Are you always forgetting about turning off the appliances before leaving for work every morning? Is getting up from bed to turn off the porch light too troublesome? Or the electricity bill is rising every month and you have no idea how to cut back?
Well, all of these problems can be solved with smart plugs. They are one of the best investments in a smart home system and have solutions for most of your energy problems.
- Why Choosing The Best Smart Plug Is Important?
- Factors To Consider When Choosing A Smart Plug
- Best Smart Plugs For 2023
Why Choosing The Best Smart Plug Is Important?
An appropriate smart plug for your case can save you time, effort, and money and make your life 100x easier.
Let’s see some of the common benefits that come with using the best smart plugs.
Saves Energy And Money
Smart plugs monitor the energy consumption of different appliances at home. It also provides data on peak energy usage during the day. All these provide useful information about your overall power usage so you can take effective measures to save energy and money on electricity bills.
Makes Routine Household Works More Convenient
Smart plugs make everyday routine work like turning on/off lights, fans, and other electric appliances much easier. You can use the app to remotely do this work and also schedule ahead of time so they can operate automatically without your intervention.
Eliminates Phantom Loads
Smart plugs can detect vampire appliances that absorb energy even on standby mode. It turns off these appliances from the source and eliminates energy waste through these phantom loads.
Provides Safety And Protection
Smart plugs can disconnect the appliance from the electric line if there is any safety hazard. For example, if the outlet gets overheated or in case of a short circuit in the line. This way they can efficiently help against fire hazards from faulty electricity lines.
Factors To Consider When Choosing A Smart Plug
It's important to consider some factors to find the best smart plug for you.
Energy Monitor
One of the first factors to consider when buying smart plugs is whether it has energy monitors or not. These energy monitors are included in most but not all smart plugs.
The purpose of the energy monitor is to record the power consumption and display it on the screen. Thus you can see how much energy the connected appliance is using daily. Additionally, some smart plugs also show the highest or peak power consumption at specific times of the day.
They especially work great in real-time energy monitoring of usual households. Many times there are appliances that are responsible for phantom loads. You can point them out with the monitors and find ways to cut back the energy waste.
Timer/Scheduling
Smart plugs are designed to turn on/off home appliances remotely so it’s easy to control them when you are not home. But with a timer, you can make it even easier. It also makes everyday routine work hassle-free.
For example, you can schedule the lights to go out at a specific hour when you go to sleep or make a timetable for the heater so it’s warm when you get home after a long day at work.
Connect To Other Smart Devices
Smart plugs work as an integral part of smart homes. So it’s important that they can be connected to the other smart devices and platforms at your home.
But since there are a couple of smart home platforms, most smart plugs are not compatible with all of them. The ones that support Alexa usually aren't compatible with Google or Apple HomeKit. You can even find Alexa smart plugs but they work only with Amazon Alexa.
Also since Apple HomeKit is fairly new among smart home platforms, fewer smart plugs are compatible with them. In this case, Evvr smart energy monitoring plug and relay is a good product that is Apple Homekit supported.
On the other hand, quite a few smart plugs, especially older models are supported by Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Very few models are compatible with all three. So, looking out for one that supports at least two of these three platforms can be extremely useful.
Dimmer
Not all smart plugs come with the dimming feature but it certainly is a great addition to them. You can use these smart plugs with a dimming ability to change the intensity of the lighting. If you are planning specifically for a smart lighting system at home, definitely look out for this feature.
Voice Assistant Compatibility
Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant are very common in smart homes. Smart plugs should be able to sync with these voice assistant platforms. However, most smart plugs can’t work with all of them just like smart home platforms. So, always make sure the smart plugs can be paired up with your voice assistant devices at home. Now turning on/off the appliances with just your voice is not a problem.
Size And Shape
Smart plugs come in different sizes and shapes. So it’s important to consider this side as well. Many times it happens that especially chunky or bulky smart plugs block access to nearby outlets. This can also happen for smaller plugs if they are designed in the wrong way for your outlets.
When converting to a smart home, it’s important to survey the appropriate dimensions for the smart plugs. This way you can efficiently make use of all the outlets if necessary.
Best Smart Plugs For 2023
Kasa Smart Wifi Plug Mini
Kasa Smart Mini Wifi Plug is a small, compact smart plug product with minimal features. Despite having fewer features than regular smart plugs, this one is fairly popular because of its compact design.
Even though we are saying minimal products, this smart plug has most of the essential properties of a good smart plug. The benefits include scheduling, timer, remote control with a user-friendly app, minimal design so as not to block nearby outlets, etc.
One of the most important traits of this product is the ability to create zones or groups with other Kasa Smart devices. In a single zone, you can turn on/off all the devices with a single tap.
Pros
- Works with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
- Can create zones or groups with other Kasa smart device
- Small and compact for better space utilization
- Can be scheduled for automatic operation
- Provides automatic control with a timer
- Affordable
Cons
- No surge protection
- Sometimes can be difficult to sync with the app
- No smart HomeKit compatibility
Evvr Energy Monitoring Smart Plug And Relay
Last on the list we have the Evvr Energy Monitoring Smart Plug And Relay. This fairly new smart plug product has some of the best combinations of modern features.
Starting from real-time energy monitoring where you can track the hourly energy consumption of any appliances to eliminating phantom load and saving money on energy bills. Alongside, you can also pinpoint at what time of the day, the power usage is the highest.
The great thing about this smart plug is that it consumes very little energy to operate itself, which is almost 90% lower than most other smart plugs on the market. Plus, the design is very convenient and unique and doesn't take up much space, so there’s less chance of blocking nearby outlets.
Other main features of the smart plug are automatic control, scheduling ahead of time, voice control assistant with Apple Siri, etc.
To top it off, they come with several safety measures like thermal protection, overload protection and button lock protection from accidental dismantling, magnetic retention relay for stable switch state, etc.
Pros
- Compatible with Apple Homekit
- No wiring easy plug-in installation
- Overload and thermal protection
- Designed for convenience and saving space
- Stable power monitoring
- Wireless remote control with Siri
Cons
- Does Not work with Google Assistant and Alexa
- A bit expensive
Leviton Smart plug
Among the older smart plug models, Leviton is one of the very few brands that can support the three prime smart home platforms (Google, Alexa, and Apple). Though you have to download Leviton skills to connect to Alexa, it’s a very small price to pay in exchange for great compatibility.
The plug is small in size and doesn't obstruct abscess to neighboring outlets.
And you get all the other usual traits of smart plugs like scheduling, a physical button, indicator light, remote control, voice assistant, etc.
Pros
- Small in size
- User-friendly app
- Easy to set up
- Scheduling feature available
- Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple home kit
Cons
- Require Leviton “Skill” to connect to Amazon Alexa
Conclusion
Using the best smart plug for your home can effectively cut back your energy bills to a few hundred bucks. Plus they make your life a lot more convenient. But choosing an appropriate smart plug can be more complicated than it seems. Hopefully, this discussion will save you time and effort and help you make a better decision. To know more, reach out to us!
