Australia - Electrically Certified Hardware

probably a little bit off topic. I also found that any device using Grid connect is unreliable. Like you I am using Asus router (Zen Wifi XT8 + mesh). I am using smart wifi setting, ie no separate 2.4GHz or 5GGHz SSIDs, may be this is the cause. I found that I had to reset the router almost every 2nd week and then pray for the Grid connect devices to come back online.

I am now gradually moving to using HomeKit smart plugs, seems a lot more reliable. However, if moving to ESPHome can fix the Grid connect issue, I am all for it as those power boards and smart plugs are not being used at the moment

I got about as far as you and gave up, ESPhome flashing is based off Tasmota so I dont think it will work either. I have one too which is pretty flakey but good enough for what I need. I use Cygnett Smart Plugs (which are huge and bulky) on my washing machine, dryer and dishwasher which are much more reliable (integrated via SonoffLan HACS addon). I have also bought a few of the Athom preflashed smart plugs which are decent but the wifi range isnā€™t as far as the Cygnett and they cost more.

There are heaps of excellent low-cost smart devices out there like the CORUI Tuya WIFI Mini modules, AUBESS Tuya Smart Home Mini WiFi Smart Switches and the Moes Smart Life Tuya modules, I have tested them, and they all work great, and all have international certification for CE, FC, RoHS and comply with AS technical Standards. The major problem here is extensive ETU political lobbying has created different Australian Safety organisations different and ESV who simply turned around and decided to make everything illegal unless they are submitted for Australian Approval - OfCourse they have to pay heaps of money to have the Australian Authorities re-test and re-badge their products with Australian approvals and C-ticks ā€¦ all this non-sense increases the price of products 3 - 5 times their original costs. The Australian testing houses carry out exactly the same tests according to international standard and really are just money-making enterprises that pass on these ā€œapproval costsā€ to you the consumer. If you really want to do something, write a letter to your local government representative and the government. The only local supplier of smart devices I know of is Arlec ā€œGrid-connectā€ who have submitted most of their devices for Australian approvals, but at higher costs to the consumer?

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I hope you have plenty of time ColSung.

In the words of Dennis Denuto - ā€œITā€™S THE VIBE OF IT. ITā€™S THE CONSTITUTION. ITā€™S MABO. ITā€™S JUSTICE. ITā€™S LAW. ITā€™S THE VIBE AND AH, NO THATā€™S IT. ITā€™S THE VIBE. I REST MY CASE.ā€

It was a successful case. Darryl Kerrigan v The Crown.

Iā€™m happy to pay more for quality, particularly for LV devices.

Patraff, it was a good movie indeed, I enjoyed watching it many years ago, itā€™s a pity moralā€™s have gone with increasing prices?
monkeyismine, the quality hasnā€™t changed at all ā€¦ only the higher price youā€™re willing to throw-away money for nothing other than keeping up the fake show for a label saying ā€œAustralian Approvedā€
If their ā€œapproval mark or numberā€ makes them legally liable when things go wrong, then maybe I would be a little happy too?

IKEA are #finally selling B22 Tradfri bulbs :clap:

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Hi @craigcurtin, do you have circuit breakers with built-in Zigbee or Wifi capability?

Whatā€™s going to be the go to for power meter plugs these days?

I have a few places that Iā€™m interested in monitoring fridge, freezer, PC but itā€™s been a minute since I picked up anything that had power monitoring in it.

Ideally they would something I could flash with esphome.

Well the go is basically that the cheapies that everyone have been using (Kogan, Brilliant) have been dropping like flies after about 1 year (especially on high power appliances) plus the manufacturers have been changing to chips that arenā€™t ESPHome compatible.

I donā€™t think there is a current clear favourite.

Iā€™ve moved to Athom and theyā€™re fine so far but they arenā€™t certified and I canā€™t see that much long term testing info. I think TP-Link are getting a few mentions too.

Hi ā€¦ have you setup HA to read from Wattwatchers?

I donā€™t have Wattwatchers myself, but it looks like others have managed to integrate with Home Assistant.

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Hopefully theyā€™ll keep making and selling the Kasa ones. Bunnings used to sell them, but stopped stocking them in favour of the TP-Link TAPO ones. I have no idea what the real difference is between the two, except the need for a totally different app - and thereā€™s no built in integration for them.

There is a custom component available to control in HACs though.

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@SgtBatten and @intra it looks like from this thread that the Ikuu is turning off multiple times a day and the Clipsal Wiser is not syncing properly with zigbee2mqtt? So I guess that means the oz smart things stuff is the only other certified stuff? I lived in the US for 12 years and I found that Zigbee/Zwave stuff was easily available off-the-shelf for $45USDā€¦ it is so hard to find good zigbee stuff in Australia. My electrician advises strongly against general Zigbee stuff from aliexpress.

what is the reason for this ? I just connected a few Aqara sensors and mini switches to the Zonoff USB dongle plus (E) and they appear on HA.

Is the concern on cybersecurity? I hope trying not to use Aqara Hub and app would minimise the risk

The concern is electrical safely.

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Home Batteries
Iā€™m about to launch into the next project at home. Iā€™m seeking opinions on the best battery to install. Of course it needs to be able to be accessible to HA. I currently have 13.5Kw solar split with two SMA inverters. My energy dashboard shows that iā€™m punching out pooploads to the grid most days but getting diddly for it.
I have EMHASS installed and follow that thread but havenā€™t done any playing with config.
Mark Purcell appears as the guru for this.
Iā€™m essentially just doing a straw poll so you can telll me - mate stay away from this product etc.
Pat

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Their mains stuff is not certified for use in Australia. Iā€™m sure he isnā€™t referring to battery operated stuff.

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correct, I really do not see any electric safety issue. I am not using any 240V powered devices, only Zigbee sensors, switches, etc

So the switches are not connected to the mains?