I am currently using quite a few Tuya smart plugs, but as I have realized, these are complete garbage since they wont work unless internet is working (and also relies on Tuya app to work properly which at this point in time, it doesn’t) so I am looking to replace these (about 15-20 plugs in total) but I need to find the perfect plug so I never have to figure out what to buy again.
But with there being a gazillion devices out there, its really hard figuring out which is actually perfect for use with the Homey Pro.
So, what I am looking for:
The MUST haves:
*) Has to be completely controllable while offline (so no cloud service crap)
*) Native control from the Homey (I don’t want to rely on a different App that may or may not work at a given time, and create another account etc)
*) Rated for 16A
*) Overload protection
Things I want but can live without if it is otherwise perfect:
*) Energy Metering
*) Small size (able to fit 2 in the same wall socket next to each other)
*) Confirmed working as a repeater in the mesh network within Homey Pro (able to chain multiple of them together over longer distances and still control devices at the end of the mesh)
*) Since I’ll be buying like 20 of these, lower price is a plus!
This is a pic of my fairly slim Tuya zigbee TS011F _TZ3000_gjnozsaz plugs 16A max. (with power measuring), in a Dutch dual socket.
Not sure if it has overload protection, but my utility-box circuit-breakers have a 16A limit.
They work fine, and come fairly cheap (€ 8 to 10).
Thanks for sharing Peter. Are you using them directly with zigbee network from your Homey 2019 or using zigbee2MQTT?
@Patrik_Wall what is your Homey hardware, Pro 2019 or pro 2023?
From what I have seen in the community, stability can vary depending on both Homey hardware and the device itself when it comes to Zigbee.
Earlier today, I was also searching for a new smart plug with energy monitoring for my Homey pro 2023. I decided to go with one from Innr (sp 242) to try.
While doing my research I also found that in order for energy monitoring to work properly, I’ll need to make sure it has the latest firmware which can be done using zigbee2MQTT. That’s what I’m planning to do depending on the firmware that is pre-installed.
Maybe other smart plugs also requires firmware updates for stability or to use a feature. The devil is always in the details
Do you use them with the Tuya app or directly through the Homey Pro with Zigbee? I saw them on AliExpress, but I’m concerned they may have the same issues as my Tuya Wi-Fi plugs (connection problems since today, and unreliable real-time power monitoring from the start). Could you, for instance, compare these with the HomeWizard plugs? Most importantly, is it worthwhile to replace the Wi-Fi plugs with these Zigbee ones, and would I need a Tuya hub if it’s possible to connect directly to the Homey Pro 2023?
Directly without an app.
But they also work with the Tuya zigbee app.
Zigbee ofcourse is not wifi, and it can have its own issues.
I don’t take the measurements of uncalibrated €9,- meters too seriously But I think they’re not too bad.
Measurements are slightly adjustable with the Tuya zigbee app btw
If you want to get rid of the cloud, yes.
About the measurements, I can’t give advice.
You don’t need a Tuya hub. And if you should use one, it’s not a win because you’ll end up with a zigbee-over-the-cloud system.
You can pair them directly with Homey without an app, or use the Tuya app and benefit from measurement correcting features.
Running with Homeys standard Zigbee driver without an app.
Support for on/off and energy measuring. And they support 16A (don’t know if I would really trust using Zigbee plugs for full 16A at all).
Yeah I actually have a 4 pack of these as well, they work pretty good, but they have some zigbee mesh network issues (wont connect to each other correctly to extend the mesh network, I have made a post about it previously). But otherwise they work so I might just stick with them, seems stable at least and fulfil most of what I need and come pretty cheap.
These look great, however comes at a veeeery high price here in Sweden, about 60€ for a single unit, I’m sure they are great but I really cannot spend that kind of money
Exactly, its easy enough to find plugs that on paper looks great, how they actully work in practice is another thing (as I have come to realize with basically only 1 device I’ve purchased so far has been 100% plug and play, there is always something that has to be tweaked/configured etc for it to work properly)
Its the Pro 2023 and yeah, I need something that is 100% stable, hence this post. The problem is that I control some pretty important stuff which could create potentially dangerous situations if it fails so it really needs to work.
Oh, this is crucial info. I want to share my opinion here, but feel free to ignore.
Wireless signals never are 100% stable.
I would like to recommend to create a failover system, which uses a wire, or a different radio like z-wave, or local wifi (like Shelly).
Is your Homey connected to LAN?
Homey is basically designed to switch your livingroom lights (charged a bit).
It’s in no way reliable enough for handling stuff which can result in potentially dangerous or life threatening situations.
Expecting 100% uptime is not realistic.
It’s not exactly life threatening situations and there are workarounds for most scenarios where it could fail.
Long story short, I use Homey to control our chicken coop, both heating and opening/closing of the doors and since we live in the northern part of Sweden we get outside temperatures of -40 degrees celsius during the winter at which point the heating need to work, it is fully possible to just go there manually and control the stuff and even if we are not home and Homey fail, some neighbour is probably home and can do it (with some guiding) so yeah, it would be very preferable if it would work 100% of the time but if not, the stars really have to align super badly for it to become really dangerous (it has to be -40, we have to be away, all neighbours have to be away and the Homey needs to fail so badly that any future attempts keep failing)
I have setup my flows for these things in a way to counter any misfired action anyway, I have a main timer that triggers every 5 minutes and tries to turn on/off things (unless already successful) so it should be a bit safer at least, also I get notified everytime something fails so I can check what is going on.
A bit OT discussion but what platform WOULD be more reliable then? I imagined the Homey would be stable enough to run home automation 24/7 without interruption.
Yeah thats true, however the issue comes when I need to have more logic (which I do) like time of day, temperature, state of other things (in my case different logic if door is closed or open for example). Solving this with simple hardware like timers/temperature controlled relays etc would be quite hard tbh.