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Elgato expands its HomeKit lineup with new Eve Energy sensor for U.S. customers

Elgato Eve Energy

Elgato already makes several smart sensors for the home, and today it’s adding the Eve Energy accessory for U.S. customers to its lineup. Eve Energy works similarly to other smart plugs: connect it to the wall socket, then power appliances on and off using your smartphone. Eve Energy also doubles as a power meter, however, and there’s HomeKit support as well …

That means you can use Siri on the iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch to power connected appliances on or off when using Eve Energy. And HomeKit lets you automate actions too using triggers like location and time. Or you can automate actions based on data gathered by other Elgato Eve accessories or HomeKit gear from any brand.

Even without HomeKit, Eve Energy is setup and can be controlled from the Elgato Eve app for iPhone and iPad. I’ve used this app to test other Elgato accessories; it has a nice look and feel plus you can see HomeKit accessories from other brands in it as well.

If you’re looking to gain new insights on exactly how much energy a certain appliance is using, Eve Energy adds a power meter function to the connected switch setup too. This means you can actually see, not just guess, how much power what you have connected to Eve Energy is using. If you automate power on and off based on when you actually need to use the connected appliance, you can hopefully see a real energy savings over time.

Elgato Eve app

The Elgato Eve app lets you visualize energy consumption by day, week, or month. Siri and HomeKit make automating and controlling connected accessories and even creating scenes and triggers possible.

Aside from including a power meter, Eve Energy also varies from other HomeKit switches by using Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi, to connect to your iPhone or iPad. This is a first for HomeKit-enabled plugs.

Elgato Eve Energy 2

Wi-Fi networks tend to have greater range than Bluetooth, which caps between 30-60 feet, but the pitch here is that using low-energy Bluetooth frees up network bandwidth as we add more and more Wi-Fi devices to our networks.

For testing, I have Elgato’s Eve Weather and Eve Room HomeKit sensors, which also rely on Bluetooth, and don’t experience any range issues when on Wi-Fi, which may be thanks to the presence of an Apple TV in the mix. Elgato’s Eve Energy likely works similarly which alleviates any concern over range.

You can find Elgato’s Eve Energy accessory for $49.95 and other HomeKit sensors on Amazon and Elgato.com.

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Comments

  1. Elgato seems to have a grounded take on these devices unlike some of their competitors. I recently visited a site of one such company where every accessory was at least 3x Elgato’s and it was all basic ODM stuff. Sensors that home automation pioneers and long-established brands have been selling for 20 years at a fraction of the cost, just with added WiFi. Sorry, but I’m not sure too many people want to pay $180 for an outlet or a dry-contact sensor.

    The Elgato stuff looks to offer more functionality in addition to much more attractive pricing. Definitely where I’d look first for consumer-ready gear (stuff that doesn’t require professional installation).

  2. telecastle - 8 years ago

    if you want an excellent HomeKit compatible outlet that can be controlled via any HomeKit compatible app, the iDevices Switch is it. It’s a HomeKit compatible Wi-Fi device that also has a built-in night light, which can be controlled separately from the outlet itself, and can change its colors as well as brightness. So, it’s like a mini Philips Hue light built in to a smart outlet that can be controlled while being on the Wi-Fi network (or outside of the network, by using Apple TV3 or AppleTV4 as a proxy).

    I bought this device to control a X-mas tree at the end of last year, but it is something I can use for anything, including remote power cycling of devices in my house. The iDevices Switch works perfectly – never any issues.

    Bluetooth connectivity for a switchable electrical outlet is a strange concept. It’s not that such a device runs off a battery, which benefits from Bluetooth Low Energy. The device is plugged into a wall electrical outlet, so why not use Wi-Fi?

  3. ag80911 - 8 years ago

    Make them $20 bucks and they will sell like hot cakes – otherwise forget it.

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.