Eve also has the Eve Energy power strip with three smart plugs if you want to monitor a whole entertainment system. A great advantage of this type of set up for energy saving is that you can create a schedule to shut it all down during the day or overnight when you’re not watching TV and save all that vampire power. The integration Integrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. We tested the Meross plug by hooking it up to a television and connecting it to all three voice assistants. We were able to turn the TV on and off with voice using Alexa, Google or Siri, which is very useful in our test household, where we’re eternally confused as to who controls what. The perils of life as a smart home tech reviewer. The plug is really designed as an accessory to add lamps to your Wiz smart lighting setup – and the app has a circadian rhythm feature where you can set all your Wiz lights to help you relax or wakeup. But you can put anything you want into this compact smart plug and turn it on or off, set a schedule for it or create a scene. There’s also a vacation mode that will simulate presence for you. Learn more] needs to communicate locally with the WiZ device. This setting Allow local communication can be disabled or enabled in WiZ app.

An 'Away' mode randomly turn plugs on and off during a set period of time – ideal for using with lamps and perhaps a radio when you’re on your hols. Plus, it also has a handy runtime report so you can see how long the device was used for.

What's the best smart plug to buy?

The WiZ integration Integrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. To connect a WiZ device to your Wi-Fi network, please follow the instructions in the WiZ app (available for iOS and Android). Pros: Inexpensive; compact; easy to set up; usage monitoring Cons: Can only set schedules by room not device; really designed just for lighting

The Kasa app lets you set schedules to turn your device on or off based on time, sunrise or sunset. You can create a timer to have something run for a set length of time (handy for a space heater) or turn something on in a set amount of time (like your electric blanket just before you sit down for dinner).The big difference with an outdoor plug is that it should be outdoor rated - and this one is, but only up to IP44. This means you can't drop it in the pool (which hopefully you weren’t planning on) but it also won't hold up under a heavy downpour. It will handle temperature extremes though, from -10°C up to a balmy 40°C. Learn more]. The entity An entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. Pros: Detailed energy monitoring; excellent app; works with HomeKit and Siri Cons: Expensive; iPhone only; some range issues The Kasa smart home lineup has cameras and smart light bulbs too, so you can kit out a decent smart home with these products. This will let you group multiple devices together, use Scenes to tell different devices to do different things with one tap, and create Automations so your lamp can turn on when your camera senses motion.

Based in China, Meross began life in 2016, set up by former Microsoft and TP-Link peeps, and they’ve been quietly churning out quality smart home products that work with Alexa, Google, SmartThings, and IFTTT, as well as Apple’s HomeKit for a few quid more, ever since. Pros: Inexpensive; wide compatibility; 5 smart outlets in one Cons: No energy monitoring; app needs workThe speed of an effect can be controlled via a number entity An entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service.

They work like most any other smart plug to let you automate whatever's plugged in using timers, schedules, and scenes. Plus, handily for outdoors, you can have it turn on at sunset and off at sunrise (or vice versa). These outdoor plugs can also be added to HomeKit, Alexa and Google Home systems to sync up with other devices and for voice control. Learn more] can report the state of occupancy sensors that have been linked to a device. ConfigurationThe Meross features two grounded, heavy duty outlets attached to a 26cm long outdoor cable that plugs into an outdoor outlet. Each Meross outlet can be controlled individually by your phone or voice, or simultaneously using the manual switch on the plug. Pros: Reliable app with good features; easy to set up Cons: Quite large; energy monitoring costs more The occupancy sensors will only be added once a motion event is detected. Home Assistant can detect the sensors if they turn on at least one device when the room is occupied, and turn off at least one device when the room is not occupied. Sensors that are not linked to a device cannot be detected.