Outlets with reliable power monitoring that work with phone chargers?

I'm looking to get a pair of outlets that reliably report power usage to use with our bedside phone chargers in an attempt to determine if someone's in bed or not.

All of the Zooz products I've looked at specifically say they shouldn't be used with chargers, and it seems like the Aeon products are hit-and-miss when it comes to drivers from a search of these forums.

Anyone able to recommend a solid product for this use case?

Why shouldn't they be used with chargers? That seems odd to me.

However, what about another approach? As a side note, this isn't my idea, but one I am thinking about trying.

These are cheaper than outlets and you could slip it in between your boxspring and mattress. To get it "smart", you could wire it up to a door contact sensor.

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There is a Zooz representative that participates in this forum - we should ask. I did see the reference (when I saw the post I went to the site and looked at the manual). I can't tell if they think it's really a problem or if they are just recommending to use the USB ports since they went to the trouble of making them part of the product. The problem for this use case is that the Zooz devices don't do power monitoring on the USB ports . . .

The Smartest House, in one of their answered questions on the Amazon product page for the ZEN25, said this:

Chargers and transformers will have frequent power spikes and drops, both of which can damage the electronics in Z-Wave devices. We've seen this happen with this and other brands for non-resistive loads. We realize other brands may not always mention this in their documentation but failure can occur with any Z-Wave plug connected to a transformer, charger, or a heavier inductive load like a motor (the Zooz ZEN15 was created to control bigger motor appliances like that).

If @agnes.zooz has a chance to weigh in, though, that'd be great.

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Huh! Good to know. I wonder if that applies to Zigbee plugs as well?

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Wow! Interesting! Good find!

I used pressure mats for bed detection... they’ve been incredibly hit-or miss. :frowning:

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I am using the Lowes Iris zigbee plug for my bedroom phone chargers (both wireless QI charger). 7 Watts when charging and between 0-2 watts when fully charged. I set a rule to turn on night mode between 10pm and 1am. Been using this a couple of years now on ST and HE.

Edit : I wouldn't worry too much about current spike with phone chargers.

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I've toyed with this idea as well, but by the time you get the mat and the sensor with the radio, you're well over the cost of one of the Zooz outlets (especially with the April Fool's sale that's still going on). If we're in bed, our respective phones are on the chargers, so that that was my first thought.

When the phones are fully charged, is there enough draw to be able to tell if the phone is still on the charger? I want to be able to tell when someone's gotten out of bed in the morning, as well.

Assuming this is the 3210-L, it should be completely fine using an inductive load, like a phone charger. Most all outlets that use a simple dry contact relay internally should be fairly safe with inductive loads.

Bluetooth proximity might be better.. (but more costly)

The Zooz ZEN25 has a USB port built in which can report whether it is charging or not--it isn't true power monitoring but should theoretically tell you whether a phone is connected and changing, which is about the same you'd get from doing your own power monitoring (the only tricky thing, which would happen in either case, is what you'd do if they're connected and you're in bed but they're full and not charging).

That being said, I have one of these and was using it to power an always-on Fire tablet for use as a dashboard. I had to stop because it was flooding my Z-Wave network with constant on/off messages from the USB port, possibly due to how the device charges (on, then off when charged for a fraction of a second, then on again?) or maybe a defect with the device, but in any case, there was no way to change the interval at which this reports. They are working on a firmware update that should allow you to disable the feature (but aparently not fine-tune its reporting). So...theoretically this could work for you, but in my experience it may not. :slight_smile:

I see someone suggested a pressure mat above. I know it's a bit more expensive initially, but I got a 10 lb pressure mat for $20 open-box on Amazon a while back. It wasn't the United brand (it was Ideal Security), and I did have to discard the alarm it came with (no use) and strip the wires coming from the mat (not sure if United makes this easier). I'm using it on my couch to keep my lights on when I'm in the room, as my lights are otherwise motion-driven--and it works great. :slight_smile: I was thinking of doing something similar for my bed or office char, but for the bed you might need the pet-resistant (usually 60 lb) mat to prevent the mattress from closing the sensor. Combined with a $20-ish contact sensor from Monoprice (not something I'd recommend in hindsight; the Ecolink will let you use just the terminals but the Monoprice needs the internal switch closed), it was barely over $40 total--a bit more than cheaper outlets but a lot less worry for my Z-Wave network (and less guessing about power levels in your case).

We can confirm that the problems described in the Amazon answer are what we've seen dealing with many products from different brands over the years.

Just curious, how would energy monitoring tell you if someone is in bed once the phone is fully charged and the charger is not pulling any power anymore?

The USB in the ZEN25 plug would send an on report to the hub if the phone was charging and then off if it was taken out but also if it was fully charged since there wouldn't be any current detected. It works based on current detection in the port so in a similar way you'd like to implement a power monitor here. We're just worried it wouldn't really work they way you imagined.

Yeah, that's why we recommend to keep the devices off when charging for best results. Different devices behave different ways but tablets are always the quickest to lose power and start recharging. The firmware update will somewhat address that since it will drop the reporting threshold to 30 seconds or more but with an always-on tablet plugged into the port constantly, that could still end up like a lot of traffic.

That's really interesting. Thanks!

That's the rub. I don't know. I guess I'm hoping that the Qi chargers draw some tiny (but measurable) amount of current to power the little LED that turns on when a device is on them.

For me it's pretty consistent for my use. You can see my power events below. I was wrong about fully charge. I get around 6.2 watts when the phone is on the charger and around 1.8 when off the charger. There is no fully charged power drop for me.
Late sleeper and early riser.

@ogiewon yup. The good old 3210-L

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Thanks. This gives me some hope. If the 6+ watts is on the charger and the 1-2 watts is off the charger, what's happening when it's 0.6w?

I ordered one of the Zooz ZEN25s. Even if it doesn't work for this particular application, I've got other places I can use it so it won't go to waste.

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Not really sure. No one home at that time or I know off. Very suspicious :face_with_monocle:

That would fit my scenario. Our bedside chargers are only used while we're going to bed.

If it does, the Trådfri outlet in my bathroom that my Echo is plugged into is doomed

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