Smart Plug Default Behavior at powerup

[Chuck]

I just bought an Emporia Smart Outlet and I have a question.  I had no trouble setting it up to my wifi, and during the setup it installed the latest firmware.  I was doing the setup in my office, in an outlet that was easy to access.  My intent after doing the setup was to unplug the Smart Outlet and move it to an outlet in my garage where I have a freezer.  Before I moved the device I used the app to turn OFF the smart outlet (the light went to solid purple, and I could hear a physical click).  I then moved the device to the AC outlet behind my freezer (kind of hard to get to) and I then plugged my freezer into the Smart Outlet.  To my surprise the freezer started up, which is not what I wanted to happen, since it’s not good to unplug a running compressor and then plug it back in without a waiting period.  It’s then I noticed the light on the Smart Outlet was solid blue.  Why didn’t it power up in the “off” state (it’s previous state)?  Is the default for this device to power on after a power failure, regardless of it’s previous state?

I can find no information on what this device does during power failures.  I assume it will look for and re-connect to wifi, but does it remember whether it was on or off before the power failed?

I don’t plan on using the timer function of this device, so it’s not a big deal but I would think if it can remember the wifi information it could also remember it’s previous on/off state during a power interruption.

[djwakelee]

Not sure about what the correct power up behavior is with the latest firmware, but if you search the forum, you’ll find many issues regarding random on or off after power outages.  People with just a brief power outages caused the plug to shut off and it never came back on, losing the contents of their fridge / freezer.  Until this condition is fixed, I think general advice is to use these on non-critical loads only.  Will it ever be fixed – don’t know, Emporia seems to be focusing on new product offerings like EV chargers and not putting resources on correcting the issues with the Vue 2 and Smart plugs.

Also, some have cracked these open to rewire so they are just power monitors (always on), to avoid this issue.  There is a thread here about that.  If you are handy in electronics, something to consider if you really like the device.

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