Title is self-explanatory. Seeing if anyone has any recommendations for something cheap yet reliable.
It would be nice to have some smart plugs in order to determine if my utility pump motors are going before disaster strikes. I could also probably use one for my gas oven too as I had to replace an ignitor yesterday and this might’ve given advanced notice.
You can often find the Securifi Peanut Plug outlets for a really good price. I think they are $15 on Amazon now, but have seen them at only $10 sometimes. The trouble there is that sometimes you get ones that do not have the latest firmware and will need to update them (using a Securifi Almond router). Without that latest firmware they do not report power, but still work as excellent ZigBee outlets and repeaters.
What are the current (A) needs for the pump motors? Don't forget inrush current.
For things like Sump Pumps, I've found the Zooz Zen15 to be awesome. I have them on My Sump, Freezer, Dehumidifier and one of my wall mounted TVs. Plans for them in a few other places as well.
They're not precisely cheap, but they are often on sale! This week they are 32.95. But for higher current devices they are worth it to me.
http://www.getzooz.com/zooz-zen15-power-switch.html
S.
@scottgu3 Those Zooz look pretty good but they are out of my budget (new kid, new home, and renovations have restricted my love for gadgets and video games.)
@razorwing I’d have to look.
@snell last I read was that the power reporting for Securifi Peanuts wasn’t working. Also, have to have another router just to update the firmware seems a bit too much.
Speaking of which this gave me an idea. There could possibly be a way we could all update firmware for some devices through something like a HE VPN. Perhaps we connect to the VPN, then the devices we want updated get added to a queue of added devices. A remote hub/router at HE then pushed the firmware out to the device(s), then after the update your device gets disconnected/VPN session ends. This way, we don’t all have to go scrambling for new means to update our devices every time one gets released.
@ogiewon thanks. I was considering those. Pardon my ignorance, but how would you enable power monitoring/graphing for those directly in HE?
Enabling Power Monitoring is easily accomplished within the Device Details page for each outlet. You can specific how much the power usage much change to trigger an update, or disable power monitoring altogether.
As for graphing power usage, you would need to use one of the various methods to export the data to another solution. Many of us use InfluxDB + Grafana (both are free) to accomplish this. Getting data from Hubitat to InfluxDB is where you have to decide on the multiple methods that the community has created to do so. I personally use the NodeRED method.
Updating device firmware is more a problem because of the manufacturers. Most do not want to allow their firmware to be handled by anyone else. I personally think it all goes back to the companies wanting to keep their customers purely dependent on them rather than any true concerns about "security" or "unsafe operation". Those are just excuses.
I think someone here could design a workaround for firmware updates on 3rd party devices.
Personally speaking, after seeing non-tech people constantly mess up their Android phones and get themselves into hot messes (often the elderly) and asking me to troubleshoot what went wrong, there’s something positive to be said about iPhones and Apple’s closed environment and quality control. On the other hand, you have things like DD-WRT which are absolute genius to the point in which manufacturers have adopted their firmware.
One half one and one half the other. I suppose there’s a lot of manufacturers that don’t want to go off script or down the rabbit hole trying to support something unbeknownst to them that ended up being a user messing with firmware.
Other point is that some companies don’t want you tinkering so they can maintain a subscription-based model (Nest or Arlo) and make money.
Last but not least, there’s also the IP aspect too and people trying to make a living or a profit.
Is this what you're trying to accomplish?
Like @ogiewon mentioned, this was done using 3210-L smart plugs, InfluxDB and Grafana. If you don't need the graph you could simply setup a RM notification rule to alert you if the power on a smart plug drops below a specified level.
Edit.... Grafana also has a built in alerting function if you're interested.
@leo_charles I'd also recommend the Lowe's Iris plugs. The 3210-L ones that @ogiewon recommended are a good choice but so are these. The thing you want to know though dude is how these work if there's a power outage. Do they remember their previous state, or do they default to being "off". Many default to being "off", and that's going to suck if your "utility pump motors" are a sump pump and the switch is off because your power flickered. The Iris ones remember their previous state.
Knowing that is kind of two steps backwards for me. Does the 3210-L recover from a power outage or do the ones you have linked?
Also, are there any local storage solutions to get around having to use InfluxDB? I have a QNAP NAS and some extra USB storage devices that could be put to good use...
Yes. I just verified the Iris 3210-L will restore its previous state when unplugged and then plugged back in.
Yes, the 3210-L (which is both a Zigbee plug and a Z Wave repeater), and the Iris V1 Plug that I posted, both remember their previous state. They also both show power usage in Hubitat. I have no idea what InfluxDB is. Both models are usually good deals on ebay.
Also, are there any local storage solutions to get around having to use InfluxDB? I have a QNAP NAS and some extra USB storage devices that could be put to good use...
There are other database options besides InfluxDB. You might want to take a look at this thread:
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