Smart Plug

H

homnipot

Recruit
Hello guys,
I own a business that manufactures and sells Smart Plugs. I know that there are tons of smart plugs out there. Any suggestions on how you would want to make a Smart Plug even smarter or better? Also keep in mind that i cant make it too fancy and price it too high. Should be affordable for everyone you see..

Also would be really helpful if you can take this quick 1-minute survey to know how you feel about smart products in general. I'd really appreciate it.
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Thank you,
Mark DS
 
I would be interested if your smartplug supported openhab. It should not be dependent on a cloud based service instead it should allow full control in the absence of internet.
Look at how sonoff works with tasmota firmware for inspiration.
 
rajil.s said:
I would be interested if your smartplug supported openhab. It should not be dependent on a cloud based service instead it should allow full control in the absence of internet.
Look at how sonoff works with tasmota firmware for inspiration.
Click to expand...
Thats interesting. Wont that cause security concerns though?
 
The device will be under full users control. It will not be allowed to access the network except the openhab server. It will be isolated from the network hence no security issues.

As a manufacturer, your responsibility will be to keep the api compatible with openhab/home assistant.
 
Ishtiyaq Husain said:
It should allow us to flash with custom firmware, so that we can use it with any other smart home server like openhab, home assistance, etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ishtiyaq!

6pack said:
It should give a months history of hourly power consumption in wattage. Maybe some web or app interface where we can see consumption of device attached to it for a month or two.

Some of the smart plugs on Amazon give only the live or total power consumption of attached device.

Example:
KIOT Smart Heavy Duty Plug 16A - WiFi Plug - Compatible with Alexa (ABS) https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07ZB5XC3Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_paM5Db7AT2XMH
Click to expand...
Very nice idea. Thank you!
 
The best way to know how and what you can improve is to provide samples to serious users only on the condition of getting true feedback.
In India the integration with openhab and custom firmware flashing is not very important as its not very known / easy / famous.
To get them to sell, the best strategy IMO is to price them cheaper than the counterparts available on Aliexpress. (I don't know if that's possible because I have never seen anyone doing that, hence I only buy from Aliexpress and so do most of other people). India is a price sensitive country.
Local network compatibility without cloud is very important and strong point for sale. So is amazon alexa, Google home and iftt compatibility (goes without saying)
Also should be straight forward to setup.
Then comes features like power tracking, custom firmware flashable, openhab integration.
 
The female socket should be a multiplug kind which supports UK/USA/Indian plugs instead of only Indian plugs. This will set you apart from the widely popular sonoff plugs.

I disagree with the above post, third party firmware support should be given priority over anything else. That is the sole reason devices based on esp8266 have become so popular.
 
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