Richard is the PC Hardware Lead at XDA and has been covering the technology industry for almost two decades. He’s been building PCs since young, and when not creating content, you can often find him inside a chassis somewhere.
What’s the one smart home product I would recommend buying this Prime Day? Smart plugs! These handy little devices have transformed the way I interact with and monitor my smart home. From allowing me to cycle specific products when not at home, such as my aquarium lighting system with an internal clock that resets during power outages, to monitoring energy usage for my Proxmox server and other computing equipment. The best part? You can do the same and for less thanks to Prime Day with this pack of four U.S. energy monitoring plugs for $34.
Wait, you’re recommending a smart plug?
Yes! Smart plugs have always been seen as more of an afterthought. “Oh, I can control whether this appliance turns on or off? Cool.” But they’re so much more than that, especially if you purchase energy-monitoring smart plugs such as this kit. Thanks to full Zigbee support, you can quickly connect these plugs to Home Assistant in mere seconds upon connecting them to an available power outlet. What’s more is that they also extend your Zigbee network, so there’s much more than meets the eye with these smart plugs.
My primary Zigbee hub is connected to my Proxmox server, which is located in the garage. Using strategically positioned smart plugs, I’ve been able to extend coverage throughout the entire home and through to the office building in the rear garden without using dedicated hardware. These smart plugs have proven themselves to be incredibly useful in my smart home, and with automation, we’ve been able to create some handy triggers to integrate non-smart hardware into our fully localized ecosystem.
Costing less than $10 per plug, you’re getting a good deal here with hardware that doesn’t require a proprietary hub and can elevate your open-source solutions to a whole new level.
