MQTT wifi outlet recomendation

I would like to control a simple outlet over WIFI using MQTT and I’m a bit confused as to what works right “out of the box”. Basically, I’m looking for the least amount of friction and don’t want to buy something that isn’t reliable.

As I’ve poked around, I see a lot of options ranging from cheap to a bit pricey. some as low as $10 which claim “works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant”

What is the boiler plate reco from the group?

Thanks!

Hi,
There are quite few MQTT-enabled ‘productized’ things out there, if you find some, please let me know too!

What I can tell you is, flashing Tasmota to Sonoff based stuff was only mildly annoying. The firmware is pretty solid, and works very well, especially if you flash your Wifi and MQTT credentials to the device from the get-go. Last I heard they were starting to enable support for SonOTA again, which should make it even easier. Haven’t checked in a while, since once you set up the tools to flash them manually, it’s hassle to learn a new way.

Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant is almost guaranteed to mean the devices communicate with some external cloud service, which offers the Alexa / Assistant functionality, as those tend to require a pre-set HTTPS service to call instead of MQTT.

I was hoping for something that doesn’t require too much fiddling with but, I’m always up for the challenge. Is Sonoff the standard that most users are going with?

I’ll check out Tasmota tonight- I’m not yet familiar with it.

Thanks Wizzor.

It’s pretty easy, You’ll need a USB 3.3V serial adaptor. Have a watch of this:

The only thing that could be clearer in that video is that the power comes from the USB port not the mains AC power.

Connections of the USB serial cable are covered on the Tasmota wiki pages for the device.

Shelly devices provide MQTT in their standard firmware now. They don’t offer a ‘plug in’ type device though, if that’s what you’re after.

Actually it seems that they do.

https://shelly.cloud/shelly-plug/

As long as you live in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain or anywhere else that uses Type F plugs and sockets. https://www.iec.ch/worldplugs/typeF.htm

True, the only plug worse than the US one.

I’m amazed there aren’t more Australian outlets considering we share Type-I with China.

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You can also use a type C plug in a F outlet. Used all over europe exept uk and ireland

Would flashing firmware onto this Sonoff plug be an option? http://a.co/d/37Fk0Uy ( SONOFF S31 16A Wifi Smart Socket)

I’m in the US and this is the form factor that I’d like to work with in my home. I would like to turn on a radio for example if I detect someone approaching the home.

Yes. Someone has already done it:

I don’t bother compiling from sonoff.ino, I just download the latest sonoff.bin, flash and configure. done.

I also have flashed the S20, which is the EU version with a similar idea. Works well, flashing was easy.

Many thanks all- this is excellent!! I’m ordering components now.

Use any shelly device. I have 12 devices connected right now to home assistant in 2 different geographical locations running 2 different HA and MQTT brokers and I’m loving it. Shelly has done an excellent job with their products. Cheap, reliable, and affordable. Also, they have been running for over a year right now and I have had no problems at all!

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Hello,

if you need something professional and reliable, try this one:
https://www.netio-products.com/en/device/powercable-mqtt-101x