Hi there,
I want to start with homeautomation and therefore I was thinking using WIFI plugs for the power supply of my devices and lamps together with an installation of openHab on an raspberry Pi 3 sounds like a good choice.
Earlier I was experimenting with 433mhz power plugs and Pilight. But this wasn’t as “stable” as it coud be IMHO.
However, Im confused about the big range of wifi plugs and so im wondering, which devices is well known to work fine with openhab. I don’t want to spend too much money if possible. But as far I understand, cheap solutions mostly using closed protocols or something like that, which could be difficult to integrate in openhab right? I alway thought that these plugs providing just a simple REST API but now (after spending some time in research) it seems like they don’t/ its not that easy.
Could you give me some hints, which approach or device is a good start for my project?
Thanks
The cheapest solution, without relying on the cloud, will be the DIY route. Sonoff S31 is my new favorite, as it’s a quality product, for <$10/unit, it’s based on the ubiquitous ESP Wifi chips, and they made it super easy to take apart and flash with Tasmota or other open-source firmware. Once flashed, you can control the plug via MQTT, and the S31 has an added bonus of reporting voltage/current draw, as well. I just did a video on “Tasmotizing” these here if you’re interested.
Thanks for that interesting answer! Unfortunately it seems like the S31 is only compatible with US sockets. But i need a EU socket. So do you have an additional tip for that?
Cheaper than other brands, it has power metering and fully compatible EU plug.
The original fw is really good, it has MQTT support, so you don’t have to flash a new fw, just enable MQTT on the plug.
They are out-of-stock right now, but as they announced, you can buy it at the end of January
Pardon my assumption you were in the US (I thought about that after I hit the “Post” button ) - @rkrisi has a great suggestion on the Shelly’s, they’re pretty new to the game, but are very much proponents of the open source community, so it’s a solid choice (I have heard their products are so popular they’re hardly ever in stock, though).
Another suggestion from me would be to go to the Tasmota Github repo home, and take a look at the Readme, as it lists a large number of devices it supports, and find an EU-compatible plug.
Exactly. I have a Sonoff S20, it also works great, but much larger than these… I also have some Shelly switches, they are also really great and the original fw is developed/maintaned continously by them, and usually they get new features as well.
Sonoff s20 are good but bulky. Added advantage of being able to flash your own firmware on them such as espurna.
For EU shaped plugs there are smaller options available.
If you find one it’s worth checking espurna and espeasy for support. Custom, open source firmware ensures it does not phone home (China) and you don’t need to wear tinfoil hats.
I don’t have a Sonoff S26, but it looks like they may be smaller than the S20 and they are available with a variety of plugs/sockets. I do use a number of Sonoff devices and they have worked very well for me.
Take a look at https://shelly.cloud/shelly-plug/ I’m in Canada so never used one but I have 3 shelly1’s and they work great, no flashing required for mqtt it’s built in.
Don’t want to brake your enthusiasm, but as you’re new to HA, have you given a thought on things to follow after you got your first lamps up ? Are you sure you want your switches to be WiFi ?
Apart from from the security implications, think color lighting and dimmers. There’s no WiFi devices to cover these AFAIK. And think beyond (motion and windows sensors etc, let alone the HVAC stuff).
I’d spend some more time on thinking where you want to go and consider alternatives such as ZWave and Zigbee. Remember you can also combine them but a single (sub)system is better than to have multiple.
I have been professionally engaged in wireless data transmission technologies. I can program under Windows. Therefore, I decided that my “smart home” will be wired, running Windows 7, and I will make the controller based on the Intel Atom Z530 processor. To power the entire system, including the router, Ethernet switch, USB hub, and PC, I used a single 12-volt power supply with a capacity of 60 watts. I did not put several separate power supplies because the overall efficiency would be lower, and this would increase electricity bills. I also installed a smart plug, and overall I am happy with my solution. It turned out to be quite inexpensive for me.
