Amazon Smart Plug


Amazon Smart Plug

Just an FYI to all the home electronics hackers out there - although these plugs are good value and work great within the Amazon world, be aware that they only work within the amazon world. Just about every other type of plug has had its API exposed one way or another and home automation hackers have been able to hook them up to whatever third party controller you prefer or even your own home linux that you’ve coded yourself to handle everything just the way you want… but not this one however. It’ll do what Alexa tells it, and that’s all. That said, this is a good price if those issues don’t bother you.

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Valid points for the select audience with those very specialized needs.

But you missed a key advantage of this Alexa smart plug for Alexa homes… no need to add yet another app on your phone to set it up… and then enable the skill or grant permission.

This Alexa smart plug simply works with the Alexa app you’ve already installed as a result of using Alexa.

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Anyone can comment on the condition? I understood it’s used.

Used - Good:
The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and functions properly. Item may arrive with damaged packaging or be repackaged. It may be marked, have identifying markings on it, or have minor cosmetic damage. It may also be missing some parts or accessories such as screws (in the case of furniture) or an instruction manual.

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I have to second blue maple on that point. I have two additional apps that I have to use when I want to mess with my smart swirches/plugs. I’m really debating replacing the plugs with these just to eliminate an app…

So is there any auto controls or timers that can be set with these or are they strictly turned on by Alexa? Kinda annoying if so.

If your primary use case is setting a repeating timer schedule, the setup with a smart plug like from TP-Link would be far easier to set up in their app.

Otherwise, you can do the same thing with this Amazon Smart Plug, but you’d have to initiate each schedule event (plug on, plug off) with an “Routine” in the Alexa app. Yah, kinda annoying for that use.

Note, if your concern is interior lights being on for security purposes, you can use the Alexa “Guard” function. Can be turned on/off in the app under Devices… or by saying “Alexa, I’m leaving/home”.

You set up which lights are randomly controlled and whether glass break is a trigger in the Guard settings.

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DO NOT BUY!!! Can be only be controlled via 1 Amazon account and not shareable via household. I would have never bought 4 of these and gotten the tplink instead

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Purchased 7 plugs. They arrived yesterday and I was prepared for a horror show of dings and scratches due to them being used.

To my surprise, the packaging and the plugs look brand new!!! It’s almost as if Amazon opened them, retaped them shut and are selling them as used on Woot.

I think this is a great value if you’re in the Echo ecosystem.

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If true, then I’m steering clear.

I tinkered with one of Alexa’s ‘skill’ which there are many… but many are in need of improvements. I actually used the "Cortana’ skill set and was able to tap into most of my Cortana things (schedule, contacts, calendar, etc… ). It was far from perfect but there are interactions with many other non-Alexa skills and this will only improve over time.

A bought a pair of refurbished Alexa plugs a little while ago. They looked virtually brand new, like yours. I was very pleased.

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Curious if anyone knows what the rating is on this? I’m trying to use this to control an older small window unit A/C

Under the specs tab it says: Electrical Ratings: Input: 100-120VAC, 60Hz 15A; Max Output: 15A Max

How many amps does your A/C pull?

I bought a couple ‘used’ echos, they looked new as well, very happy with them, especially since I was expecting something that looked like it came from a garage sale.

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I’ve been wondering the same thing. Just because it says “15amps” doesn’t mean that the electronics are going to like the hard spike all the way up close to that when ever the compressor kicks on. I’ve used a lot of “15 amp” rated timers on window AC units that just burn out.

Don’t steer clear because you’re paranoid, steer clear because these are terrible. I have 131 IOT devices from various manufacturers and this is the only one that never worked. Amazon offered to send another but a friend of mine said don’t bother there are known issues. Get on the amazon forums and look.

Here’s a picture of mine that looks brand new. I had no problem setting it up. The only thing missing was the sticker you can scan to speed up the initial setup but that isn’t an issue because you can long-press the on/off button on the side of the plug to get going. Total setup time was two minutes, seriously.

This is my second Amazon plug and they both work fantastically for my purposes.

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