Creative Uses For Smart Plugs Around The House

A quick browse on your favorite shopping site and you'll see thousands of smart products you can buy for your home. There's the commonly used smart security camera, smart light, and smart speaker and the more unusual AR console, smart mattress, and smart mirror. However, even with the array of smart home devices available in the market today, you're bound to own at least one "dumb" product. Maybe it's your years-old oven or the floor fan you bought last week for cheap. Whichever appliance it is, they don't have to stay dumb forever as you can simply connect them to smart plugs like Wyze, Wemo, and TP-Link.

Smart plugs are designed to help you remotely control your devices. Typical uses include turning on the AC before you get home, switching off the curling iron you left plugged in, and activating your coffee maker at exactly six in the morning. However, you can actually do more with smart plugs than these basic tasks.

Just like many other homes, you probably have multiple appliances in your house: the washing machine and dryer in the laundry room; oven, microwave, and fridge in the kitchen; and TV and fans in the living room, among other things. Yes, they all make your life a little easier; however, they can be a hassle to keep tabs on, especially if they don't come with smart functionalities. You have to stop what you're doing just to check if the washing machine cycle is done or to see whether the dinner you're baking in the oven is ready.

This is where smart plugs, specifically those with an energy monitoring feature, come in handy. When connected to your appliance of choice, the smart plug can monitor the power draw of that device. More draw means it's still operating, but once that power draw drops, it can be an indication that the machine is done.

You can use this functionality to keep an eye on your washing machine, dryer, oven, dishwasher, and even something like a 3D printer (if you're the crafty type). Every time they're finished with their operation, the smart plug sends you a notification. You can also have it trigger another smart plug connected to an alarm or light. You might also want your smart plug to notify you when power is completely cut off to essential appliances like your fridge. Getting an alert gives you enough time to move your perishables somewhere cooler.

With electronics being an integral part of everybody's day-to-day life, it has become harder than ever to impose study time and bedtime on kids. All they ever want is to scroll on their phone, play on their gaming consoles, and watch endless shows on TV. Thankfully, smart plugs can counter that. Three particularly helpful features in such situations are the scheduling option, remote control, and power monitoring.

The scheduling option lets you set a specific time to automatically turn on or off the electronics in your kids' bedroom, study room, or playroom. For instance, when it's time for bed, the smart plugs can shut down all the distracting devices. You can also do the opposite and have the plugs turn on certain devices, such as a bedside lava lamp or white noise machine, at bedtime.

The remote-control function, on the other hand, is for manually shutting down electronics during unplanned times of the day. Say they have classmates over to finish a school project. To help them focus, you can cut off power to the TV, gaming console, or Wi-Fi (if not needed) by tapping the switch on your phone or asking Alexa or Google Assistant to turn the smart plug off for you. Finally, the power monitoring feature of smart plugs makes it easier for you to tell whether a kid is sneakily watching TV or surfing the web past their bedtime or turning on appliances that they shouldn't, such as the microwave or toaster.

Some of your devices at home are used depending on the current weather. For example, you only turn on the garden sprinklers when it's sunny and turn them off when it's going to rain. Every time it pours, you might also want to activate your space heaters and electric blankets to make your room cozier as well as turn on your dehumidifier and sump pump to prevent damage to your home (plus, a dehumidifier makes the indoors much more comfortable). Then, when the sun is out, that's the best time for putting on some mood lighting and music in the backyard. Running the fan and AC when it's hot is also a no-brainer (who can relax when drenched in sweat?).

Of course, you can always manually switch these devices on, but one of the cool uses you can do with your smart plugs is creating weather-dependent systems. You can achieve this by syncing your smart plug to a weather service provider like Weather Underground (via platforms like IFTTT) or using a smart home weather station. Specific conditions, such as rain or a change in temperature, will act as the trigger for turning on or off your smart plugs.

By themselves, smart plugs can do different tasks, from turning on your coffee machine before you get out of bed to shutting down your home Wi-Fi from the office. However, they can become even more powerful when paired with another smart home device. There are two ways you can go about doing this.

The first method is by using one of the many available smart home devices as a trigger for your smart plug. For instance, if you have a motion sensor, whenever it detects movement, it can activate a smart plug to turn on devices in the room like a light or aroma diffuser. Temperature sensors are also great triggers, especially for your dumb fan or air conditioner.

If you have a smart light, you can place it in your home office or gaming room and have it turn on your gaming console, computer, printer, or standing desk every time you turn on the light. You can also make the light do the opposite, turning off your hair straightener or soldering iron once you switch off the lights to leave the room. Another nifty smart home device is a smart lock, which you can sync with a smart plug to disable the AC and sound an alarm when a door is left open.

Aside from receiving triggers from another device, smart plugs can also serve as the triggers themselves. You can leverage its energy monitoring feature to tell whether the device it's connected to is operational. Then, you can use this signal to switch on or off other smart home devices or another smart plug. Say you turn on the TV. This can then power on the speakers (also connected to a smart plug), shut the smart blinds, and activate the smart color-changing light strip.

Don't you just hate it when you go to use your electric toothbrush, but it's not charged? It isn't just your toothbrush, either; you can also experience the same problem with your other electronic devices, from your portable power bank and wireless earbuds to rechargeable power tools and kids' toys. To solve this dilemma, use smart plugs.

Smart plugs are great energy savers, not only because they can reduce the power draw of your appliances and electronic devices when they're in standby mode but also because they come with a scheduling option. This feature is especially useful for charging your devices. After measuring how long your device typically charges, you can then set a time for the smart plug to turn on and off. Just make sure your device is plugged in at the scheduled time.

To make your charging station even more efficient, you can go one step further and research the off-peak hours of your electricity provider. During such hours, you're charged less for the electricity you consume, making it the best time to power your smart plug charging stations. However, this duration typically falls at night and can be as short as midnight to 8 a.m. for some providers or as long as midnight to 5 p.m. for others. Since it's a hassle to wake up in the middle of the night to turn your devices on and off, you can let your smart plug handle it for you.