WiFi timers etc

[Crofter]

This isn't really automation but I figured this would be the right section of the forum.

 

I'd like to add WiFi enabled timers to various appliances (immersion heaters and space heaters) around my house, so that I can adjust things remotely depending on occupancy. The properties are used for holiday lets so can sit empty at times.

 

Are there any particular brands/models to look out for, or to avoid? I don't to find something loses support and the app stops working (something which has happened with every WiFi enabled camera that I've had).

 

In a similar vein, I'd like to add WiFi enabled thermometers, especially for the DHW tanks.

[Conor]

I've a couple meross WiFi thermometers / hygrometers and smart plugs that monitor energy consumption. The plugs are full 13amp and can be set on schedules or remotely turned on or off. No hub or subscriptions needed. All work really well.

[joth]

The only way to be sure it won't stop working when the OEM turns off their server is to buy stuff that connects to a server you host yourself. So it's a a trade off between faff and longevity. The sweet spot would be IoT that easily lets you decide who's server to use (so you can change it over when the OG server fails) but the options for this are few and far between.

 

The vast majority of chinesium WiFi devices use the Tuya platform and their servers. This is actually a fairly decent platform, and so far I've not seen stuff failing. But most the Tuya stuff I own I've flashed with custom firmware to connect to my own (Home Assistant) server.

 

Perhaps the sweet spot is Shelly devices. These come with a cloud service they hose, but also a local API and good local integration with Home Assistant. So out of the box you have remote access and schedules/automations, but you can also do a lot more with them offline if requirements evolve.

 

[Crofter]

12 minutes ago, joth said:

The only way to be sure it won't stop working when the OEM turns off their server is to buy stuff that connects to a server you host yourself. So it's a a trade off between faff and longevity. The sweet spot would be IoT that easily lets you decide who's server to use (so you can change it over when the OG server fails) but the options for this are few and far between.

 

The vast majority of chinesium WiFi devices use the Tuya platform and their servers. This is actually a fairly decent platform, and so far I've not seen stuff failing. But most the Tuya stuff I own I've flashed with custom firmware to connect to my own (Home Assistant) server.

 

Perhaps the sweet spot is Shelly devices. These come with a cloud service they hose, but also a local API and good local integration with Home Assistant. So out of the box you have remote access and schedules/automations, but you can also do a lot more with them offline if requirements evolve.

 

I'm not even going to pretend I understand half of that 😂

[TonyT]

Tapo smart plugs on amazon

 

You get the energy version, lets you see power used at the current time or energy over the period it’s switched on.

 

youbcan set schedules for in and off times, has manual override 

great kit less than £15 each

used mine to switch on heaters in an off peak situation for 1 year now, no issues 

[Alex Fossa]

For hardwired you can use Shelly modules.

 

https://www.shelly.com/en-gb/products/product-overview/shelly-pro-3

 

I've used the above, which allows you to create schedules for on / off etc.