https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX8FE8q-Bjw
D-Link has just launched its new Wi-Fi Smart Plug designed to offer users full control over their electrical outlets via the free mobile apps. The small adapters communicate with any existing WiFi network and plug into any electrical outlet. The user can then control power to any of the devices plugged into the adapter.
They come with a few handy features along with basic on/off control. You can create custom schedules for particular outlets and monitor your energy use on connected devices.
You can set device schedules so that you walk into a brightly-lit home every day after work with your favorite song playing and the AC exactly where you want it.
The system also includes a thermal protection system that allows you to manually shut down power on an outlet and includes a thermal sensor that will automatically turn off over heating appliances.
The D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug comes in at a slightly lower price tag than the popular $60 WeMo options from Belkin. D-Link is launching its smart plug at $49.99 right now (temporarily out of stock on Amazon) and the mydlink Smart Plug apps for iOS and Android can both be downloaded for free via the App Store and Google Play.
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Hopefully there will be IFTTT support for this soon.
Hasn’t Wemo’s failure been a clue to these companies that these devices are anything but “smart”
I have a Philips Hue system that manages my lights. I never leave the Iron on and even if I did it has an auto shutoff.
I don’t need remote control of a fan or a bulky box hanging off my AC receptacles. These boxes are a turd of an idea.
You’re just mad that it’s far cheaper than Hue, and you can turn on and off bulbs that are far brighter. Let alone the numerous other electronics you could control with them.
It’s not that scalable though. If I have to pay $50 per socket and still have to purchase the bulb. Plus it doesn’t offer dimming capability.
At first my Hue was a toy. Fun to show off to family and friends but now it’s pretty essential to my comfort. I find the ability to dim from anywhere more important that changing colors which is why i’m glad they’re coming out with the Lux bulb that doesn’t do colors and is supposedly brighter.
I’ll tell you what would be some nice products to automate:
1. Window blinds. You’d be a trillionaire if you could design a robust motorized window blind system that was easy to control without proprietary remote and quiet.
2. Gas Fireplace. Escea has a nice expensive fireplace that can be controlled with an app but surprisingly there are few companies moving into this area (could be liability fears)
3. Roomba/Neato robots.- I love my Neato but I often want to control what time it starts and what areas I want it to focus on. I imagine a future where multiple robot vacuum and mops all work in tandem based on user defined criteria like time and area.
I want to like smart plugs but there’s only so much you do do with a dumb device.
WeMo is pretty awesome when you’ve got specific uses for it. Attaching to a iron isn’t one of them. The iron should auto-shut off by itself. Likewise attaching one to every plug in the house isn’t likely to pan out very well either.
Here’s how I’m using my WeMos:
1) Pretty much anything that has a timer for power. We have lawn lights and irrigation. The WeMo can set the lawn lights based on time before sunset and then we have them turn off at 11pm. I’d need some timer to do this, but with WeMo, it’s timer based as well as remote. So if we have a party, or hear something outside in the middle of the night, we can turn on the lights. Motion sensors can trigger the lights on via IFTT as well. Likewise, normally on a timer, we can manually turn on the irrigation system by remote or have weather trigger watering or skip days via IFTT.
2) Anything that is hard to get to otherwise. For example, we have an electronic gate for our driveway. A garage door remote for it doesn’t have the range from the house. With WeMo, it’s not a problem and I don’t have to carry around a dedicated remote for the gate, just anyone of our iPhones, iPads, or iPods can be used, which are always at hand. We have a nook way upstairs that’s a pain to get to, but nice to have the light on to welcome guests as it faces the front of the house. It’s nice to be lying in bed and if we’re wondering if we left it on, just check our phone and if it’s on, we can turn it off.
3) You can get alerts from the devices. In our case, we can see that the gate has been opened. This is cool because when delivery people or guests with the code arrive, we get an alert that they’ll be driving up and can go and meet them.
4) Everything works outside of the home network. So if I’m delayed in traffic and a guest is already at my house, I can let them in, turn on some lights, etc…
You may not have the need for any of this, others may want to do much more. But there are some really cool things that can be done with these devices.
I like the way you’re using it. I think that Belkin has struggled to market Wemo and rightfully so because everyones needs are different. I figure in 5 years the dust will settle and we’ll have a good idea on how well these devices work in different scenarios. Right now there’s a bit too much unrealistic hyping of IoT but the rubber meets the road soon enough.