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Are you smart? Smart technologies

    During my last visit to Italy I bought a few smart items


    First some smart adapters for sockets by Meross, which I returned because they were of non use to me.

    Just to be clar, something like this. And the reason was that these were compatible with AppleHome, but they kept losing configuration (a known issue... known once you've bought them and desperately scrambled for advice on the internet, of course).


    43528-84674-meross-plug-1-xl.jpg

    Then a couple of smart switches for air conditioning splits to monitor A/C consumption in our STR, and a contact door sensor to monitor when the STR door is open/closed (just in case someone makes copies of the keys and access the unit after their checkout).


    1pc WiFi Power Consumption Statistics Switch, 16A AC 90-250V, Tuya/smart Life App, Supports Alexa, Google Home Voice Control, Timing Function, Power-off Memory Setting, Status Feedback, Real Time Power Consumption Monitor - cost was about $12 each.


    Besides monitoring consumption, I can also turn it off (but not turn it on!)




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    The contact sensor was about $10 and it is battery powered

    WIFI Door Sensor
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    All managed by a Tuya ZigBee 3.0 gateway that cost about $25


    On Saturday, a technician came to install the A/C smart switches, whereas I was able to install the door sensor myself.


    Through the Smart Home app you can set rules, for example to turn off A/C at a given time or when some condition happens.


    I must admit that I am out of $100 just for the fun of it. I still fail to see how it make me smarter to install these things.


    I have several Sonoff smart devices. To control outside lights, and a few indoor, on timers or other rules. An electric usage monitor and control of the house boiler and the irrigation well pump, one which is Shelly and one which is Sonoff.


    Both products are very cheap. These and any others I have tested, I only buy if they are one of many which support the install of custom Firmware. The Tasmota open source project with free firmware can overwrite the manufacturer’s firmware, since I do not trust any companies products who do not allow DIY modifications. Need to remove any trace of the company who most likely will go out of business or just decide to stop supporting an old product, or monitor my data, or force into a subscription. Also I want my devices to be able to work without the cloud, only needing my local network and also can run autonomous if the network is down. With tasmota all my devices have the same user interface regardless of the manufacturer.


    Also centrally managed by OpenHab, though I believe HomeAssistant is more popular. Both are opensource. Not needed though convenient to add some web interface, and additional smarts to the whole group of devices.


    Lots of cheap ESPxx chipset devices to experiment more. I have a 433Mhz doorbell and receiver built from the things found on ML. Now with Tasmota to have OpenHab notify and track use.


    Only the OpenSprinkler irrigation controller is not Tasmota compatible, though the hardware and firmware are open source to be DIY friendly and completely transparent of how it works. OpenHAB is able to monitor though and control with some extra coding.

    I'm definitely not smart when it comes to gadgets. I just found out a couple of days ago that we can listen in to sound in our security cameras. To be fair I suspect it was because the software updated itself that made it work as I'm sure I tried it before and it didn't. Not that it's much use right enough. :rolleyes:

    Quote from bebopalula

    Are yours type G as per the illustration? If so, I'm just wondering why you chose them over the Argentine type I - especially since the line and neutral in the Argentine plug are the other way round from the type G.

    No, mine where Schucko, so they would have required also an adapter from Schuko /type E) to European 2 prongs (Type C) (bought separately and about 4-5 USD on amazon.it). The result would have been rather bulky, which is yet another issue I had with them.


    Actually, I bought them because I wanted to be able to turn on/off a radio without lifting my back from the chair. However, since the radio in question was button-powered (a click and release button), the smart adapter was useless as I could only turn off the radio if it was on (the smart switch cuts off power) but it wouldn't power back on the radio since that required pressing a button.


    Older radios, with a physical switch that had to be moved from pos A to pos B, worked just fine. Overall, it wasn't an improvement given it's bulky appearance and limited function, and the cost wasn't pennies. Since Amazon returns are free, I jumped at it and waved goodbye to the smart adapters.