So what’s the deal with Smart Plugs? How useful are they? Well, I’ve been using 6 different smart plugs over the last few months and have come up with a way to help you figure out what to do with a smart plug. If you decide to get one or several.
Basically, a smart plug will turn any appliance “smart”. “Smart” in the way that you can turn them on and off without actually touching the appliance. For me appliances that are worth making “smart” are anything that you constantly walk to use on a daily basis or a painful to get to. Or appliances that you keep forgetting to turn on. For me, putting a smart plug on my dehumidifier has worked out very well for me.
Which Smart Plugs should you get?
Check out the comparison tool: bit.ly/2rSh1PQ
See how much our top-rated plugs are on Amazon
#1: iHome iSP8 - shreh.ca/2qT71r9
#2: iDevices Switch - shreh.ca/2rUBeET
#3: Elgato Eve Energy - shreh.ca/2qnz3rh
Depending on your setup, you could even control these devices outside of your home. Check out my other videos on my channel if you’re wondering what to do with smart lights, smart light switches as well as sensors.
The biggest PRO for a smart plug is the ability to remotely access and schedule your device. Which translates into increased safety, time savings and money savings.
The biggest CON, and this is a stretch, is the fact that you’ll be walking less. For the product shot lights, that saves me walking 1-2 flights of stairs a day. Now, you might be thinking that price might be a CON but depending on how you use it, a $50 dollar plug will pay for itself in 6 months.
Another feature is the ability to access your smart plug using your voice. Neat but am I the only who is uncomfortable with talking to my smartphone? I
In my living room, I can have a plug controlling my lamps which is handy since one is hard to reach. However, in this instance, I might go with a smart bulb instead of smart plug.
For me, I’d definitely put a smart plug on the entertainment system. Every appliance in your home draws power even if it isn’t officially on. With a smart plug, you can minimize the phantom power draw and you could easily recover the cost of your smart plug in a year with this setup.
Another useful scenario would be remotely controlling and scheduling your Christmas tree lights.
How about the Bedroom and Bathroom? With the bedroom, the first thing that came to mind for me was the atomizer that my wife uses.
Now I know I said lamps are an easy thing to put a smart plug on but I don’t think my night lamp needs a smart plug since the switch is right beside me. Again, I’d use a smart light but not a smart plug. Why? Because you can set the smart bulb to wake you up naturally rather than the standard alarm clock alarm. What else have I done with smart lights? Check out my intro to smart lights video.
The biggest smart plug winner in the bedroom and bathroom would be anything that could be a fire hazard. Like a hair curler or straightener. Do you constantly forget to unplug or turnoff your hair appliance? Use it with a smart plug so that you don’t start a fire in your house. Think you left it on? Make sure it is off from the comfort of your office!
How about in the office? Like the living room, you could save a few bucks by having a smart plug turn off all your monitors and hard drives at a certain time. The plug would pay for itself pretty quickly. You could also setup a geo-fence that would turn off everything in your office when you leave and turn on when you get close.
Like the bedroom, there are different appliances that get used based on the season. For example, during the spring and summer, my basement becomes quite humid. With a smart plug, I can set it up so that when I leave the house, the dehumidifier automatically turns on.
So how would I use the smart plug in the kitchen? The kitchen is the most limiting and dangerous option for smart plugs. The only time I would use a smart plug is with a slow cooker to ensure my slow cooked food doesn’t get too rubbery after it finishing cooking. My slow cooker will default to a warm setting which keeps cooking the food so I can use a smart plug to turn off the unit complete.
Now I say it’s dangerous because you can’t leave the cooked food in the slow cooker for too long before the spoiling process starts. It doesn’t work well the other way because leaving a pot of raw chicken in a slow cooker and using the smart plug to turn it on doesn’t make any sense to me either.
That’s basically the starting point for smart plugs. If this video was helpful, give it a thumbs up and if you’re planning on getting a smart plug, consider getting it through my links as none of these companies paid me or sponsored me to do this video.
10 июн 2024
