Has anyone looked at the Aukey Smart Plugs? I do not see any driver for hubitat, but Aukey smart plug is really a great price. Two for $27
They have countdown timers and the ability to schedule time or turn on on many different conditions. Just seems that it would be a good smart plug for Habitat.
I DO NOT WORK OR REPRESENT AUKEY IN ANY WAY.
I am always looking for less expensive solutions as I automate my home.
- Access from Anywhere: Activate and deactivate home appliances and electronics anytime, anywhere using this Wi-Fi Smart Plug and the AUKEY Home app on your phone. No smart hub or subscription service required
- Control with Your Voice: Works with Alexa & Google Assistant. Use voice commands to control your home appliances and electronics
- Home Automation: Customize a schedule for your lights to turn on at sunset or pre-set a timer and wake up with your coffee ready. Conveniently make your home feel more comfortable
- Compact Design: Compact form keeps adjacent outlets accessible and allows two smart plugs to fit together perfectly in one duplex outlet
- Package Contents: AUKEY SH-PA1 Smart Plug 2 Pack, User Manual, 45-Day Money Back Guarantee and 24-Month Product Replacement Warranty Card
In a perfect world all of the stuff would work with all of the other stuff. Most of us here have defaulted to Z-wave and Zigbee switches as:
A) They're what is supported and expected to be used here
B) Don't connect to some cloud first before doing the things they're asked.
C) They don't occasionally leak your sensitive information or host botnet Trojans.
D) Don't need someone to write a very complicated driver.
I have WiFi switches and bulbs, don't get me wrong.
They're from a long time ago or gifts from well intentioned friends and family.
Zigbee switches have dropped in price.
It's worth the extra few bucks to keep it simple if you use Hubitat or another Z-wave/Zigbee hub.
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Wifi devices are cheap, that's why they're popular. Unfortunately, when you are trying to develop a larger, whole home system, you are going to quickly run up against your wifi device limit. Most home routers have a 32 device limit per band (2.4 vs 5 ghz). So, if you think about what devices you already have, you can see how you'll quickly get close to that limit in even a smaller implementation. I've had to move my wifi devices over to their own network with a separate access point to keep my main network running as fast as possible.
Another reason for spending the extra few bucks for Zigbee/Zwave for plugs...repeaters. If you're going to put in any battery operated devices (motion sensors, contact sensors, etc) they will almost certainly be zigbee or z-wave because wifi is a very power-intensive protocol. Wifi requires devices to maintain a connection with the access point in order to maintain communication. Zigbee/Z-wave do not and therefore are more used in battery operated devices. Your battery life using zigbee or zwave is going to be much longer than a wifi device. Most zigbee and zwave AC powered devices are repeaters, providing a signal boost for other devices to reach the hub. So, investing in zigbee or zwave plugs is an investment in a strong mesh for the future.
