UK Power Monitoring Plug Options in 2019

Hardware
1

Hello,

I have plenty of smart plugs (tuya) around the house, but want to add some more with energy monitoring as these are simply On/Off.

My requirements are;

  1. No need for cutting wires.
  2. Under £10 per plug
  3. Flashing devices is fine
  4. Nice and small, so that 2 can be plugged in next to each other.

However, ive looked through the forums and found many suggestions, but they all seem to have draw backs, or be from outdated information.

My research so far has found;

Tuya Plugs - Unclear if the tuya-convert works on newer plugs or if it is blocked by an updated firmware.
Sonoff PoW - I have a few of these around the house in places which are not obvious, but I do not really want to cut wires and install big white boxes in areas where they will be seen.
TP Link HS100/110 - Around £15 each, was hoping to pay less then £10.
Sonoff S20/26 - I dont believe these do energy monitoring?
Sonoff S31 - Cant find UK version

In September 2019, what options are there for ideally a plug in plug socket, ideally more like the Tuya ones where they are very small and compact, which does power monitoring over MQTT?

Basically, I want a Sonoff POW but without the need to cut cables!

I dont have any Zwave or Zigbee devices in my setup as it stands so would ideally stay away from these to prevent the need for another hub.

Thank you.

2

I was successful with tuya-convert and this plug, you can find the template here. No soldering.

Any questions just ask

3

How does this fit in the UK socket? As my teckin sp23 don’t fit very well and come over the switch of the socket…

Thanks.

4

Depending on how wide your switch is it can indeed cover it a bit, it doesn’t cover mine but if it did removing a bit of plastic on one of the top corner of the plug wouldn’t be difficult.

1 Like
5

I’ve got Teckin square ones and yes they do ‘interfere’ slightly with my MK switches but it is only really a problem if they were in the ‘off’ position. But to my mind it makes no real sense to turn off the socket switch if you have a smart plug plugged in.

6

I had good success after posting this in flashing 4 new plugs I bought off eBay. All using the newer tuya convert.
To my absolute delight, I found that the dozen plugs I previously owned too could be flashed in the same way.
Frustratingly though, I bought 4 plugs last week ready for Christmas decorations and they are not running an ESP chip so I can’t flags them. As with a lot of sellers, the return address is China though so I’m probably stuck with them.

7

Can I ask what you bought off e bay? I’m planning electricity for my new house and while I’m looking for what to do while staying wired I’d love to know what plugs are good today wireless and good with energy monitoring + compatibility with home-assistant to track energy usage and not only turn on/off.

Thanks!