Smart plug for HA in Ireland (UK plug)

Hi everyone,

I’ve been searching the forums and read about 6 million topics so far and my head hurts… Every time I find something that looks like it might be promising, it leads me down a rabbit hole of needing to learn a whole new thing.
I’m happy to learn all about a certain topic, I kind of would like to know whether it’s something that will be of interest to me before I go down the rabbit hole.

What I’m looking for is a smart plug, that will not require the internet to function, that will function with my Home Assistant, and is available to buy in Ireland (so, a UK style plug).
Seems simple enough and yet… The only one that I can actually see readily available to buy, doesn’t require internet and works with Home Assistant is the TP-Link ones, however the integration has been pulled by TP-Link and, based on what I’ve read, you kind of might get it to work, might not, and they might completely block it as well with the next firmware update.

Neither Amazon (UK), nor Curry’s (I have one right next to me) have a large selection. The TP-Link’s are available, but as I mentioned above it seems uncertain to me.
One of the options I see is possibly buying one of the plugs and flashing Tasmota (how do I know they’re compatible, what do I need to flash, does that actually allow me to have a no-internet-required, HA compatible plug?)?
I see also Zigbee might be an option, don’t know anything about it, presumably I buy a hub and then… Connect a plug to that Zigbee hub and connect the hub to my HA and that all just works and all I need to do is search for Zigbee plugs?
I see Tuya mentioned as well, but can’t really figure out how that works either and seems like it might still need internet.

I really can’t figure this out on my own :frowning:
I have no problem with software, I’m a developer, I’ve even programmed my own Ambilight system with an Arduino controlling an RGB LED strip, but these plugs are doing my head in.

Can anyone help me figure out which plug(s) I can buy with those requirements? I was initially hoping to get one with energy monitoring as well as a nice bonus, but reaaaaally don’t care about that anymore…

Also saw there are custom integrations, that want you to use that HACS thing… I am on HA Core, in the virtual Python environment. Not sure if that’s supported there (presumably it just drops some files into the correct locations from GitHub, possibly runs some pip installations or something, I can do that manually).

To clarify… Are you looking for a smart socket wall fitting, or a smart plug that goes into an existing socket?

If the former, there are very few options. I have a number of Lightwave 1 sockets, but I would not recommend them. It is possible to control them via an RF universal remote which means they do not need the Internet (and which actually improves their reliability), but this is a Wallace and Gromit solution.

If the latter, have you considered Philips Hue? You need a hub, but my understanding is that it only accesses the Internet to update software - certainly there is no account involved.

Thanks for your response @Stiltjack !
Sorry, I meant the ones that go into an existing socket.

I already have Hue lights so Hue is actually perfect. It even came up in my search at some stage, but for some reason I skipped it, not sure why, might have been the Bluetooth turned me off, but looking at it closer I see it has basic over Bluetooth, but can connect to the hub for more.
Might have also been the fact that it doesn’t connect to HA directly, but via the Hue Hub and in my mind I probably just ignored that as “Hue hub was for lights”…

Clearly I needed a fresh perspective :slight_smile:
Thank you so much!

Hey, hope you don’t mind the response.

I’m in the process of setting up a shop to sell pre-flashed, pre-configured, and pre-calibrated Tasmota devices here: Local Bytes Power Monitoring Smart Plug (UK)

If you sign up for an account, I’ll be sending out an email when we get the initial stock sorted!

That’s interesting.
On your page you have a note saying Compatible Smart Home Hub required for automation!, but as far as I can tell the plug uses WiFi.
I don’t have experience with Tasmota, but looking into it it seems you can connect to the plug via WiFi directly to set it up, connect it to your MQTT broker and use MQTT messages to control it.
Is that accurate or am I missing or misreading something?

No, you are completely right.
The reason for this disclaimer is so that people don’t buy it and expect it to just magically work with google home, etc…

For users here, I would say HomeAssistant would be the “Compatible Smart Home Hub”

I may revise that messaging through to make it a bit more clearer though, so I appreciate the feedback!