Smart plug without the switch

[shaun]

I’m a happy user of a Vue 2 and a handful of your smart plugs. Even with all of that, there are a few devices that end up in “Balance” as I simply don’t have enough channels on the Vue to monitor everything. Some of these devices I could put a smart plug on, but I am hesitant because if something were to happen and it got switched off, “bad things would happen” (e.g., refrigerator, radon fan, water heater power vent). If Emporia had a smart plug type device that offered the monitoring without switching capability, I’d buy up a few of these to put on those devices (and maybe more just for more granular monitoring). I love how the smart plugs can “nest” under the Vue channels and it handles figuring out how much remains on the Vue vs the smart plug. Just a thought! Keep up the great work!

[djwakelee]

If you are handy with electronics, there is a thread here which shows how to modify a smart plug to be always on (relay bypassed).  In that mode it returns the data you are looking for.  Agree that you should not put a smart plug on a critical item – many reports of these glitching and not turning back on after short duration power or internet outages.  They are also prone to bricking – just FYI.  Not sure if that cause has been identified or remedied, but rampant reports on this forum of those issues.  Just something to watch out for.

[djwakelee]

Here is the thread.  The green wire next to the relay is the always-on mod.

Hacking the SmartPlug to be always ON.

[shaun]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Thanks @djwakelee. I am pretty handy with a soldering iron, but I prefer to stay on the low voltage side of things. Thanks for the info though!</p>

[yyzguy]

I have 4 smartplugs  linked to Vue.  Last week we had a 2 hour power outage.  The cloud reported not hearing from them after 30 minute of no data.    Once power was restored, everything came back without any issues.

so, that tells me I’ll know about a power outage within 30 minutes AND the smartplugs will come back on after power is restored

also, I had an internet outage a couple of days ago and received reports that the cloud wasn’t receiving data.

power outages are rare where I live, in this case it was a digging accident nearby.   I’m not concerned and one of my plugs is on a freezer

 

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by yyzguy.

[djwakelee]

Based on the number of issues with the smart plugs as detailed on this forum, I don’t know if I would trust just one test.  And it’s not just that they don’t reliably come back on after a power or internet outage, but that they are failing at random.  Given that, I would not place these on a freezer unless the ‘always on’ mod is done, or if Emporia comes out with always on plugs from the factory.

[shaun]

To their credit, I’ve not had a single issue with the 4 smart plugs of theirs that I’ve had for ~1.5-2 years. We don’t have a ton of power outages here, but the ones we’ve had, I don’t remember having issues with them not recovering to the previous state, but they’re not on anything critical either.

[cwasson]

I have some things I don’t want accidentally off, or if I turn them off temporarily I want them back on.  I just set up a daily schedule to turn the devices on 4 times per day.  Gives maximum of 6 hours off.  I suppose you could turn them on even more often.  I don’t know the limit on how many times you can set in the schedule.

[shaun]

Smart idea

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