Smart Plug Advice

[I-A]

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy a smart plug that will be used with our outdoor lights.

I would like it to do two things:

1) Operate lights on/off on a timer (e.g. 16:30-23:00)
2) Override above timer in "off" setting if I arrive home outside these hours - e.g. if I am 5 minutes from home (and heading home) and it's 0:00, I'd like the lights to come one for 5 mintues prior to arrival and remain on for 15 minutes.

Is there such a device?

Thank you.

[BigTZ4M]

Your first point is achievable with pretty much any smart plug. Certainly the TP-Link and Amazon ones I have do it out of the box.

The second point is harder. I don't know of any smart plugs that have geo location awareness built in personally but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

I know you can (and indeed have done it) using an automation server at home. A combination of Home Asisstant and OwnTracks. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/owntrac... However it is not for the faint hearted configuring it and requires investment if you don't already run a server 24/7.

[Gren]

I do that with a combination of Hive and Google Home. I'm assuming the Hive plug could be any other brand though.

Aside from the usual schedules, I just ask my phone to switch on the porch lights for 10 minutes. The phone can be in my pocket or on my dash. Doesn't matter. You can also set an arrive home routine with the Google Home but it senses when you're in range of your wifi not 5 minutes from home

[alorotom]

Any wifi based smart plug compatible with google home and a google home routine linked to your phone will deliver both of these with ease

[benjipeg]

i think phillips hue plugs will do both

[I-A]

alorotom said:

Any wifi based smart plug compatible with google home and a google home routine linked to your phone will deliver both of these with ease

Can you recommend one please?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/tcp-wissinwuk-smart-plu...

[alorotom]

Yes them.

B&Q have the TCP 4 pack for £32 as per of the Black Friday event

No hub required. Just direct to a 2.4ghz wifi network.

I got a pack of them and had them all connected and setup in under 10mins

https://www.diy.com/departments/tcp-smart-plug-240...

[I-A]

Ok thanks are you sure they'll do the geolocation part?

[jesusbuiltmycar]

They have some in Lidl @ £7.99 at the moment - could be worth a try

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/smart-home/silvercrest...

I bought 6 GU10 smart bulbs from Lidl yesterday and can confirm they work fine with my hue setup.

[JimbobVFR]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

They have some in Lidl @ £7.99 at the moment - could be worth a try

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/smart-home/silvercrest...

I bought 6 GU10 smart bulbs from Lidl yesterday and can confirm they work fine with my hue setup.

These are ZigBee plugs so need a hub of some sort to work.

I believe they have been successfully used with a Hue hub, I also believe they should work with some Amazon Echoes that have ZigBee built in.

[Blockbuster]

Bought one of the Lidl ones today and works flawlessly with my Echo Show 2nd gen, despite the small print saying it’s incompatible with Amazon echo.

Will be going back for a couple more since I know they work.

[JimbobVFR]

Blockbuster said:

Bought one of the Lidl ones today

Good to know, think I might try and pick one up to give it a try with my Hue bridge. I've already got 4 various other compatible plugs so it will be interesting to compare them.

Do you mind if ask what do they do when powered off or unplugged? Do they have a default state of on or off (or even better but unlikely remember the status before power was cut)

[reggie82]

I picked up a smart plug from Lidl last night and it’s working fine with my hue hub.

[Blockbuster]

JimbobVFR said:

Good to know, think I might try and pick one up to give it a try with my Hue bridge. I've already got 4 various other compatible plugs so it will be interesting to compare them.

Do you mind if ask what do they do when powered off or unplugged? Do they have a default state of on or off (or even better but unlikely remember the status before power was cut)

Just tried it out and it seems to remain in the existing state when unplugged and then powered back on

[I-A]

Are these two the same:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/tcp-wissinwuk-smart-plu...

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remote-Controlled-Compati...

I'll be finding out when the Amazon one arrives - hopefully it will work with the TCP app.

Edited by I-A on Tuesday 8th December 09:47

[BigTZ4M]

I-A said:

Are these two the same:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/tcp-wissinwuk-smart-plu...

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remote-Controlled-Compati...

I'll be finding out when the Amazon one arrives - hopefully it will work with the TCP app.

Edited by I-A on Tuesday 8th December 09:47

Probably the same Chinese manufacturer white label it and it's resold under different brands.

However heed the warning to this in the Amazon description: "First of all the most important thing is to make sure your WiFi is 2.4 ghz. If you’re not sure then MAKE sure, otherwise you’ll waste hours of your life becoming increasingly frustrated as the device will simply not link with the app. To change your WiFi, please log into your internet modem and alter the settings to make your WiFi 2.4 ghz only by disabling the 5ghz band."

This is common with cheaper IoT devices and depending on your circumstances can be undesirable so make sure you're happy with that. If you're reliant on the speeds provided by the 5Ghz band on your other devices then using 2.4Ghz only is going to see a huge slow down potentially.

I still don't understand how people think these plugs are going to work out of the box with your geo-location requirements.

[I-A]

BigTZ4M said:

Probably the same Chinese manufacturer white label it and it's resold under different brands.

However heed the warning to this in the Amazon description: "First of all the most important thing is to make sure your WiFi is 2.4 ghz. If you’re not sure then MAKE sure, otherwise you’ll waste hours of your life becoming increasingly frustrated as the device will simply not link with the app. To change your WiFi, please log into your internet modem and alter the settings to make your WiFi 2.4 ghz only by disabling the 5ghz band."

This is common with cheaper IoT devices and depending on your circumstances can be undesirable so make sure you're happy with that. If you're reliant on the speeds provided by the 5Ghz band on your other devices then using 2.4Ghz only is going to see a huge slow down potentially.

I still don't understand how people think these plugs are going to work out of the box with your geo-location requirements.

No issue with 2.4 Ghz, I can change the mesh network to only output that frequency for a few minutes while I set it up. I believe my phone switches when I go to use the TCP lamp I already have.

I'll report back in a few days.

[I-A]

Return processed for Amazon one - it wouldn't go into pairing mode.

[Chozza]

BigTZ4M said:

I still don't understand how people think these plugs are going to work out of the box with your geo-location requirements.

This does seem to be missing - Any smart bulb would handle the switching on. But for geolocation i'd use triggers through something like IFTTT .

Why do you need 5 minutes before ? is it lighting up something outside .? If not then it might be simpler to use the wifi as a trigger.. i.e. when your phone is near enough to the house to connect to home wifi .. then this is a more reliable trigger than gps

Don't get carried away though .... working out triggers for 3 family member multiple mobile devices and multiple possible scenarios will drive you mad

wibble

[Alucidnation]

I bought a load of the Meross ones and they are bloody brilliant.

Not sure about the point of having Geo tbh.