Best small device to control Christmas lights

Hardware
1

The wifey loves lighted garland! We have about 50 feet of it on the inside of the home on railings and bannisters and 70 feet on our deck railings. I’m looking for the best way to automate the on/off.

For the inside lights, there are three separate strings that plug into three separate outlets. One of these outlets is a recessed floor outlet that will not accept a standard smart plug. I’m not opposed to, and even in favor of, cutting the light wire and making this a permanently installed device. I’m leaning towards the classic Sonoff running ESPHome but curious if anyone wants to talk me out of it.

For the outside lights, I don’t want to permanently install anything on the light string, because we may use the same light string for other applications. I think the best option here is a smart plug, but I need one that is weatherproof and has a small “pigtail” lead since the electrical boxes have weatherproof covers. Any ideas for these? I prefer a WiFi based solution over Zwave or Zigbee.

Bonus problem - I also have a 5 ft wreath on the front of the house. I’d prefer to hardwire a smart switch on this. Are there any weatherproof switches I can hardwire? Preferably compatible with ESPHome?

2

For outside I have used both on outdoor rated Kasa plug and a Zwave one. I have great wifi coverage so the Wifi was rock solid. I use the Zwave one for the garage because the range is better.

Indoors I use plugs but you say they wont fit. You can probably get a small extension lead so the smart plug can go outside the recessed socket

3

Thanks! I went with Kasa plugs for outside and some Shellys for the interior lights.

1 Like
4

Can you post what kind of Kesa plug you used? How did it pair with HA being on wifi and not zigbee / zwave?

5

I bought a KP401 (single outlet) and EP40 (dual outlet). I used the TP-Link integration.

  • add the device to your network using the Kasa phone app
  • find the IP address of the device
  • add a new TP-Link integration and enter the IP.

I have 75+ Kasa light switches, so these made a lot of sense. All my kasa switches and plugs are on a VLAN that blocks them from the internet, so they all work locally.

6

That sounds like a nice setup. Was the single outlet able to fit in a weatherproof box?

Do you have to use the kasa app every time, or just once to get it on the network then you can delete the app?

7

I see the Kasa light switches have firmware updates that will break their ability to connect with Home Assistant. have you found this to be an issue, or since they are not accessible to the WAN they don’t get updates?

8

The single outlet is 2.75" wide, 3.15" tall, and 1.5" thick, not including the cord.

I do have the Kasa switches and outlets blocked from the internet to prevent any updates, but I just bought these outlets this week, so I’d assume they have fairly recent updates on them, and they work fine.

9

Thanks for the dimensions

Is this the type of Kasa switch that you bought and works with HA?

10

Yep, I use the HS200 as well as the HS210 for 3-way switches and the HS220 for dimmers.