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Kogan SmarterHome Smart Plug with Energy Meter & 5V 2.4a USB Ports (4 Pack) $69 Delivered @ Kogan

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Anyone had experience with the kogan smart plugs? These seem like a good deal at $17.25 delivered per unit.

I noticed some have had burnout/wifi dropping issues with similar plugs from kogan but not sure if issues have been addressed or if they were overloaded. Would be keen to IFTTT these and begin my smart home journey with google home and the like, perhaps flashing these if that is easy.

The USB ports seem to be a bonus.

Kinda would prefer to get advice before pulling the trigger on a 4-pack of potential duds.

In any case, I think that if these are safe to use within spec (2400W maximum) then this deal is valid and pretty good.

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  • +6

    Got a 4 pack of these just before Christmas, intent was to set them up throughout the house but so far have been using one to turn on/off my coffee machine & grinder with my morning alarm (or when I'm too lazy to get up and walk 6m to the machine).

    So far it seems fine, haven't noticed any wifi dropouts or issues with it supplying power. Haven't looked at flashing yet but eventually that was also a future project.

    Most importantly, these are slim enough to get 2 onto a standard double power point side by side.

    • Thank you! this is valuable information, especially the form factor! Cheers

    • Which is slimmer? this or Brilliant?

  • +2

    I have 4 of these. Had problems with 1 of them constantly turning itself off. It was the only one that had the 2 usb ports being used.

    I did try just having 1 charging cord plugged in (for my phone…it was only used sporadically so was not connected to the phone for the majority of the time), but I still had problems with the plug turning itself off.

    However it seems to have stabilised now that both USB ports are not in use. This plug now just has an Echo running off it (used to have my PC, printer, etc on it), but I may change it to multiple devices again…just to test it out. The other 3 plugs are connected to the home theatre system, consoles etc.

    • Thanks for the feedback! I wonder if that specific unit was a dud? Do you get the same issues with the others when USB's are plugged in? Cheers!

      • It's possible that the affected Smart Plug could be faulty, but to be honest, I can't be bothered dealing with the returns process unless I really have to. So I am ok it seems to work now, and just plug my charging cords back into my PC. Annoying though, because having the usb ports was one of the reason I got them, because it's nice to have that flexibility.

        I haven't tested the others wrt using the usb ports because of where they are being used. I had forgotten to mention these Smart Plugs…at least with my power points…cover the switches. My other Smart Plugs are located in hard to reach places, so the switches being covered makes things even harder if I need to physically turn them on and off/reset them! Luckily those plugs seem stable.

        • Last issue I had with Kogan I just emailed them a photo of the broken thing and they shipped out a new one, was about as much effort as the two comments you wrote here :P

    • +1

      Out of interest why do you run an echo on a smart switch, when the echo itself is already a smart device?

      • I also wondered, haha. It's like a kill switch that you give to the robot… "Hey Jarvis, shut yourself down!" "Mmm, I don't think so Tony" *turns thermostat up to 100C

      • +1

        lol

        I actually had the echo.dot running off the Smart Plug's usb port originally (but…I dumbed it down when it started to randomly switch itself off, as per the experience described above).

  • isn't this the standard price?

    • It's $69 for me. Not sure how to get it for $65. $69 with free shipping would be the standard price.

      • Whoops, I wrote the wrong number. Fixed! Cheers.

  • +2

    This is not a deal, this is their normal price. Kogan are deceptive A.F.

    That being said, these plugs are great if you flash Tasmota/ESPHome onto them! I have 8 of them.

    • Thanks for the info! Do you have a link for method on how to flash these specific models to those? I would be keen to do that. Cheers

      • +8

        Sure thing! Here's a good video tutorial on it.

        I wouldn't recommend flashing them until you dive much deeper into home automation though, as you will still need something to control them (Home Assistant is my recommendation).

        When you get to that stage, and if you decide to go with ESPHome (like I am using), here's the config for both the old Kogan plugs and the new ones. I've even calibrated to within ~0.1w/1v using a line meter.

        • Awesome, that is extremely helpful, thank you! Is the recorded power consumption way off if you don't calibrate it?

          • +1

            @GenghisGun: It's factory-calibrated for the Tuya/SmarterLife/SmartLife apps just fine. But when you flash it with custom firmware, those values are lost. That's why manual calibration is required if you want to not send all your data via China :)

            • +1

              @trankillity: Is there no way to pull the calibration values out of the default firmware? I was thinking of getting some of these but that is really annoying if not.

              • +2

                @OZBMate8911: Calibration is dead easy after flashing

              • @OZBMate8911: Nope, but as I linked above, I've already provided the calibration values for it. If you wanted to do it yourself, you can pick up a basic line meter from Bunnings for under $20 too.

  • I got the pack of Kogan badged wifi lights, they have been working perfectly fine for maybe a year now. Interesting to see how long they last.

  • +2

    I don't think they are any better or worse than the like of Mirabella Genio, Arlec Smart or Brilliant Smart. All of them are rebadged Tuya. Heck this one is so similar in look to the new Mirabella Genio one (that's not on their website but is being bundled with Nest Mini at BigW).

  • Anything like a switch with a remote available?

  • Strange they put the USB ports on the top. If left empty they will collect dust. Not ideal.

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