I heard about turning your home into a smart home, but I never thought will had been became reality, the more surprise is that it is not cost that much. Yes, let me introduce you with TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi Plug HS100. It cost only RM149.00 where you can get though Lazada.
Talk of ‘connected’ or ‘smart’ homes often causes eyes to roll. It’s not just the ludicrous cost that such concepts have historically had, with their expensive rewiring requirements. It’s that no one really explained what a ‘connected’ or ‘smart’ home really was or why it would be of any use to non-millionaires. Today, products such as TP-Link’s WiFi Smart Plug are recasting the connected home in a pragmatic, everyday light.
The smart plug is a pretty simple device. It plugs into any standard outlet and then you plug whichever device you want to control into the smart plug.I tested the HS100. I have had my smart plug for over 4 months. So far, it has worked great. It’s a pretty simple device so not a lot can go wrong, but just in case it comes with a 2-year warranty.
My first thought when I took it out of the box is that it’s big. On a standard outlet with two vertical receptacles, there is barely enough room to plug another cord into the bottom receptacle. If you plug the smart plug into the bottom receptacle the top half of the smart plug will cover the top receptacle.
At its most basic, this smart plug lets you control whatever is plugged into it to from your phone (via the free TP Link Kasa phone app for either iPhone or Android). At a minimum, this means switching stuff on and off remotely, no matter where you might be.
But you can also program it. For example, you can ask it to keep track of when the sun goes down (by checking online) and to switch itself on when this happens. Or you can set an endless variety of ‘scenes’ for your home. For example, with a few different smart plugs, you can turn on a home cinema system, a dimmed light in the corner and some other mood-setter with one pre-programmed tap on the phone.
The plug works by connecting to your home Wi-Fi and giving your phone access to it via that route, no matter where you are.One of the most useful applications is its ‘away’ mode. If you attach a lamp to the plug, the away mode will make sure that the light switches on and off in a random fashion, making it look like there’s someone in the house.
If you buy more than one of the plugs, it lets you name each one (“kitchen radio”, “hall light” or whatever you like).
One of the most interesting features is an energy-usage counter. The plug reports back to your phone how much energy the connected device has used and how long it has been running. It even gives you your average consumption and run times that day or over the last seven or 30 days.
It’s also made to work with Amazon’s Alexa, most commonly used through its Echo gadget. I saw the video in the Youtube, it was very cool!! But unfortunately Amazon's Alexa still did not out in Malaysia.
Summary of Features
• Remote Access – Control devices connected to the Smart Plug wherever you have Internet using the free Kasa app on your smartphone.
• Scheduling – Schedule the Smart Plug to automatically power electronics on and off as needed, like setting lights to come on at dusk or turn off at sunrise.
• Away Mode – Turns your devices on and off at different times to give the appearance that someone is home.
• Works with Amazon Alexa – Control devices connected to the Smart Plugs just using your voice with Amazon Echo, Dot, Tap and other supported devices(sold separately).
How To Schedule And Control Your Smart Plug
The smart plug allows you a few different methods for controlling it.
You can set up a schedule by adding specific times to turn on and off. You can also tell Kasa to repeat those commands for specific days of the week.
Another option available for the smart plugs is to use timers. You can tell the plug to turn on/off after anywhere from 0-24 hours.
A third option is to use what they call “away” mode. You might want to use this if you go on vacation and you want to make it look like someone might be home. The “away” mode will randomly turn your smart plug (and whatever is plugged into it) on and off during the period you have scheduled for “away”.
You can name the smart plug whatever you like in the Kasa app. If you have an Amazon Echo, you’ll be able to use that name to control it. For example, if you name it “smart plug”, you can say, “Alexa, turn on ‘smart plug’” or Alexa, turn off ‘smart plug’”. Very cool right. Unfortunately, I don't have any Amazon Echo.
Lots Of Uses For The Smart Plug
Since I’ve had my smart plug, I’ve used it for 3 different purposes.
First, I used it for my Hari Raya lights. The plugin for the lights is hidden behind the shoe rack and some nearby shelving so bending over to manually plug/unplug lights is a real pain. Adding the smart plug eliminated that inconvenience and as a bonus added the ability to put my lights on a timer.
Next, I set it up with my living room lamps. I have two small shelf lamps and one large floor lamp to light my living room. Normally turning them all on/off requires walking around and flipping 3 switches. I plugged the two shelf lamps into the smart plug and replaced the bulb in the floor lamp with my smart bulb. Then, I used the Kasa app to turn them all on or off with one press.
Right now I’m using it for my scented humidifier. Before the smart plug, the scented humidifier was always getting left on all day and night and the house would just get filled with intense aroma for a day or two. After that, the smelly stuff would be pretty much gone and the wax would have to be replaced. I am using the smart plug to automatically schedule the humidifier for only 2-3 hour periods when we are most likely to need some air freshening.
Conclusion
After all our testing and using the TP-Link Smart Plus HS110 over a period of time, I realized that at it's price point it offers a wonderful experience and functions extremely well making it a very smart budget buy. Say Hello to the Smart Home!
After all our testing and using the TP-Link Smart Plus HS110 over a period of time, I realized that at it's price point it offers a wonderful experience and functions extremely well making it a very smart budget buy. Say Hello to the Smart Home!
Design- 7/10
Features- 7/10
Performance- 8/10
Usability- 7/10
Value- 8.5/10
Final Verdict- 7.5/10
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