best uses for a smart socket

smart sockets have uses.

A smart socket adds a little cleverness to a table lamp or electric heater. They connect to your Internet wifi though some work on local 433MHz RF.

• The electric heater upstairs wastes energy and takes time to warm the room up so switching it on/off by remote control is convenient. The smart socket app includes a scheduler. I added a ‘turn off’ line to the scheduler so that the heater will turn off at times when it’s not needed.
• I use a smart socket for the battery charger on a laptop. The laptop must not be allowed to continuously charge so my smart socket schedule will turn the socket off at night. When I set my laptop charging I know that the socket will turn off eventually even if I forget about it.
• Use a smart socket to turn off a table lamp every night. Use the state of the TV on or off to set which lights come on.
• One switch > several lights: if you use Home Assistant or other hub find out if it’s possible to ‘synchronise the states’ of several smart sockets. eg I press a wall switch and two table lights turn on.
• Use a smart socket to control a device that’s inconveniently placed – eg behind a kitchen cupboard or in a ceiling void.
• Don’t use a smart socket on the broadband router as you might not be able to turn it back on remotely!
• I have a smart socket that monitors energy use on an immersion heater and also set its heating times.
• 433MHz RF smart sockets work differently to wifi smart sockets. You pair RF sockets to a switch remote control instead of pairing them to an app. My bedroom lighting uses 433Hz RF sockets. The door switch turns on several lights giving some extra convenience.
• Every smart socket seems to lack a timed ‘boost’ – this is a feature that turns on for a set time and then turns it off. You want this on a heater control, or a garden watering system. Look out for ‘inching’, which does the same thing, in the device app.
• I made a ‘boost’ routine in Home Assistant that triggers an ‘off’ message when a device has been on for a certain time. I made another ‘boost’ routine that monitors the water immersion heater circuit and triggers an off message when the amps drops below 8 amps. In this way the water heater only stays ‘on’ until the water is hot.
• I use a smart socket to control a borehole water pump.
• Smart sockets aren’t useful on a washing machine, air conditioner, a dehumidifier, computer, TV and similar devices that go into standby when they power on.