Hi folks,
Current situation. Skip to end for just the question.
I've run electricity out to my firepit, sank a 4x4 and then installed an outlet. From there I've run the power to another post, where my outdoor lights hang from.
The plan WAS to install another zwave outlet there, weatherproof box and cover, and plug in my lights. (Everything is behind GFCI).
A friend brought up a problem with the plan. There's no way to manually control lights other than physically plugging/unplugging (obv ruining my grander automation plans). Why not install a switch there to?
So, my question to you all is-
Instead of a zwave outlet....is there an outdoor rated zwave light switch.
There's a button on it that can be used to manually turn the lights on/off.
I've also used "regular" z-wave switches in a weatherproof box to control an outlet. North Carolina weather here - some freezes and hot summers - been using that for about 5 years without an issue.
Seems this has been covered with outlet examples, but if you were already using a weatherproof box, and you were going to add a 2nd outlet, I would add a z-wave switch in a weatherproof box rather than the z-wave outlet. That would be a cleaner, more elegant installation, particularly since you already have the circuit on a GFCI, which I presume is at the breaker. May be a concern with how weather-proof the box actually is. Something like this should be sufficient:
It even has an insert for a toggle type switch, and you can get a toggle type z-wave switch vice the (now) more or less standard decora types.
An alternative would be an outdoor smart plug similar to the below. It is ZWave plus and will likely work with the generic z-wave driver. If not, Amazon returns.
Additionally, the TP-Link Kasa series also works and has a custom Hubitat integration available.
Does anyone have any experience with this model or a similar switch? I have a similar need but with different restrictions. I have holiday/seasonal lights and devices that I would like to control but the locations and power sources are such that separate outdoor switches would be necessary downstream from the box. Needs to be able to tolerate real cold (Minnesota), not that wimpy "sometimes below freezing" stuff.
TP-Link Kasa brand makes a series of outdoor rated plugs that go down to -50C. Single and double socket. Both have built-in integrations to Hubitat and there are apple home kit versions.
Look on Amazon (BLACK FRIDAY) for Kasa Outdoor Plug
I also heard back directly from Kasa about specific models. Apparently, the EP and KP models are identical, just sold in different markets. They would not guarantee compatibility with Hubitat, because, I suspect, they have a marketing agreement with Alexa/Google. This makes your comments very helpful. Thank you!
Of course they cannot; the built-in Hubitat integration was originally written as a community integration by @djgutheinz, with no participation from TP-Link. I imagine their Kasa/Tapo API is potentially subject to change and restricted access without warning.
They have stopped the security changes with the Kasa devices; however, TP-Link is still doing this with TAPO devices. The Hubitat community Tapo integration automatically detects changes in and updates between the two known security protocols. Additionally, the Kasa Matter devices actually use the TAPO API and Protocol for non-matter integration.
(-40 -ish).
