priced. You can get a WeMo for less than that. The Orvibo on the other hand you can get for around $30.

If you really are wanting to write your own controls then lock at ninja blocks or open hab because if they aren't supported on those platforms then your unlikely to be able to develop against it easily.

Best I can see for the WeMo insight is $78 which is pretty much the same price I can see for getting a D-Link one.

tchart

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#1768630 21-Apr-2017 21:53

Exactly.

I block the Orvibo from external access. I host my own server on AWS for remote control.

tchart

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#1768632 21-Apr-2017 21:56

acetone:
tchart: Oh and for the D-Link ones they are way over priced. You can get a WeMo for less than that. The Orvibo on the other hand you can get for around $30.

If you really are wanting to write your own controls then lock at ninja blocks or open hab because if they aren't supported on those platforms then your unlikely to be able to develop against it easily.

Best I can see for the WeMo insight is $78 which is pretty much the same price I can see for getting a D-Link one.

Wait for a XX% off Belkin at Noel Leeming. Otherwise get an Orvibo to play with. I don't know much about the D-Link but Belkin have a good track record of support. I still get regular updates for my plugs which are several years old.

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sonyxperiageek

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#1768658 22-Apr-2017 00:15

It was around $60 at JB HiFi the other day! Think it was Easter sales.

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mattwnz

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#1768662 22-Apr-2017 00:36

acetone:
tchart: Oh and for the D-Link ones they are way over priced. You can get a WeMo for less than that. The Orvibo on the other hand you can get for around $30.

If you really are wanting to write your own controls then lock at ninja blocks or open hab because if they aren't supported on those platforms then your unlikely to be able to develop against it easily.

Best I can see for the WeMo insight is $78 which is pretty much the same price I can see for getting a D-Link one.

Harvey Norman often have discounts on the Wemo. I recall I got mine, along with a motion sensor fir less than 50 dollars some time ago.

lchiu7

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#1768956 22-Apr-2017 16:20

Well I have a couple of Dlinks which I got at PBTech at buy one get one free deal Dlink had.

They initially didn't have Echo support but since I am running HABridge I found a hack that exploited a security hole in the Dlink that allowed you to turn them on and off using HNAP.

I found some code in node.js that I was able to modify and in conjunction with HABridge be able to turn the plugs on and off with the Amazon Echo (and Google Home) since they resemble Philips Hue bulbs. But later firmware has closed that loop but fortunately since then Amazon has added the Dlink skill so no hacks required.

I have had flaky WIFI issues with them, dropping off the network and needing to be reset. But Dlink does have 24 hour support and I flashed the latest firmware which hopefully will fix those issues.

[EDIT]

I also have one Insteon smart plug that requires the Insteon bridge and is part of a complete HA system. The problem with them is that the international versions have no Alexa support at all. To get them to work with the Echo (or Google Home) required using HABridge and having them emulate Hue bulbs. That does work okay but just one more thing to break.

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plas

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#1769175 23-Apr-2017 12:05

acetone:

I code for a living, just depends how much time I want to spend working on it I guess. I might get a WeMo and then start looking at the Orvibo ones.

I just don't like the fact that in order to have a smart plug I have to have it hooked up to the companies server in order for it to work. Who knows what they are/could be recording from my network.

tchart: Depends. Budget? How handy are you with scripting etc?

I have several plug brands.

WeMo is good but SDK is closed so you need to use IFTTT

If you are good at scripting or programming I'd look at the Orvibo plugs. Good value and easy to control over your own network. Look on Trademe and they are also sold at Bunnings under the arlec brand.

Whatever you do don't get the Kankun smart plugs as the have no local control even though they are esp8266 based.

I use the WeMo plugs currently, they do the job. Just block them from accessing the internet and use openhab2 to control them, then you don't need any internet services. It also gives you a platform to control more smart devices down the track without the need for cloud systems.

I'm currently using openhab to control some of my lighting with the WeMo light switches, garden lights, monitor if my garage door is closed, control the irrigation system, pull in weather data from a station to turn off the irrigation if it has been raining. So you can pretty much do anything.

https://www.openhab.org/

nickrout

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#1778662 9-May-2017 18:39

The Xiaomi hub and the associated plugs work well with home assistant.

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Batwing

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#1779563 11-May-2017 12:24

I picked up a xiaomi smart plug, first day trying to get it working and couldn't get the app to stay signed in and when it was signed in the plug didn't respond at all.

Switched the region to mainland China and the plug works but I can't read the instructions, app still signs out of the app pretty much daily instead of every few minutes so that's better at least. It's far more work than it's worth.

Wiggum

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#1790984 29-May-2017 10:54

Batwing: I picked up a xiaomi smart plug, first day trying to get it working and couldn't get the app to stay signed in and when it was signed in the plug didn't respond at all.

Switched the region to mainland China and the plug works but I can't read the instructions, app still signs out of the app pretty much daily instead of every few minutes so that's better at least. It's far more work than it's worth.

Seen those plugs, and am thinking of ordering one or two.

What is the general consensus on these? Are they more for low wattage devices like lights etc, or are they suitable for items such as a heater? I would like to connect one to a hallway electric convectional heater (about 2400W). Are they suitable?

richms

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#1790989 29-May-2017 10:58

I wouldn't run 10A thru them. Not opened up a xiaomi one yet, but having pulled a couple of other Chinese ones apart they had some pretty weak looking traces on the soldering and one of them just had power going thru a rivet and a tiny blob of solder that had broken off making it arc and get hot.

Richard rich.ms

Batwing

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#1791025 29-May-2017 12:03

I wouldn't bother with it, simply couldn't get it to pair consistently and don't like the idea of my requests going external anyway

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