best uses for a smart socket

smart sockets have uses.

A smart socket adds remote control cleverness to a table lamp or electric heater. They connect to your wifi. (Some use the longer-range doorbell frequency 433MHz RF).

• The electric heater upstairs takes time to warm the room. Switching it on/off by remote control is convenient. The smart socket app has a scheduler. I add a ‘turn off’ line to the scheduler so that the heater will turn off 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 charge my laptop I know that the socket will turn off eventually even if I forget about it.
• I 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 multiple 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 switch at the door conveniently turns on several lights.
• It would be nice if a smart socket had a timed ‘boost’ – ie it turns on for a set time and then turns it off. You’d want this on a heater control, or a garden watering system. It’s sometimes called ‘inching’. I made a ‘boost’ routine in Home Assistant that send an ‘off’ message when a device has been on for a certain time. I also made ‘boost’ routine that monitors the water immersion heater 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 devices that go into standby when they power on (washing machine, air conditioner, computer, TV). However an electricity monitoring smart socket can alert you when washing machine has ‘finished’.