While roaming around on eBay (looking for a deal on a Z-wave Toolbox) I stumbled across the Zooz Zen15 open box for $22.95 plus shipping but with a full warranty:
I added a few to my cart and was about to hit the checkout when I thought I'd go to the Smartest House website to see what the current price was there. The Zen15 is their "Deal of the week" at $23.95 and is only a dollar more than the open boxes. But if you order $100 worth of items from TheSmartestHouse you get free shipping. So rather than ordering 4 open box at $107.70, I ordered 5 new at $119.75. 5 open boxes would have been $134.55 shipped.
Thanks @agnes.zooz for making my bank account whimper each time I go to TheSmartestHouse website!
I love these plugs and seem to get another every time they're on sale or I need to fill my cart up for free shipping. Design-wise, they're the most similar to the classic Aeon Z-Wave plug I liked but got rid of when I moved all my repeaters to Z-Wave Plus. They don't block nearby outlets (but do have a part that dangles down or to the side, as pictured, if that bothers you--I actually prefer it). In terms of load types, they're one of few that can handle heavy loads like fans or even dehumidifiers, so I've used mine to tell how often my dehumidifer runs (based on power reports--which I do disable when I don't need it as these can get chatty with some devices otherwise) and, as of my last purchase, tell me when my washing machine is done.
I already have 7 of the Zen15 in use and with this order, I'll have an even dozen. I've got one on the refrigerator, washer, and a small chest freezer to monitor power usage. The other 4 are on heaters so I can monitor power usage and control them through Hubitat. For example, the Mica heater in my bedroom only comes on when I manually turn it on through the dashboard or Alexa, except when I crawl in bed. Then it regulates the temperature in the room keeping it in between 60 and 65 degrees according to another sensor in the bedroom. I replaced a oil radiator heater after finding out how much it was costing me per month in power heating that room all of the time. In power I'm saving about $20 per month just on the bedroom heater. The actual numbers are $30.61 estimated based on 360 hours of radiator usage vs $9.41 estimated on 1258 hours of Mica usage. The comparisons aren't fair as since getting the Mica heater, it's been colder here. So the savings are probably actually higher. That prompted me to start looking at other power usage and deciding what's worth leaving running all of the time.
One of my next power saving projects is to put multiple temperature sensors in my office (aka living room) at floor and ceiling levels to determine when to run the ceiling fan to circulate the heat downward.
Design-wise, they're the most similar to the classic Aeon Z-Wave plug I liked but got rid of when I moved all my repeaters to Z-Wave Plus. They don't block nearby outlets (but do have a part that dangles down or to the side, as pictured, if that bothers you--I actually prefer it). In terms of load types, they're one of few that can handle heavy loads like fans or even dehumidifiers, so I've used mine to tell how often my dehumidifer runs (based on power reports--which I do disable when I don't need it as these can get chatty with some devices otherwise) and, as of my last purchase, tell me when my washing machine is done.
Thanks for sharing the promo and talking a bit more how you use the plugs!
