Quiet smart plug for bedroom?

Hardware
1

Hello Community,

I am looking for a smart plug for the bedroom. Since the plug should switch at night, it would be good if this would be as quiet as possible. At the moment I use everywhere the smart plugs from Devolo (Z-Wave). These switch but really very loud. Do you know other smart plugs (preferably also Z-Wave, but also have a Hue Bridge in use) that are quieter?

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards

2

While solid state relays (SSR) sound great (no pun intended) they do have some drawbacks.

  • Heat, they generate alot more heat then normal relays this down to the bigger resistance at the switching end so much so that you will most likely need some kind of cooling.
  • Price, for an AC SSR you’ll pay 6-12 Euro for just the relay itself, compared to 2-5 Euro for normal relays. Plus when you go above around 600W the prices go much higher.
  • Leakage, they dont actually “switch” off. There is no physical disconnect and they require a bleeder resistor to prevent leakage to the device. That also requires most SSR’s to have a Neutral together with your Live and Lamp wire when used with a low power load.

They are however great at specific needs:

  • Dimming, due to the ability to switch on and off quickly they are use to do phase dimming and thus used in most modern dimmers.
  • Longer lifetime, if cooled correctly they will outlive most mechanical relays.
  • No coil means not influenced by other electrical components around, also they are less likely to “chatter” (coil has just enough power to engage the switch but then loses it)
  • No arcing, any mechanical switch will have an amount of arcing. In silos and other places where you dont want a spark u use these or other switching methods.

In practice you’ll find mechanical relays almost every time, and only SSR’s when the situation calls for it. Sadly “i want a quiet bedroom” isnt a valid reason for the manufactures :smiley:

So after boring you to death with all this info, i do offer an solution but i’ll need to know what you are going to switch. And if it has to be a socket type solution or DIY?

1 Like
3

Hey Charles,

thanks for your detailed explanation!

Here’s my scenario: I want to charge my smartphone in the evening, but I don’t want to keep it at 100% charge all night, as that’s bad for the battery. So I want to use Home Assistant to disconnect the power after a calculated time, depending on the initial state of charge of the battery. For this I would need the power outlet. I find a DIY solution a bit dubious with power lines, so I would prefer a ready-made solution.
I am also looking for a plug to be inserted into the existing socket.
Just like my existing plugs: Die Funk Schalt- und Messsteckdose fĂĽr Ihr Smart Home

Best regards

4

Okay, here i go again :smiley: bear with me.

Note: This is all about Lithium batteries.
Keeping your phone at 100% at a trickle charge isnt bad and does not decay the lifespan of the battery. Using the battery will reduce its lifespan. Called: Depth of discharge (how far you drain it each day)
In essence every battery device is going to die in the end (cue sad music).
Draining it down to 0% will however kill it more quickly. So always avoid doing that.

Fast chargers wont affect your lifespan too, they way they are designed is that they only give full power at low percentage. Roughly till 70% and after that they charge slow. (or normal) and at 100% they do a trickle charge.

Modern batteries are designed around this and much of this 80% stuff is from a way back.
I think Huawei has a setting for this now, but thats more marketing BS than any real life impact.

Now if you want to squeeze every bit of life out you could try the charging to 80% trick. And someone made an USB device for just that: https://chargie.org/ That might be a better solution then trying to find or make a SSR device.

1 Like
5

Not 100% sure as i’m waiting for manufacturer confirmation, but shelly dimmer 2 should not make any sounds.

Also i managed to accidentally make one tuya switch silent by running on/off commands rapidly. Now it does not make noise but still turn lights on/off, the mind boggles. I somehow messed up automations and basically one was sending it to be on and other to be off at the same time in cycle.

6

If you set an alarm in the morning on an Android phone, it will ensure its fully charged by that time. Well my Pixel 6 works like that.

7

SmaHoo | Crowd Supply Hopefully this gets released someday.