I bought four and all of these failed: started rebooting, and now are bricked.
Sometimes these show up on wifi, have an ip according to the router, but are otherwise unresponsive to ping or any connection.
Model: Athom Smart Home Model PG01V2 - EU156A
Ordered on 12 Oct 2022 at : Athom Global Store on aliexpress
First use: on 2022 Oct 26 First failure: exactly one year later. (all failed within three months)
Usage: not switched much/at all. These where always-on and used for measuring power. Even those measuring “nothing” where broken eventually.
Cause: I guess these only lasted a dozen ESPHome updates, and the memory is corrupt. Each plug had their problems first appear after an update + reboot.
Plugs I owned that worked fine for years:
Koogeek smart plug KLSP1. (no longer available with ESP8266 inside)
Saw that. Not available for UK yet. Ironically my plugs are still working but I might stress test the new version on higher rated appliances (if released in UK format).
I’m not willing to waste any more money on them… i thought the prices were really good when i ordered them… till i worked out it was USD not AUD! didn’t know until i checked the bank statement.
i have quite a few of those arlec ones around the house, although i opened them up and replaced the tuya modules with esp ones and flashed them with tasmota. they have been pretty rock solid for the last few years.
Im not sure about the availability outside the USA but, ive been a big fan of Kauf outlets and bulbs. Hes one of us, a HA hobbyist and sells products made for HA or more specifically Esphome.
They are a little more expensive than Athom but, come on! Pay the extra little bit and support a guy trying to make products for us HA users.
I cant speak for the quality of Athom as i dont have any but, i have lots of Kauf bulbs and outlets. They are very good quality and work great.
I didnt know that. Thats good to know though. I always try to support small businesses or community vendors like these 2. Ill spend the extra couple dollars and support them every single time if my choice is that or the den of thieves Aliexpress.
I have 8 Arlec PC191HA’s around the house for almost a year and none have died. Most are just for monitoring low power devices but one on the dryer, the dishwasher, and the washing machine. The dryer pulls about 2000W, device is warm, but hasn’t missed a beat.
I also have some Athom plugs that have been working without issue. Low power going through them and, like the Arlec’s, generally not switching under load. All my devices have been modded onto esphome.
Talking about reliability, I not happy with my Meross Smart Plug with Energy Monitor,
I had about 7 of these, an about 4 have died over a couple of years. One was on a freezer, and I did not notice for a few days.
Ouch ! I followed advice i saw before and added an automation to monitor the power usage of our downstairs chest freezer, and notify if the power is on too long (potential door left open) or off too long (possible motor or Wi-fi failure).
Then I noticed the freezer was on for minimum 1 hour, and off for max 30 minutes per cycle - and quite a lot longer on if we had opened the freezer. Seems a lot of power … so i queried Westinghouse/Electrolux, who only offered to arrange a serviceperson to visit. I did some calculations and worked out that a full year’s power consumption (kWh) would work out at about the freezers 2.5 Energy Star rating. I now have my notification set to 2 hours on - but just ignore it if we have opened the freezer.
Three plugs up to 16 months and another three at 6 months. Some spares when they eventually expire!!
For those updating ESPHome firmware to 2024.2.0, the latest has a breaking change on CSE7766 power sensor; to build your firmware you will need to alter the YAML; comment out update_interval and use a throttle average instead.
