Smart plug

[The Duke]

Sorry, I have a had full of the non power monitor types. The TP-Link plugs I have are very good. In the sense that they just work.

Seems to be a trend for everything TP-Link I buy.

Congrats on the car. That seems to of taken ages to be built. It’s ment to be a little cracker.

I would like then to build a really hot version off the GTE (not sure I like vw using that name), I think if they could build a golf (or polo) with a 1.2(ish) petrol engine, but get it up over 200bhp with a hybrid system, it could really improve/boost the rep of hydrids.

Ive been looking at the rav4 hybrid as my next car. I’m going off the idea of the Octavia vrs as it’s has a sampler tank than my current car and will do 10mpg less. I detest visiting petrol stations. The rav4 h, I’m not sure of the tank size, but it does 10mpg more than my current car. At a real world 46mpg, which is amazing for that type/size of car.

Only issue is I don’t really like SUVs I’ve spent my like avoiding them. I may just get the normal 2l deisel or 1.5liter petrol octavia estate. Both should give around 50mpg.

If it was me, I’d get a fiesta St 150 or 200. I’d be more happy. Even with the fiestas dated interior.

[Ed P]

Sorry for the necro-post, but I remembered that a number of people were using the relatively cheap TP-Link HS-100 smart plug. Out of the box this is a smart phone only appliance with no facility to do much programming other than the simple app facilities.

This blog by George allows a bit more control in that it gives scripts that the plug uses.

I recommend going to the Github link as the script in the blog appears to be truncated on the rhs.

 

[Dave Rice]

Taken my first steps into home automation by buying a TPL bulb to solve a particular problem.

[Tippon]

I bought one of these as a burglar deterrent for the xmas period:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CB7R8FX

It’s not bad. It’s not bright enough for a living room light, but for a lamp or bedroom light, it’s great. The colours don’t match up with the app, so red sometimes comes out orange, or purple if you’re the other end of the band, but it’s nothing major.

It’s great for keeping my daughter entertained though. I tell the lamp to listen to Alice, and she tells it to change colour, or turn on and off with me controlling it from the app. She was shouting at it today though as it wasn’t listening to her. All we could hear was ‘Lamp! Listen to Alice!’ ?

[The Duke]

I can recommend the yee ligj bulbs form xiomai. They are very good  and relatively cheap (for smart bulbs) at £20 for rgb and about £13 for white. I’ve only got rgb (as they do white) and they are very bright are are only ever on 50% up stairs. And 75% down stirs. Which we Dail back to 20% in the evenings

The bedroom ones come on 20% and red  at night set up via the app, so you don’t get woke up going the loo.

Ive been drunk before and tried to eat in red light. Your taste percention goes all out of whack then the light isn’t normal  white. Very strange indeed.

[Richard]

I saw this being discussed a while back after experiments to compare the effect of such as background aromas, sounds, the shape of drinking glasses, the weight of the drinking vessels and lighting with lighting winning ‘the upset everyone race’.

As for remote control systems apart from remote control for some window blinds which has been a godsend, we have struggled to think of ways that our life would improve with more more in the way of automation. Since my wife’s various treatments her mobility has noticeably deteriorated with the greatest hit coming from the major cancer clear-out operation three weeks back, that may or my not have succeeded, she has a ‘surprise’ appointment with the oncologist on Wednesday. I wondered if her physical limitations might spring any new automation thoughts but so far we have continued with no new needs emerging. One of the operation sites is looking a bit suspect and was termed ‘wound breakdown’ in telephone discussions, so we are wondering how well the issue will be received on Monday when yet another check up will be encountered, the next three days have at least 4 appointments already. The good news is that our disabled daughter has finally been moved into supported living style arrangements. Our only special black Friday, cyber Monday and week style purchases have been some support style garments to assist my wife’s recovery and a new mattress for said daughter.

How do PCs know that times are stressful?

Having spent time taking my wife’s car out this morning to keep it going after a couple of weeks when I did not have the time I then followed up with collecting daughter via a 40 plus mile round trip as she wanted to see her mother. The grand idea was to await the new mattress and take it and daughter back after its arrival, for another 60~90 minutes 40 plus mile round trip. So off I went to the PC I went to check the progress of the goods, only to find the PC acting bizarrely. For some reason it later turned out, the keyboard was cancelling all attempts to do anything, but the mattress turned up anyway, then it was taken with daughter to  her new home where both were happily(?) set up. Every previous attempt to recover the PC having failed an old keyboard was pressed into service and all was well once more. The PC’s odd behaviour was a bit of stress I could have done without, though I suspect that a key could have become stuck and subsequently released itself, the usual plethora of restarts, attempts at restoration and so on all having failed – they appeared to have been simply cancelled by the gremlin. Perhaps I cleared the keyboard’s issue by accident while moving it about.

As for the lights, perhaps more than 80% are still the original 1992 vintage ones we put in place when we moved in, most of the others are LEDs replacements with a few CFLs outside. I did want to think about LEDs through the house, but with somewhere close to 50 or more bulbs involved even cheap LEDs cost a fair amount and would they pay me back in my lifetime?

[Ed P]

Hard to say wrt cost effectiveness, however using programmed RGB lights in strategic places like the bedrooms, and TV room in the manner detailed by Steve are scientifically proven to be a healthy option.

i.e. green/blue/white lighting to wake up with kickstarts your circadian clock, then yellow->red lights in the evening improves sleep habits and promotes natural melatonin. Red is particularly useful in that it offsets the harsh blues of TVs and PC screens.

[Tippon]

I’m tempted to splash out on a few smart bulbs for the waterproof fittings along the front of the house. My house is effectively upside down, so it takes a minute to answer the front door, especially when I’ve got my hands full with Alice. Being able to say something like ‘Ok Google  turn on the outside lights’ would be handy and would let a delivery driver know that I’m on the way.

[The Duke]

If you already have outside lights in place, a cheaper solution wouf be a £6 sonoff basic (I think it’s basic).

It’s basically an inline switch. That you van set up via the app then link the account to Google (and assume alexa).then you can delete the app (it drains power) .

Just leave your normal light switch turned on and let the sonoff do the switching. You can also set sceduals etc.

Though this will only work if your outdoor light are wired in like a house lamp would be. Chances are they will be.

If your house is modern and has euro spec wiring instead of uk spec, (I think Thr euro spec is optional atm, but will end up the standard) you can use the sonoff snart light switches, and turn all light sockets into smart lights.

Thr tradition way we wire a ceiling light won’t work as we use a live (switch return) so we don’t have constant power to the back of the switch, ours has the constant power in the cieling rose (you probably know that).

You could retro fit one into the cueing rose, I figured out it would work, but you’d need a spark to check your work, and I’m not even sure if it would pass standards.

However Richard if you have modern / EU spec wiring, (doubtful), the sonoff smart switches at around £10 each (iirc) is a far cheaper way than doing an over haul of your bulbs.

I gradually changed all mined for standard leds about 6 years ago (all bar the one in the shower), and just have a few smart ones I’ve integrated

My best ones are the ones in thd attic. As I simply wired two b22 outlets to a wire to a jb box into the socket ring (ie a long lamp)I did put an in line fused switch just in case, leave it in the in position and have two smart bulbs, I control by saying on Google, attic lights on/off as I’m lowering the hatch ladders.

If I’d of known about the sonoff basic then, I’d off added one of those and but in dumb led bulbs, as when in the attic all I do is have my Smart rgb led bulbs set by o 100% and white.as Im only with looking for somthing of putting somthing away.

I probably will one day. And relocate the smart bulbs. My girl is getting a Google home for her bedroom for Xmas, so I may whack the smart bulb in there.

If anyone has kids between 3 and 25! The bathroom is the place for a smart switch. My kids the younger ones cis there young, and older ones cis beer, like to leave the bathroom light on, which means the extractor fan is left on too, so being able to say ok Google bathroom off when woken by it is an excellent use of smart tech. Save having to trapes to the bathroom .

Also given Xmas is about hear, a use for a smart socket, or even a sonoff basic, is the Xmas lightsmif your house is like mine, the socket for them is usally buried behind the tree. Also they would be good for oaps that like to turn sockets off behind tvs at night.

You can set up rooms and areas etc, so you could have a ‘goodnight livingroom’ that turns off your lights, tv stuff and Xmas lights all with one command. I can see the smart stuff coming into its own as I age.

Oooh you have an nfc sticker on your night stand that auto turns off the downstairs when you Dock your phone after a certain hour.

I for got, my tortoise enclosure is also ran by a sonoff basic. So now its light cycle isn’t dependent on us remembering to turn the sun off.

Though one word of warning. Getting a new router turns into an ordeal. Lol.

[Tippon]

The Duke wrote:

Though this will only work if your outdoor light are wired in like a house lamp would be. Chances are they will be.

Thanks Steve, but mine are wired in like the indoor lights. I might have a look at them for the garage lights though. The ceiling and insulation need doing, so the wires for the strip lights are exposed at the moment. I might see if something like this works with them and set them up to come on before Ellen takes the car out in the morning and switch on and off when she’s at a set distance away etc., and put a voice control on the separate set of lights at the back of the garage. You can guarantee that I only need those when I’m under a bike and something’s been moved in the way of the switch (the genius who had the house before us only put a switch at the back of the garage, and not at the front with the others…).

The Xmas tree is a good idea too, as well as the downstairs light. Because the living room is upstairs, we’ve got to go downstairs just to turn the tree off, or the light at the bottom of the stairs.

I might go through the whole house and see what can be automated now that I know how to do it. Better wait until after Xmas though 😀

[The Duke]

What ever you decide, there is now a few ways to skin that cat, for not stupid money.

Two years ago, you had Philips and the £40 a bulb and you’d need there hub. Now with sonoff (probably others too) you can make your own. I buy them of Ali express, in packs of ten, when they come up cheap. Iirc Thr basics are around a fiver, but can be had for ad little a £3 each.

You’d be better youtubing the sonoff stuff, as not only is it cheap it’s made to be moded and you can even flash custom roms on them. I’ve not gone that mad, but winters is long and dark so I may tinker with one at some point.

I can’t recommend the yee smart buld rgb led. Ariudm £20 a pop, need no hub and are very bright. Iirc there is a disco mode too, where it will react to music. though  I may of dremt that, or thinking of anther product. I looked at alot of these about two years ago before deciding on the yee bulbs, and liked them so much I’ve just kept kept to them.

Xiaomi Make them.they are like the apple of China. Hence £20 price and not Ten like the rest of the Chinese bulbs. But they work.

That comparison make me a little sick being an android guy. Lol.

[Ed P]

I have the Lumiman RGB bulbs you recommended at one time and I’m happy with the easy way they set up wifi, as well as the ‘plusminus’ control app. My only niggle is that I have not yet located the SDK for bulb control as I fancy using the bulbs in one room as colour changing chasers for Christmas.

[The Duke]

I never recommended that bulb ed. I’ve never had that one, (or heard off ). My first toe into the water of smart bulbs was the yee bulbs.

I do linke the led stips (that come on a roll), and you sounder the driver onto them, (cheap as chips) but they ain’t apart. Is uposed you could make it smart (or Atleast wifi controlled) with sonoff. But my fish isn’t into WiFi, and that’s the only place I use the rolls tyle of led rgb stripping. Though my girl keeps hinging at back lighting in her room, as some of her friends have the effect.

It’s a good job the world’s isn’t running out of power!

[Ed P]

The Duke wrote:

I never recommended that bulb ed. I’ve never had that one, (or heard off ).

My bad – I know you pointed me towards RGB LED lights, and Xiaomi but on the way through Amazon I finished up with Lumiman, and I cannot remember who pointed me there!

[Author]

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