Hi all,
I’m wondering if anyone has experience with a smart plug that supports energy monitoring communication over Bluetooth or Bluetooth over Matter in Home Assistant. It’s fine if the initial setup requires Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi should not be required at all once setup is finished. MQTT does not fit my use case either as there is no network on the premises. Zigbee and Z-Wave are not potential options for multiple reasons.
These are the smart plugs I’ve already tested and why I’m exploring other alternatives:
SwitchBot W1901400 (Pure Bluetooth Connection): These were really great initially. They are affordable ($7 each if you buy a 4 pack), have a great resolution/latency, and a very easy setup only requiring Bluetooth. However, after a few months some of them randomly started failing, both the ones that had always been on and a dozen backups that had simply been in storage for months. I haven’t done a teardown but it seems like there may be an issue with the quality of their capacitors. For my use case I can’t just replace them when necessary as I’m not always in the location.
Eve Energy (HomeKit Addon Connection through Bluetooth without Matter): These were $40 each when I bought 2 of them without Matter, so they’re relatively expensive. However, it seems the price has gone down to around $30 for the newer versions with Matter. But I’m worried that the new firmware may not work without Wi-Fi. Their resolution/latency seems to not be as good as I expected it to be, and the connection through the HomeKit addon is inconsistent. They do seem to be more robust though as they haven’t failed yet. I’m just looking for something that possibly has a better resolution/latency and is more affordable. In addition, upgrading one to Matter to test it out would require a Thread device, which I have no use for at the moment. Does anyone know if using the Matter enabled ones would work?
These are the smart plugs that I’m currently looking into as options, would appreciate any input if someone has used these:
TP-Link Tapo P125M
Meross MSS315
Govee H5086
Shelly Plus US
Thanks for taking your time to read all of this, hope someone knows of any leads!