Smart Outlets Recommendations

đź’¬ Lounge
, ,
1

Hi All,

I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for smart outlets? I have two SYLVANIA ones and they are pretty good, but don't provide a wattage information. I am also looking to buy a hand-full of them and did no know if anyone had any good recommendations that include wattage info as well.

2

Zwave or Zigbee?

3

Either is fine with me.

4

Well, I would like to give you an "off the wall" recommendation.
I have tried many different types of outlets, and I think that there may be 3 separate objectives here, (which may mean 3 separate recommendations):

  1. you want to measure the power of the controlled outlet
  2. you want to control (1 of the outlets)
  3. you want to build out the mesh with a solid repeater (zigbee or zwave plus)
    Please state your objectives (more than 1 is possible, but % should add up to 100%).

P.S.
Please forgive the above "engineering" response. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

5

@maustin002 - have the AEOTECH plug which for z-wave seems to do a good job at all 3 of those pretty good, but they are expensive. I successfully tracked the usage of our Christmas tree lights and made it easy for the fam to use voice to turn it off and on and a part of our scenes and modes.

Personally, I'm still in the hunt for more smart outlets in particular to replace my zigbee peanut plugs with something new that tackles #2 and #3 as a reasonably priced replacement if anyone has reco's as i want to also improve my zigbee mesh.

6

There are three scenarios.

  1. Is when i turn on my TV after sunset or specific time the lights in the living room will go off.
  2. I have a wood shop and want to set up a outlet system that would measure the power output when i turn on a tool. Once it noticed a change (powered on) then the dust collection would turn on as well. Other systems targeted at woodworkers are EXPENSIVE. Since I have the Brain (Hubitat) for the ecosystem i can just add outlets.
  3. Generic items around the house that i want to control and maybe set up routines. My wife is starting here seedling for the garden and wants to have the lights go on and off at specific time.
7

Well, I have one spot where I wanted only to increase the Zigbee mesh.
So, I used the following device, and it seems to work well (so far):

8

Power monitoring is handled mostly by the Z-Wave versions. The Zooz Zen15 is excellent for 15amp and lower devices.

Sinope has a new Zigbee plug that measures power consumption, but it's new and there's no driver for it yet. I can't say what's possible for that one yet. Reaching someone to ask is going to be impossible for a while. The Quebec government has ordered them to close their offices due to the virus outbreak.

For high amp or 220/240v tools, Sinope has a 50 amp controller. One the supported devices list and has a dedicated driver.

For you average ON/OFF outlet (no power metering) the IKEA TrĂĄdfri are inexpensive and work well. Just bulky is all. Getting those right now means you have to order online since all of their stores are closed due to the virus.

Samsung SmartThing outlet is another basic (no power monitoring) choice. [Edit] The Samsung do have power monitoring. See Robert's reply below.

9

Actually, those puppies do have power monitoring. (I don't use it, so I can't say how sensitive it is--the Hubitat driver doesn't let you configure it--but it is there. I actually wish fewer devices had this feature or more let you disable it [and that the setting to do so worked...] because I try to eliminate unnecessary traffic on my networks, but that's another story.) I'm not sure about the older/Centralite versions, as I got rid of mine a while back in a quest to make a Xiaomi-friendly network (then the Iris v2 sensors all went on fantastic sales and I stopped caring but already got rid of it...yet another story), but perhaps you're thinking of one of those.

They're also fantastic Zigbee repeaters! One of mine reports routing for 8 end devices, and both of mine seem to be preferred by other devices over my other repeaters like my Ikea TrĂĄdfri outlets (not bad but no surprise there) and even my Xbee (non-Pro, PCB/built-in antenna, and not centrally located, in its defense). They're probably my favorite Zigbee repeater. :smiley:

1 Like
10

Wait, you’re using an XBee (the electronics hobbyist board sold by spark fun and adafruit) to repeat your zigbee mesh? I have half an dozen of those sitting in a box in the garage. Can you link any articles on how to do this?

11

This thread should provide a few days' worth of reading: :slight_smile:

2 Likes
12

I can't remember what the default driver is, but I changed my SmartThings outlets to use the Generic Zigbee Outlet, which does allow configuring the power reporting. Units are Off, 1W, 5W, 15W, 30W, 60W, 100W, 200W, 500W. I have it turned off for most of them, but one is configured for 1W and it works great.

1 Like
13

I know nothing about them. But they are 4 for $50.

Sengled Smart Plugs, ZigBee Hub Required, Works with SmartThings and Amazon Echo with Built-in Hub, Voice Control with Alexa and Google Home, 15Amp Smart Socket, ETL Listed, 2 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FJ5LHSN/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_Z577PNJP5VCZ4X1XSPPW

EDIT: I got 4 of them and they discovered faster than any other device and seem to work (3 days so far)

14

agree in zooz zen15 for appliances i am partial to these...

just be carefull with too much power monitoring or too often can clog up the zwave mesh.