The Zen20 is a power strip. Thus, it should not be used with high-power draw devices such as appliances and motor driven devices.
I can see some logic behind not using it with a large battery charger such as is used to charge a car, marine, or golf cart battery. I do not see any reasoning not to use it with a USB charger for a cell phone or tablet.
Likewise, a WiFI router is a low power device. If you wanted to power off your router periodically to reset it, why would the ZEN20 be unsuitable. I have used 10 amp Zigbee plugs for this purpose without issue. Does anyone know why routers are on the unacceptable list?
From explanations they've provided elsewhere, it seems more likely that (aside from amp/Watt ratings, which do come into play for some of their devices) the issue is frequent on/off cycles--e.g., as a phone reaches full capacity, the charger may alternate frequently between charing and not, which apparently do not play well with many of their smart plugs according to warranty claims they've received. Not only that, they didn't like that my laptop was chariging througn one.
On a related topic, this was their explanation for why they included USB ports on the ZEN20 power strip, for example, so you didn't need to connect a charger (now, if only they were controllable!).
maybe they are referring to a wood-working router? Power tools use electric motors, which can have very large in-rush currents. Most everything on their naughty list has an electric motor in it.
Lost my first Zen 20 to an inkjet printer (65 watts at startup) and my second one to a 36" tv. The wifi power strips that replaced them have handled everything I've thrown at them.
On a somewhat related note, I found a swollen and
cracked Zen25 last week and it's never had a load plugged into it.
Wow! That power strip seems almost useless, IMHO. I prefer a traditional mechanical relay (with the audible “click”), for smart “switch” devices. Much more robust for a variety of loads.
If they aren't using a relay, then they use a TRIAC to turn the power on/off. You cannot use a TRIAC on inductive loads (motors, pumps, certain switching supplies). That's probably the reason they state that.
I put Lutron switches in my house, and the dimmable ones got really angry with the 12V ballast driven undercounter lights. I had to install one of their "relay" versions for fans for that application.
Unless you are unplugging them when you leave for work as well, it's basically pointless. If one ignited 30 minutes you left your home, the house is a total loss in under an hour. Just saying...
Not saying the idea isn't cool as heck. Cooking Li-Ion by perpetual charging kills them.
I work from home, so I don't really have to unplug stuff very often. But fortunately, now that I have a Hubitat, I'm in the process of adding Zigbee plugs on all of the outlets in my house with Li-ion devices plugged into them, so I can set them all to turn off when no one is home.
I'm content with my use of these despite the do's/don'ts list. @bertabcd1234's explanation of Zooz's apparent logic and his later quote from Zooz, indicates to me, that my use case isn't really an issue.
My power tool batteries, are not frquently cycling (active/dormant) on their chargers, my charge time is short (30 mins as I recall), and I don't really fear the battery packs melting down on me.
So far, I've had one failed Zooz power strip, and it wasn't one with chargers attached to it. Wait -- it did. 1 Logitech Harmony Remote Base...well there ya go. And that charger was on all the time, unlike my power tool battery chargers.
Interesting.
In truth, I'm more fearful of the two crazy complicated Tesla batteries in my garge melting down and burning my house to the ground than I am some tool batteries...lol
