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Great review! Simon, can you tell me if one can use a smartphone to turn the plug back on if it has been turned off with the power button that's on it? I basically want to find a smart plug that can operate in both ways. If the power button literally turns it off entirely the out will loose WiFi connection and won't be able to be controlled from a phone anymore.
Hi Rene, thanks for the comment. As far as my experience goes, and this is also the case with the Meross plug here, the power button on the smart plug itself only stops power going to the outlet part of the smart plug, so in effect the plug is always powered, and on standby. So if you turn the power off via the button on the plug, you can still turn it on via the Home app, any other 3rd party HomeKit app, via Google or Alexa, and of course the Meross app. The only time you won't be able to turn the plug back on is if you cut electricity to the plug itself. In the UK, wall sockets have a separate power switch, so if that is turned off, then the plug will be totally disconnected. US and European plug sockets don't have this button, as far as I know, so the only way to disconnect the plug in these instances, is to totally remove it from the wall outlet. I hope that answers your question.
@@homekitnews thanks a bunch for the answer! This is in my opinion the best operation mode as we can always completely turn off the power to it via the switch on the original wall socket as you mentioned. This means we have a dual analogue/smart mode, which is useful. Cheers
I'm having an issue with mine where it constantly says "updating" on the home kit app for about 20seconds before I can use it. Once it goes away, it works great, but the 20 seconds of updating generally comes back every 2 or so hours. My other Osram plugs are slower turning on and off (2-3 second wait), but never have that updating issue.
That's a bit odd, as you'd normally only see something like that if you were disconnected from your network and therefore connecting to your HomeKit home via remote access. If that were the case though, you'd notice that with your other devices too.
@@homekitnews I was wondering if it had something to do with my mesh network, however, I've tried it with my main wifi and similar issue. Maybe I'll try buy another one and see if it does the same thing as well.
As I discovered, when I bought a pair (and quickly sent them back) of these, that, as you say, they're only compatible with 2.4GHZ WiFi and, apart from the better, and much more expensive and chunkier Amazon proprietary brand, there seems to be zero other Smart Plugs that operate on 5GHZ. That is, unless they're prepared to go through a whole lot of jiggery-pokery, mucking around with router settings, that an awful lot of people who buy these, unawares, are in for a big disappointment. I'm just hoping that Amazon will bring out a cheaper "mini" version of its plug!
I’m trying to avoid WiFi in devices, unless they need them - like cameras, video doorbells, and hubs. My advice would be to go for Thread smart plugs these days. The only U.K. Thread plug at present is the Eve, but Onvis will be bringing out a Thread plug for the U.K. soon that will also work with Matter.
@@homekitnews Thanks, that's really interesting. I'll check them out and/or wait for the Meross plug. I'm assuming however, that they can't be controlled with Alexa? I don't have any Apple products.
@@neorich59 sorry, I meant to say Onvis, not Meross (I’ve edited my comment) Meross are bringing out Matter compatible ones, but once again they still use 2.4GHz WiFi, and are only available in the US variant at the moment. The Onvis one will use Thread and Matter, so they will work with Amazon once they update their Echos and Display for Matter and the Thread radio is activated in the relevant models. I can’t recall which devices have thr Thread radio waiting to be activated, but it’ll be the newer models like the Echo Dot 4 & 5, plus the newer displays. Thread is a great way to free up your router of too many WiFi devices that just don’t need WiFi.
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🖥 Check out our website for all the latest HomeKit related News, Reviews, Listings, Tutorials and more - homekitnews.com
Good stuff Simon. I'm hearing great things about Meross products
Great review! Simon, can you tell me if one can use a smartphone to turn the plug back on if it has been turned off with the power button that's on it? I basically want to find a smart plug that can operate in both ways. If the power button literally turns it off entirely the out will loose WiFi connection and won't be able to be controlled from a phone anymore.
Hi Rene, thanks for the comment. As far as my experience goes, and this is also the case with the Meross plug here, the power button on the smart plug itself only stops power going to the outlet part of the smart plug, so in effect the plug is always powered, and on standby. So if you turn the power off via the button on the plug, you can still turn it on via the Home app, any other 3rd party HomeKit app, via Google or Alexa, and of course the Meross app. The only time you won't be able to turn the plug back on is if you cut electricity to the plug itself. In the UK, wall sockets have a separate power switch, so if that is turned off, then the plug will be totally disconnected. US and European plug sockets don't have this button, as far as I know, so the only way to disconnect the plug in these instances, is to totally remove it from the wall outlet. I hope that answers your question.
@@homekitnews thanks a bunch for the answer! This is in my opinion the best operation mode as we can always completely turn off the power to it via the switch on the original wall socket as you mentioned. This means we have a dual analogue/smart mode, which is useful. Cheers
I'm having an issue with mine where it constantly says "updating" on the home kit app for about 20seconds before I can use it. Once it goes away, it works great, but the 20 seconds of updating generally comes back every 2 or so hours. My other Osram plugs are slower turning on and off (2-3 second wait), but never have that updating issue.
That's a bit odd, as you'd normally only see something like that if you were disconnected from your network and therefore connecting to your HomeKit home via remote access. If that were the case though, you'd notice that with your other devices too.
@@homekitnews I was wondering if it had something to do with my mesh network, however, I've tried it with my main wifi and similar issue. Maybe I'll try buy another one and see if it does the same thing as well.
As I discovered, when I bought a pair (and quickly sent them back) of these, that, as you say, they're only compatible with 2.4GHZ WiFi and, apart from the better, and much more expensive and chunkier Amazon proprietary brand, there seems to be zero other Smart Plugs that operate on 5GHZ.
That is, unless they're prepared to go through a whole lot of jiggery-pokery, mucking around with router settings, that an awful lot of people who buy these, unawares, are in for a big disappointment.
I'm just hoping that Amazon will bring out a cheaper "mini" version of its plug!
I’m trying to avoid WiFi in devices, unless they need them - like cameras, video doorbells, and hubs. My advice would be to go for Thread smart plugs these days. The only U.K. Thread plug at present is the Eve, but Onvis will be bringing out a Thread plug for the U.K. soon that will also work with Matter.
@@homekitnews Thanks, that's really interesting. I'll check them out and/or wait for the Meross plug. I'm assuming however, that they can't be controlled with Alexa? I don't have any Apple products.
@@neorich59 sorry, I meant to say Onvis, not Meross (I’ve edited my comment) Meross are bringing out Matter compatible ones, but once again they still use 2.4GHz WiFi, and are only available in the US variant at the moment. The Onvis one will use Thread and Matter, so they will work with Amazon once they update their Echos and Display for Matter and the Thread radio is activated in the relevant models. I can’t recall which devices have thr Thread radio waiting to be activated, but it’ll be the newer models like the Echo Dot 4 & 5, plus the newer displays. Thread is a great way to free up your router of too many WiFi devices that just don’t need WiFi.