You don't want these smart plugs
Watch this before buying Smart Plugs
Watch this before you buy smart plugs for your home automation setup. Using Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Apple Homekit might not be as easy as you think if you buy the wrong plug!
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➤Tools/Supplies Used (affiliate):
💎 Dewenwils Remote Outlet – https://amzn.to/3VZ8TMp
❤️BN-Link Smart Plug (new version) – https://amzn.to/3zG5F93
Amazon Smart Plug – https://amzn.to/3LoduCU
Amazon Basics Smart Plug Strip – https://amzn.to/3S4QOLA
Govee Smart Plug H5083 – https://amzn.to/460HpdT
Govee Matter Smart Plug Pro H5085 – https://amzn.to/4bKoAgd
Govee Smart Plug with Monitoring – https://amzn.to/4cEiz66
Govee Dual Smart Plug H5082 – https://amzn.to/3XYIFMr
Kasa Smart Plug HS103P2 – https://amzn.to/467Xqi3
Kasa Matter Smart Plug KP125M – https://amzn.to/4f00voy
Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip KP303 – https://amzn.to/3zG5Jpj
Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini EP10P2 – https://amzn.to/4d2E54j
Kasa Smart Plug In-Wall Outlet KP200 – https://amzn.to/465Q4eQ
Zoiinet Remote Outlet – https://amzn.to/461uvw0
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0:00 Will your device even work with smart plugs?
1:43 Do you have the power?
3:35 Small enough?
7:02 How much control do you want?
11:39 Are they easy to setup?
14:17 Which home assistant works?
17:24 Are they secure?
20:27 Monitoring energy usage?
22:20 What about automations?
24:08 What do they cost?
Screws, UPWARDS,… you monster!!!!
I bet you hang your toilet roll wall side as well!!
🙂
Thanks for doing this!
I have Geeni – not mentioned
Those smart wall sockets take up way too much space in the wiring box, making connecting up the wires and shoving them back in difficult…
Omg, thank you for bleeping out the wake word!
When we built our house 5 years ago, I thought it was curious that the electrician vertically aligned all of the screw heads in all of the switch and outlet plates. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as fastidious about tigntening the wire connections … I checked them all, and two of them had loose wire screws that just popped off when I pulled the switch.
so you go around the house setting screw slots vertical !!!! i do to!!!!!!
I don’t like wifi enabled, alexa crap, my wireless outlet inserts come with their own remote, i put command strips up in different rooms so i can put the remote on the wall where i want. And there’s eight outlets on one remote.
Wait why does the screw drive need to be vertical? Is that like a safety issue or something?
4:10 i like horizontal better, 4/10
With all the money people spend on IoT devices for their house, few spend a just a bit more (<$1000) on a firewall router than can monitor and help deter the bad elements that live just outside their Internet doors. I’ve been a Firewalla user for years and control everything that not only enters (nothing), but also leaves my networks. You’d be amazed how many IoT devices send information out of your house, well beyond what is required for typical operation. (35+ year network and data center engineer here)
I want something that saves me money on electricity. For example, my tv when off still draws some power. If I plug these in, will it reduce it to less stanby consumption?
Nice video. OCD with the screw! Glad I’m not alone.
I am glad you did a close-up of the model number on the BN-Link plug. I have a similar one but it didn’t include energy monitoring. My model number is:
BNC-60/U133T (without energy monitoring) – the "J" is missing.
BNC-60/U133TJ (With energy monitoring)
Got to wonder about the signal reception on those integrated ones IF, like me, you have grounded metal boxes behind your outlets. Even if they design the antenna to favor signals from the front (thru plastic), that is probably not the direction the strongest wifi path is coming from, so you’re working with reflected paths.
I saw a few videos before landing on yours and just the first point you made was a super important question that no other video mentioned.
Great job. 👍
Staying till the end.
I have a 4 gang switch with so many screws when I moved into my house it was so satisfying to replace that and line up all the screws PROPERLY 😂
if we want to monitor the power usage for a lot of the daily things we use, that means we need to buy a smart plug for every item we want to monitor right?
Can smart plugs have a dimmer for a gradual wake up light? Or do you need a seperate lamp designed for that purpose
There not SMART plugs there remote controlled outlet moron, if some one is dumb enough to to over draw a current rating they will learn. Glad I didn’t watch the whole video, waste of time, maybe common sense isn’t so common
If you put the Zoiinet plug in the top… the larger plug should fit below it just fine. The ground wire will be facing AWAY and not get in the way…
Great info on the amps and sizing that will/won’t fit into a dual switch. If you are starting out now (March 2025) don’t buy anything that isn’t running Matter/Thread. Matter gives you that cross compatibility and allow you to switch between Google, Amazon, Apple, and HomeKit. Major security increase as well. Major simplification, other than HomeKit, to install and manage vs. Z-Wave, Zigbee, and the like. Door locks and deadbolts utilize Matter as well.
I prefer my screws horizontal. Like all gentlemen do.
zoiinet, tremfaya, deweynels, ozempic
Please can you tell me which brand and model smart plug (via the wifi and/or blue-tooth app) will provide me real-time (1) watts, (2) volts and (3) amp use of the appliance (s) used in the smart plug — not just off and on functions. I need to know the real-time power use (watts, volts, and amps like a Kill-A-Watt Meter) so I can know (monitor) which appliances and how many I can use in a 20-amp (15A) apartment. Thanks!
If there is a power outage while you are away, is there any way you could determine that from performance (or lack there of) of the device?
FYI: Do not plan to approach the power limit of the plug, 15A * 120V = 1800W, but if there is a momentary voltage drop, e.g. 1800W / 110V = 16.36A and black smoke appears. The fuse probably won’t react.
I did not have the 5G/2.4g network issue on Kasa. Considering getting some Govee for usage monitoring tho.
These are great for AC units too. All of my AC’s are too old to have wifi and I’ve lost the remotes to them. I can turn them on from anywhere in the world as long as I have my phone and internet. It’s nice to turn my AC on while I’m on my way home from a walk/bike ride and have my room nice and cool when I get back.
Problem with the any brand of the actual smart receptacles are that you can only control one side
i use mine as a emergencey alert.. my 90 year old mom only has to say "alexa HELP" and every plug turns on a radio or lamp the radio is set to loud radio station.. if she needs help, my entire house will alert me and i go running to see what my mother needs…
Maybe it’s camera angle but the screw still seems to be not quite vertical. 10 out of 10 bothersome! 😊
You’re very good at what you do. Fantastic video. Keep up the good work!
I’ve found durability the biggest problem. I’ve used several makes over a few years (within their rating of course) and they’ve ALL stopped working after a year or so…
OK not to complain but the screw should be side to side lol
The set it is very hard
mark is etuya
Donot set with smart home software
I use the kasa matter ones. Use them from everything from a room heater, ERV and dehumidifier in my attic, a water circulation pump. They have worked flawlessly for years and even tell you how much power they are using.
The sockets we use in Europe and the rest of the world have tgus advantage, you can hook your device both from the down side and from the top side.
I’m looking to get a smart plug that can monitor energy and when my tv projector gets turned on certain lights go out and when the projector goes off the lights turn on. Any suggestions?
3:43 Great job straightening that screw. (Sarcasm, of course). Not sure how you mess that up, you just had to line it up with the outlet plugs.
Wow! Fantastic options. And, oh yes , the screw must be aligned correctly, of course! 😅
If you get plagued of those wifi devices and your internet service only give you 32 IP then reconsider it or get a ZigBee gateway and devices will worth while since the gateway ZigBee only just 1 IP for the whole things set up can have 30 devices in the gateway but only would use 1 single IP instead of 30 different IP for your wifi based things
The technique of having a light turned on, then unplugging and replugging it in to "test" if it’s a "smart" light is a great way to blow a circuit and possibly get yourself shocked. Don’t do it! Look on your box (if you have it) or search the web instead…though I don’t know how many lights are "dumb" and don’t own any. The light he had that actually stayed off looked like a new light considering it’s touch sensitive rather than the various standard lamp switches or pull cords
It’s important to note that the ratings for basically all of these cover only resistive loads. A shop vac might not be a great idea since that’s an inductive load and may not be kind to the mosfets on a smart plug. Personally, I don’t trust these things so much, either for safety or security (especially ones that only do WiFi instead of local radio like Zigbee.)
These units you show are nice but they add dimensions to a regular plug and require, sometimes, moving furniture ungodly distances from the wall to plug something in. The least smart plug manufacturers could do is put the actual plug on the side so the cord plug isn’t jutting out so far.
What about side by side wall power points
😂10
Umm…. the cover screw is still a couple degrees off from vertical. 😂
Does anyone know of any plugs that show power consumption? I currently have a "Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Power Outlet", but it doesn’t show power consumption, only Runtime.