I have two HS110 and two HS100 devices. I have managed to stop the updates to the two 100s but both my 110s are now worthless.
Well it looks like there are 2 options then:
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Email and have the plugs reverted, then block from WAN access and assume that theyāre probably lower than usual risk on your separate VLAN (they are on their own VLAN with your other IoT devices and you have a strong Wifi password, right?)
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Get rid of them and look for alternativesā¦ AliExpress have some good deals on the Sonoff S26 right now [NOT S20, itās not FCC and CE certified]. The latest revisions look pretty good and the quality seems to be there.
Historically I have purchased TP-Link and they were the black Friday plug of choice for Ā£10, but obviously not now. Tradfri plugs for Ā£6 each with Ikea family but they are currently Ā£10 and they have no button to toggle power. They also have no energy reporting. They do work flawlessly as routers with Z2MQTT, though. Lidlās new smart home range (if available in your country) might be worth a look, but the Sonoff S26 is available right now and can be flashed with Tasmota or whatever for total control.
No, this is not affecting my hardwareā¦ yet. But read this again:
Note they chose to use the word āunauthorized.ā
Read those sentences again, without that word. Go ahead. Iāll wait.
Clearly they donāt want to give the impression that theyāre going to support HA or any other third-party applications. Nor should they.
The hostility here is in their declaration that what weāre doing with the hardware devices we purchased is āunauthorized.ā
I take that to mean that they will continue to actively discourage, not support us. And itās not just HA. They are declaring war on ALL third-party applications. The intention is clear, they will make sure that their hardware doesnāt work with anything but their own Kasa app.
Iām not hostile toward TP-Link. But I wonāt purchase a product which forces me to use yet another cloud-based service.
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So I am catching up on this as my plugs and switches stopped working the other day in HA. Is this just for UK people or every one? (Iām in US) I noticed Sat and yesterday my TP Link entities showed as unavailable; did everything I could think of, restart HA, restarted all network equipment, etc; but nothing worked. Literally now just installed the 0.118.3 update and now they are back? Just a coincidence? Really odd.
Itās only HS110ās that report Hardware 4.1 and Firmware 1.10.0
Iāve only got one of these and am just prepared to write it off. I suppose I may email TP-Link about reverting it. Iāve been switching to Ā£10 Tuya plugs with localtuya integration anyway, no tasmota required, theyāre half the cost and half the size of the TP-Link plugs.
Which plugs are you using please?
Iāve tried a few. 4x Aisirer ones back when they were only 10Amps, 4x ExtraStar 13A, 4x Aimason 16A, 1x Aisirer 13A, and 4x Gosund 13A.
The second batch of Aisirer ones didnāt have energy monitoring (despite advertising that they did) so I returned those. One of the ExtraStars died after a month, the rest are still going strong.
The first batch of Aisirers had the switch on the bottom which I prefer. The newer ones (all brands) all seem to have the switch on the left which means in the UK you canāt press the switch on one of them if they are plugged in next to each other.
I havenāt tried Meross ones yet even though they have the switch on top because I have a Meross 4-gang power strip and the integration used to be a bit unreliable. Itās better now though.
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Ok cool. Thanks for clarifying. Iāve been going back and forth comparing HW and FW versions my head hurts! Must have been a wired glitch or something causing all mine to be unavailable. Makes me nervous.
Yeah, I donāt think the āunavailableā problem is 100% solved yet. But so far I havenāt heard of any problems with firmware upgrades on US TP-Link smart plugs. Iām still not going to update mine, and without a Kasa account they donāt seem to want to auto-update. For now you should be OK.
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The ones you mention that are above 10A look good because they beat the 10A rating of the Sonoff S26 and the price is goodā¦ BUT: Have you seen a tear down of any of them at all? A lot of those look quite similar and I wonder if their amperage claim is genuine or if they are typical rebranded death trapsā¦
I checked on Amazon and noticed that the majority of those plugs are sold by sellers other than Amazon, and are simply fulfilled by Amazon, giving the impression of some kind of safety conformity. The massive variation in apparent amperage limit on such similar looking plugs is also interesting, as I worry itās a case of bumping the specs on paper just to outsell a competitor.
A lot of these real cheapo plugs make me nervousā¦ and until now, I have never plugged a Sonoff device into a socket in my house. The only reason I have just taken the plunge on a couple is because of the massive amount of tear down information available on them, and that they are now FCC and CE certifiedā¦ without this valuable information, spec lies, and good quality componentsā¦ we get this:
Please exercise extreme caution when buying these plugsā¦ you do not want your Christmas to end in flames! It would be the worst end to 2020 for anyone!
The review above is on the product here, but I bet you can find more if you look. If itās from China and it looks like the same product with a different name, itās the same productā¦ I wonder if your ExtraStar that died after a month nearly gave you a big headache!
Itās something to be aware of for sure. I try not to put anything powerful through them, the biggest load on any one plug is about 1A, most are less than half an amp. All of these manufacturers, including the Sonoffs and the TP-Links, are all based in Shenzhen anyway. I donāt particularly trust any of them, caveat emptor.
I realise itās all made in China, but that doesnāt mean theyāre all created equal. It just depends what corners the company and factory are willing to cut. If the company has an actual physical presence in the UK, I think that holds slightly more weight. I bet none of these brands even have a single UK address. I would not rely on the load being low being a solution to prevent fire. We donāt know what caused that. It could have been by plugging a 4 bar electric fire into it, it might have been a bedside lamp. Hereās another brand you didnāt mention, same plug!
Yeah, all of these plugs work with the Tuya smart home app so I imagine theyāre all rebranded variations of some nameless original. I assume all their components come from the same factories.
I think thatās a fairly safe bet. Or rather, their design and ārealā spec is the same.
Edit: Btw, my plugs didnāt get downgraded today. I will keep an eye and post if they do. I am hoping this is just a minor delay. Monday was never implied just after the weekend so watch this space.
Also just for balance we should point out that any product sold in volume has occasional bad reviews and bad examples. Hereās a review of a sonoff going ābangā. Hereās another.
Yeah, what you are linking there is one of the original Sonoff switches that was actually the reason why I didnāt use them until now. I am pretty sure that unit/model has no certification at all. But yeah, it is a kind of balance, but would be more suited to balance with the Sonoff S20 plug, which equally has no certification - unlike the S26.
Maybe we should be comparing the percentage of 1 star reviews instead.
The Teckin plug you linked to earlier has 5% 1-star reviews out of 1300.
This Sonoff has 1170 reviews and has 6% 1-star ratings.
Edit: This is an S26 Sonoff. Only 292 ratings, 5% 1-star.
Yes, and that smaller Sonoff switch ALSO has no certification. Plus, if you want to compare 1 star reviews, youād have to remove all the people who just got no luck setting them up, or who posted 1 star because the box came bashed up.
Iām just saying we can use anecdotal evidence to condemn any product.
Yes, I get that. And Iām saying any Chinese 240V appliance that is left unattended without a tear down and proper certification, and a history if hardware revisions should not be trusted at all. Ever. None of them. Sure, use the Yihua soldering iron, but you donāt go out and leave it on!
Additional: for those with Sonoff relays (such as the 2 mentioned above) that might be looking for safer certified alternatives Shelly is the company youāre looking for. If you donāt trust/want cloud you can use another ESP firmware.