Bought these last time. They are awesome. Only use it to track energy consumption and does what I want. Perfect tool (almost).
Only problem is if the power goes out and comes back on, it defaults to the off setting. So I cannot use it for important things like the refrigerator. If the power went out while I was away from home, it wouldn’t power back on until I got back. Not willing to take that chance.
If you want a bunch of wifi outlet switches for as cheap as possible, the best choice is “Hook Smart Home” with those cheap 433MHz radio switches. That would be 5 outlets for $16 each or 10 outlets for $11 each. It was perfect for me because I already had a bunch of radio switches.
Well I have a huge problem with this brand/model. I bought 3 last time but the whine… High pitch noise is awful… Sometime I turn on the light during the day just to avoid the headache for that noise…
Since we are talking home automation devices… Meh, going forward please let us know if products that are plugged in start from the on or off position. If they only start from off and require you press a button to turn it on, then home automation doesn’t really work to remotely power on the device only off if you forgot about it for a while. I’m talking about you know… fans, or TVs, or easy bake ovens… You know whatever. A physical on/off switch that stays in the on position is golden for home automation. Btw thanks for this deal today. I’m in for one set…so far.
@djslack no, a switch will either be default on or default off when it is made. This will determine it’s “ready state” when power is first applied. As previously mentioned, that can be a problem for things that you want to stay on except when you turn them off. Granted, at 10 amps, this is not really something you might want to use for a good sized space heater or large appliance that you might want to be able to control remotely (for instance if you wanted remote control for a space heater in your greenhouse… IF it started from the ‘off’ mode each time power was lost you might freeze all your ‘plants’ if you have a momentary in your power grid.)
Avoid these. They suck. I bought four of them last time they were up and they actually did connect but with even one of them plugged in the router locked up solid every 30 minutes. Tried different ones with same result. Router never locked up before them, locked up 20 times in a row with them and never locked up after I unplugged them.
I got this deal last time. LOVE THEM. They work beautifully with my Amazon Echo Dot to turn lamps on and off. I was so impressed that I bought a third one off of Amazon.
The app for these (on Android at least) isn’t perfect. The status icon NEVER goes away and it is supposed to drain your battery quickly.
For those thinking about taking the baby steps towards smart home, I actually installed my first plug ( from the last sale) yesterday! You can connect it to your Google Home without needing the app installed on your phone, so that’s good. Working as intended so far. But over only had a smart home for about 36 hours. I bought four plugs last time, so will be passing on this deal, but I don’t regret the purchase!
On the other hand… These would make pretty cool gifts for people you know who haven’t stepped in the smart home direction…
The one I’ve set up so far has worked okay - except for DST change last week. And that’s the fault of the app. I am using it to turn on a light in my bedroom for an alarm. The day after daylight savings time it turned on the lights an hour earlier than it was set for: 4am rather than 5. It eventually straightened itself out, but beware twice a year.
What a great way to encourage greater laziness. I can’t wait to not have to get up to turn off lights. With my echo controlled thermostat, same day delivery of junk food inside my house with amazon key, and the remote for the TV, Alexa has become the gateway to my goal of becoming a 400 lb sloth.
I’m buying 4. Meh FTW!
Please find an echo controlled robot that can fetch food from fridge soon.
Bought 4 last time. They are all installed and working. No IFTTT and the app is a little wonky -BUT- they have worked perfectly for a few weeks now. I’ve been trying a few different brands of Alexa compatible plugs and these are actually the best working brand currently in the house. Luckily have not had any of the issues other people here spoke of. Through the iPhone app I set up timed plug usage for one and a scene for the other three which I control with one Alexa command. If you are on the fence, these are a good choice to try out wifi plugs.
Do these things require an internet connection to work, or can they work over just local wifi, or can they work with bluetooth / their own ad-hoc wifi even?
I’m curious because the only two things I want to be able to hard reboot without having to get up are my wifi router and modem, when they occasionally stop responding; if it requires an internet connection to work, it would fail at both of these tasks.
@ravenblack These use WiFi so if your WiFi router is borked, local control may not work either. You could still probably restart your modem though.
FWIW, I have some TP-Link outlets and one reason I choose them is that they can be controlled locally (and there is code on Github to control from a PC.) Local control seems to be less and less common with WiFi connected devices. I don’t know if it is any different for the 433 MHz devices, but they require a hub and the hub may require an Internet connection. Some of the 433 MHz devices can be controlled from a PC if it is connected to a 433 MHz transceiver. That’s a bit of a hacking project but if you like that sort of thing…
I have some innovative device controllers in my house. They’re smart, in that they’re always available and you don’t need to open an app to operate them.
They’re usually conveniently located close to a door and one press (often up for on and down for off) controls outlets and lights. Admittedly not all outlets and lights but enough that I don’t feel the need to carry a phone at all times just to avoid darkness. I’m working on a patent…
@username Agreed…haven’t had any luck setting these up. They don’t work with 5Ghz networks. Even when I switched to a different network…no dice. About to can them!
@username app worked fine for me on Android. I set up an account so I could link it with Alexa. It found the 2.4ghz network first, so I just went with that.
Annoying seemed to run app in background… Probably for timers? Got that disabled via phone settings.
@medz it looks like their site/app is down cause i can’t create an account and app goes nowhere without login… wonder if there are any other third party ways to set it up
I’m generally curios about living in the future and try to enjoy devices sci-fi promised us but after finally setting this up I don’t really like it.
#1 peeve for physical devices, not only home automation, but even toys these days that don’t even have an option for non-cloud non-account set up.
a) it needs your phone number to set up. does not work with email, and no option to set up without creating an account.
b) it stores phone number up on clouds and it becomes your account number.
c) to integrate with Google assistant, it will need your Geeni log in account/info.
d) Google assistant bundles all permissions into one. why do they need to know my web history and location history if i just want to turn lights on. all permissions on or off, no option to pick and choose.
Overall seems like a humongous privacy intrusion, in terms of external threats. Geeni\Mercury corp does not seem mature enough to handle potential security breach. Imagine hackers accessing entire Geeni database and turning on/off all the possible outlets, webcams etc out-there.
TL;DR:
why can’t we have an option on these super smart devices that you can only set it up on a local network without access to the rest of interwebs.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
2x Merkury Smart Plugs
Pictures
Plugs
Side view
Oops it tipped over
Bottom view
Phone
A image in .png form
Talk to it
Please talk to it
Or just text it
Price Comparison
$35.90 (for 2) at Amazon
Warranty
1 Year Merkury
Estimated Delivery
Friday, Jan 24 - Monday, Jan 27
Bought these last time. They are awesome. Only use it to track energy consumption and does what I want. Perfect tool (almost).
Only problem is if the power goes out and comes back on, it defaults to the off setting. So I cannot use it for important things like the refrigerator. If the power went out while I was away from home, it wouldn’t power back on until I got back. Not willing to take that chance.
@cengland0 Your fridge should be fine for 12 hours or so.
@cengland0 Important to note, the description says:
@cengland0 do you think it was a slightly different model?
@ruouttaurmind oh, that being the case, today’s versions are not as good for the exact same price as before.
I think I’m addicted
“Fra-gee-lay”…it must be Italian!
Does anyone else notice it chirps like a girly grasshopper when it’s “off?”
Got these last time. I’ve had bad luck getting them to work consistently. They work for 1 or 2 changes in state, then “disconnect” randomly…
Mehkury plugs? Meh.
Does anyone know if the timer feature is only hours and minute, or if it includes seconds too?
@elkinsd No seconds
Less Amazon, more Bliss.
/image Alexa Bliss
ITTT comparable?
@caffeine_dude Nope
I thought we were supposed to be avoiding having merkury in our homes?
@khearn
/buy --coupon NIPTUCK
@medz It worked! Your order number is: gauche-acute-shape
/image gauche acute shape
@mediocrebot Ha! At first glance, thought it was upside down New Zealand, not that there an up or down, ya know, except maps… Never mind.
Garbage. Doesn’t work, 3 last time and none connect. ATT Fiber.
If you want a bunch of wifi outlet switches for as cheap as possible, the best choice is “Hook Smart Home” with those cheap 433MHz radio switches. That would be 5 outlets for $16 each or 10 outlets for $11 each. It was perfect for me because I already had a bunch of radio switches.
@stoopkid So you want me to bring more hookers home, and meh is trying to increase the mercury levels.
Are you all trying to get me divorced?
@stoopkid there’s no way to read the state of those cheap 433 MHz switches, is there?
Well I have a huge problem with this brand/model. I bought 3 last time but the whine… High pitch noise is awful… Sometime I turn on the light during the day just to avoid the headache for that noise…
@muletto I have three of these, and have never heard a noise.
@cajun I hear them, but only if I’m pretty close. My cats, however…
Since we are talking home automation devices… Meh, going forward please let us know if products that are plugged in start from the on or off position. If they only start from off and require you press a button to turn it on, then home automation doesn’t really work to remotely power on the device only off if you forgot about it for a while. I’m talking about you know… fans, or TVs, or easy bake ovens… You know whatever. A physical on/off switch that stays in the on position is golden for home automation. Btw thanks for this deal today. I’m in for one set…so far.
@5665150 isn’t that a function of the device you have plugged into the switch and not the switch itself?
@djslack no, a switch will either be default on or default off when it is made. This will determine it’s “ready state” when power is first applied. As previously mentioned, that can be a problem for things that you want to stay on except when you turn them off. Granted, at 10 amps, this is not really something you might want to use for a good sized space heater or large appliance that you might want to be able to control remotely (for instance if you wanted remote control for a space heater in your greenhouse… IF it started from the ‘off’ mode each time power was lost you might freeze all your ‘plants’ if you have a momentary in your power grid.)
@chienfou exactly. Well said. I’m hoping more devices will have ready state switches so the end user can decide.
@5665150 that would be nice… sigh
/image pass
Will these work with a mac?
Avoid these. They suck. I bought four of them last time they were up and they actually did connect but with even one of them plugged in the router locked up solid every 30 minutes. Tried different ones with same result. Router never locked up before them, locked up 20 times in a row with them and never locked up after I unplugged them.
@smbryanfl - Try another router. I had the same problem with my printer. New router was the remedy.
Wow - these can change the color of my wall paint from blue to orange? They sound amazing!
No Windows Phone app. I’m out.
@Stumpy91 Excuses, excuses …
(At least Microsoft finally admitted it’s over.)
I got this deal last time. LOVE THEM. They work beautifully with my Amazon Echo Dot to turn lamps on and off. I was so impressed that I bought a third one off of Amazon.
Energy tracking was why I bought the last ones. I don’t think it was a feature no one was using anyway.
I’m giving these a try for $20
Energy tracking would have made this a buy. Bummed I missed the last offer.
I have two and have never been able to make them work with any device. I wasted $20.00
The app for these (on Android at least) isn’t perfect. The status icon NEVER goes away and it is supposed to drain your battery quickly.
For those thinking about taking the baby steps towards smart home, I actually installed my first plug ( from the last sale) yesterday! You can connect it to your Google Home without needing the app installed on your phone, so that’s good. Working as intended so far. But over only had a smart home for about 36 hours.
I bought four plugs last time, so will be passing on this deal, but I don’t regret the purchase!
On the other hand… These would make pretty cool gifts for people you know who haven’t stepped in the smart home direction…
I love ❤ you MEH!
I’ve loved everything I have ever bought so far! Xoxo
The one I’ve set up so far has worked okay - except for DST change last week. And that’s the fault of the app. I am using it to turn on a light in my bedroom for an alarm. The day after daylight savings time it turned on the lights an hour earlier than it was set for: 4am rather than 5. It eventually straightened itself out, but beware twice a year.
What a great way to encourage greater laziness. I can’t wait to not have to get up to turn off lights. With my echo controlled thermostat, same day delivery of junk food inside my house with amazon key, and the remote for the TV, Alexa has become the gateway to my goal of becoming a 400 lb sloth.
I’m buying 4. Meh FTW!
Please find an echo controlled robot that can fetch food from fridge soon.
@ZombieWrangler No such luck there yet, though robots are making other food deliveries …
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/7/25/16024470/starship-technologies-robot-delivery-just-eat
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/doordash-delivery-robots-starship-technologies-2017-3
My Echo dot has become the best roommate I have ever had. Love finding new things to keep it busy.
Bought 4 last time. They are all installed and working. No IFTTT and the app is a little wonky -BUT- they have worked perfectly for a few weeks now. I’ve been trying a few different brands of Alexa compatible plugs and these are actually the best working brand currently in the house. Luckily have not had any of the issues other people here spoke of. Through the iPhone app I set up timed plug usage for one and a scene for the other three which I control with one Alexa command. If you are on the fence, these are a good choice to try out wifi plugs.
Do these things require an internet connection to work, or can they work over just local wifi, or can they work with bluetooth / their own ad-hoc wifi even?
I’m curious because the only two things I want to be able to hard reboot without having to get up are my wifi router and modem, when they occasionally stop responding; if it requires an internet connection to work, it would fail at both of these tasks.
@ravenblack These use WiFi so if your WiFi router is borked, local control may not work either. You could still probably restart your modem though.
FWIW, I have some TP-Link outlets and one reason I choose them is that they can be controlled locally (and there is code on Github to control from a PC.) Local control seems to be less and less common with WiFi connected devices. I don’t know if it is any different for the 433 MHz devices, but they require a hub and the hub may require an Internet connection. Some of the 433 MHz devices can be controlled from a PC if it is connected to a 433 MHz transceiver. That’s a bit of a hacking project but if you like that sort of thing…
@ravenblack they require internet, your phone number and your shiz up on clouds to work
I have some innovative device controllers in my house. They’re smart, in that they’re always available and you don’t need to open an app to operate them.
They’re usually conveniently located close to a door and one press (often up for on and down for off) controls outlets and lights. Admittedly not all outlets and lights but enough that I don’t feel the need to carry a phone at all times just to avoid darkness. I’m working on a patent…
@ergomeh I’m intrigued and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
@therealjrn it’ a 2 page mimeograph… hope that’s OK!
Purchased these and they work great with the Amazon Echo.
Does anyone know if these will work the Samsung SmartThings Hub? https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SmartThings-Smart-Home-Hub/dp/B010NZV0GE
is there a way to set up this doo doo without app?
https://www.mygeeni.com/
Error establishing a database connection
@username Agreed…haven’t had any luck setting these up. They don’t work with 5Ghz networks. Even when I switched to a different network…no dice. About to can them!
@username app worked fine for me on Android. I set up an account so I could link it with Alexa. It found the 2.4ghz network first, so I just went with that.
Annoying seemed to run app in background… Probably for timers? Got that disabled via phone settings.
@medz it looks like their site/app is down cause i can’t create an account and app goes nowhere without login… wonder if there are any other third party ways to set it up
@username You might try the “Merkury Home Bundle” app. I’m not sure if that would work.
@Hskrjer99 yes only 2.4G network works, and not immediately maybe 3-4 tries.
I’m generally curios about living in the future and try to enjoy devices sci-fi promised us but after finally setting this up I don’t really like it.
#1 peeve for physical devices, not only home automation, but even toys these days that don’t even have an option for non-cloud non-account set up.
a) it needs your phone number to set up. does not work with email, and no option to set up without creating an account.
b) it stores phone number up on clouds and it becomes your account number.
c) to integrate with Google assistant, it will need your Geeni log in account/info.
d) Google assistant bundles all permissions into one. why do they need to know my web history and location history if i just want to turn lights on. all permissions on or off, no option to pick and choose.
Overall seems like a humongous privacy intrusion, in terms of external threats. Geeni\Mercury corp does not seem mature enough to handle potential security breach. Imagine hackers accessing entire Geeni database and turning on/off all the possible outlets, webcams etc out-there.
TL;DR:
why can’t we have an option on these super smart devices that you can only set it up on a local network without access to the rest of interwebs.
@username I use homeseer and zwave modules
Mine came early and as a result of that ended up getting stolen off of my porch
It is a sad day