Been using tp-link smart plugs for a moment. Not really had any problems with them but i want to move to something such as z-wave or a ZigBee. Something that is totally local and does not require a different app on my phone.
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Came here to say this. I have a few of these. They are rock solid and easily flashed with Tasmota
I really liked their stuff, but things have been out of stock lately. Their lightbulbs only lasted a year and they stopped selling them. I’m concerned they are having supply chain issues.
I have purchased five bulbs from them and all have failed or had severe flickering issues.
[US] ThirdReality SmartPlug Gen2. It’s ZigBee 3.0, has power monitoring, has a power button, are UL/ETL certified, and 3reality is part of the works with HomeAssistant program so firmware updates are really easy. It’s also cheap enough at $10. They work as great repeaters and have noticeably improved my ZigBee network.
Supported hardware: Nintendo Switch Joycons lmao
Bunch of different zigbee ones. Zigbee-only means they’re guaranteed to be local and I’ve had no issues with my Deconz-based zigbee network for many years.
I’m a Zwave man. Aeotec ones give very high res power consumption tracking so I can automate based on patterns in usage (can detect when my washers/dryers finish, etc). The Fibaro ones are a bit cheaper but not quite as good (but still haven’t failed me once).
Fibaro isn’t a company anymore, so I don’t know if those will be available. Here in the middle EU, all shops are out of stock of fibaro stuff.
I use the aeotec stuff, but those smart plugs are also being not restocked at most webshops in Belgium and the Netherlands for some reason
I have several of these and they have worked super well. (Zigbee)
[US] I have a z-wave network of Zooz Zen04 power-monitoring plugs and Minoston MP21 non-monitoring plugs. Automatically set themselves up by scanning the little QR code, Haven’t had any network drops or device failures in…3(?) years. One Zooz Zen15 high power, monitoring device occasionally (every few weeks) glitches and reports an spurious, instantaneous 5-20 kWh energy consumption
My personal anecdote:
Z-wave is king. ZigBee is a far second place and WiFi / Bluetooth are a last resort.
I’m a huge fan of Zooz products having tested many other brands and been disappointed.
My biggest failure rate has been with Shelly products. Sonoff is alright but have also had issues here and there. I’ve yet to have any issues with my Zooz switches and smart plugs and I have close to 50 of them.
Zooz = solid
Sonoff like you said ok but I had a smart plug fail. Zooz is a little pricier but rock solid.
I was so excited about Shelly when I first discovered it. Ordered a ton of stuff and started swapping over. The reliability was awful. I have a giant box of them that I don’t know what to do with.
Give em to me!
I have a dozen or so, zero issues.
Having said that, I do prefer zwave to WiFi. Glad theyre starting to head in that direction. Just dont understand why zwave gear is always 20% more expensive.
IIRC, ZWave costs the manufacturer a license to use and they must meet certain quality guidelines.
In the end this results in higher quality products, but there’s an overhead.
^This is a really cool Z-Wave one that I use for lighting, as it supports dimming. Works awesome in HA. I have some lights hooked up to it outside for hanging at night, as well as inside, as no-one put ceiling lights in the living room of the house I’m renting. Just make sure your LEDs are dimmable of course. I still haven’t found a different dimmable zigbee/zwave smart plug, though I haven’t looked after I found that one.
I use those ^ for everything else. Zigbee of course, wifi plugs suck to set up and don’t do the mesh thing. Power monitoring opens you up for some super clever automations. I have my Xbox plugged into one, and when the plug notices the Xbox turns on, my IR blaster turns on the TV. I also have my TV plugged into one, so HA knows when the TV is on.
I bought a few cheap ones with Wifi (16A and energy monitoring) from Tasmota’s list and flashed them with Tasmota. Works reasonably well. Though I have to say friends had some of these fail over the years.
I have a bunch of different zigbee models, but my overall favorites are the Sengled Zigbee plugs. They have power monitoring, which can be really useful for automations.
For example, my computer monitor makes an annoying high-pitched squeal when in standby mode, so I have it and my PC on separate Sengled smart plugs and if the PC plug is drawing low enough wattage for 10 seconds that I can be sure it’s off or asleep, my automation turns off the monitor smart plug, and when the PC plug wattage jumps back above the threshold, the monitor plug gives power to my monitor again.
Obviously that specific use is a bit niche, but the ability to know when not-smart devices are using more or less power and run automations accordingly can be really useful.
There are other brands besides Sengled that have power monitoring, but I’ve found theirs to be pretty reliable, just make sure you get the zigbee plugs, because they also make wifi plugs that look basically identical to the zigbee model.
Calling a PC a not-smart device is pretty humorous, in my eyes.
I have some Shelly plugs, some Athom plugs, some Nous A1T (and a Nous A6T for the terrace). The Zigbee plugs I had all were pretty substandard in terms of reporting after running Tasmota for a while. Main issue with the Tasmota ones is that about all of them are based on an ESP32 where the LED can’t be programmatically turned off. On the plus side, they double duty as nigh lights.
Yeah. While most of my stuff is switched by KNX I came here to second the Nous (see here: https://mikrotik.com/product/ltap_lr8g_lte6_kit#fndtn-specifications )
Tbf, for the LED I simply snipped it off for the one plug that is in a sensitive position often.
Other than that I love them. They are solidly build (I opened one and intentionally stress tested it after a bad experience before), directly work with HA and KNX,etc.
(But seriously, consider KNX people,it’s far easier than people think.)
I’m using a mixture of Sonoff S31ZB (ZigBee) and S31 (WiFi) plugs with #Zigbee2MQTT and #ESPhome respectively.
I like their form-factor and that you can plug two of them into standard wall outlets (I also have older eWeeLink plugs that partially block the other outlet).
The ZigBee plugs are easier to pair with my #ZigBee network but the S31 allow me to measure power usage in #HomeAssistant.Ikea and Lidl zigbee work well for me and are reasonably cheap. Ikea’s look a little better, but I have only one because it is a pretty recent product.
