Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring | 16A Max / 10A Continuous | WiFi Smart Outlet | Mobile App | Alexa | Google | UKCA Certified (2)

It takes a lot to impress me, because I've been working in the technology sector since the early '80s. I am, however, genuinely impressed with the "Emporia" kit.Started with a "Vue" energy monitor - I have... some... electronics and computing experience, and even at bulk trade prices I couldn't even *buy* the components required for the amount at which these devices *retail*. Same applies to these power-monitoring/controlling sockets, and there is absolutely no way I could fit them into a footprint which means you can just plug them into 'n'-way standard sockets next to each-other and they fit, with clearance. OK, so you won't be able to get to the power buttons on most of them in a row, but there's no way you physically could anyway (unless "Emporia" put the buttons on the top, in which case they'd probably be subject to accidental switching). Oh, that reminds me - it would be good to be able to *disable* the switching function, from button, app., both or neither; if you're just using one for power-monitoring (a 'fridge, for example), you *really* don't want someone able accidentally to turn it off by a mis-finger in the app... I've fed this back to "Emporia" technical support, and having had a couple of discussions with them regarding our "Vue", I'm fully confident they'll evaluate the feedback and, if they consider it appropriate, update the firmware/app.But anyway, *great* little pieces of kit - we now have 16 of them, which will probably do *for the moment* at least...If you're an iPaid user, well, bad luck. We've not tried these with "Alexa", though I believe she's fully supported; we have used these with Google, and they work perfectly - we have one named "Henry" which controls a, to no-one's surprise I'm sure, "Henry" vacuum for our bird room; my wife is disabled (physically, as well as being an Apple addict) and although she can't say "Hey Siri! Turn Henry on" from her iWatch, she can just pick up the "Google TV" tiny little remote for the bird room ("Google TV" so it has the voice functionality), press the voice button, and say "Turn Henry on". Personally, I feel that any response to that should start with "Hey, Henry, have I told you lately how much I love and appreciate you, and would you like a hose massage?", but perhaps that's just me; the practical upshot is that "Henry" very much gets turned on. Or off again, as appropriate... So honestly, if you can afford to be an Apple Fan[Boi|Gurl], you can afford to buy a cheap 'droid burner 'phone (to install the app. and link it to Google) and a "Google TV" anywhere you want voice control. Or you could try and persuade Apple to, y'a know, *not* make it complicated, and doubtless expensive, to interface with your proprietary protocols (because the wonderful thing about "standards" is there's so many to choose from... and if you don't like the current ones, just make up your own!).TL;DR version? Brilliant. Delighted. Go out and buy some now...

The units are easy enough to setup in their app and you can tell the app the units are off a circuit already monitored by a CT in your distribution board so it does not count / measure the same load twice. They use your home WiFi 2.4Ghz.The 10 Amp continuous limit may be a problem and fortunately my dishwasher is a 2 Kw load when the heater element is on so it is okay.It seems you can set them to switch a load on if you have excess solar energy going to the grid (I have yet to try that feature).No clearance / obstruction problems plugged in to a standard MK brand switched socket outlet.Load data on the device is graphed in the same way as the Current transformers in the Emporia Smart Home Energy Monitor.I don't think you can voice control these using Alexa or similar systems, They are just controlled by the app which has schedule options including Sunrise / Sunset options with offsets of +/- 1Hr along with a off peak option.The price of the four pack seems pretty good value at under £10.00 per unit.

I've tried several different makes of these smart plugs, looking for the one that is best for me, and at last I've found it. A lot of the other makes use the Smart home app, which works well and looks good, but once in that system there are issues getting the plugs with Home Assistant for long term monitoring. It's a difficult process and nor very stable. I've also had the Emporia kit to monitor the mains as it comes in and out of the fuse board, which has an integration into Home Assistant. When I added in these plugs and restarted that integration, the plugs appeared and the monitoring is easy and stable. The Emporia app is not as nice looking as the Smart home one but it is functional.It isn't the cheapest smart plug with energy monitoring on the market, but it is a long way from the most expensive, it works well and for my use if is the best I've found, at least until Matter enabled ones become available.

I've been using this for a while now, trialling it on various devices to see what their consumption was., which was interesting.I've now settled on using for my home office equipment (laptop, monitors, docking station, USB chargers) to see overall consumption and also using the timer function to switch off at a given time to stop me working too late.But being an untrusting techie, I have linked this to my guest network because it could (in theory) be taken over by a miscreant.That said, I'm just about to buy some more.

The Emporia systemi is fantastic and a worthwhile purchase and i have the highest praise. Any problems and the mobile application has instant access to tech support who are very helpful. Well done.However i do have a problem with these smart plugs in that they only support 10A max continuous load. Prior to monitoring all electrical outlets with Emporia, I had a few smart plugs from TP Link Tapo monitoring things such as fridge / freezer / tumble dryer / washing maching. These monitored the usage without problem, then i installed the Emproria central system plus a number of smart plugs so that i could understand usage throughout the property, and view on a single mobile App.However on doing so the Emporia Smart Plug for the Tumble Dryer was pulling 3kw and the plug ceased to operate. This is a shame as the Tapo worked fine over a long time period yet the Emporia plug ceased working in a very short time when the limit was reached.I really wish Emporia would revisit the circuitry design and release new smart plugs that can take a constant load of 13A.

These seem to be extremely similar to other devices on the market doing the same thing, so really i paid a bit more to be able to include it with my other emporia devices in their app. I like their app and i like their devices. They just do the job and i have had extremely good experience with their support department.