Suggestions for a simple on/off zigbee smartplug that won’t audibly “click”
Preferably cheap and can have poor range/repeating as it’s in the same room as the hub
That “click” is a relay module inside the device opening and closing the circuit.
Every plug-in switch device I’ve used has one.
Aww man. I wanted one to turn off my white noice machine at night
I have a white noise machine in my bedroom on a smart plug as well.
Usually I only hear the click when we turn the white noise machine on, at bedtime, then off in the morning when it’s time to get up. So it’s not much of a disruption for us.
If you’re worried about the noise of the click at night, are you sure the click would be audible over the white noise? The click would occur, and then the white noise itself would shut off. Do you turn it back on in the middle of the night too?
A really long extension lead
Sometimes I do. We should start including “noise” in our plug reviews, I’m sure some are more quite than others
@marktheknife is correct - the click that you hear is the mechanical relay inside a smart plug.
A few years ago, I searched for a smart plug with a solid state relay, and couldn't find any. I fruitlessly searched again this morning. However, I did find several links to home-made smart devices that switched line voltage (120-240V) using SSRs.
Here's an example that is barely audible:
I doubt it’s really that much of a difference in most cases. Could it be measured with a decibel meter and factored into one’s rankings of smart switches? Sure I guess. But IMHO it’s pretty low down on my list of needs for a smart switch.
Full disclaimer: this is a bad idea. You can damage both your noise generator and the controlling device. Check device ratings before proceeding with any bad idea.
A solid state relay is really just a dimmer cranked to 100%. You could use a Zigbee dimmer module (one example), so long as you can guarantee that it would never be dimmed - only fully ON or fully OFF. In fact, make a rule that triggers on any effort to dim and forces it back to 100% or OFF. Even then, do it at your own risk.