Smart Plug Mini 15A, WiFi Smart Outlet Works with Alexa, Google Home Assistant, Remote Control with Timer Function, No Hub Required, ETL Certified, 2.4G WiFi Only, 4-Pack

Let me start out by saying that all I ever wanted was to be able to tap a button on my G7 Android to be able to turn on or off a lamp without having to fumble around with a switch or knob in the dark or travel back into a room I was just in for the sole purpose of turning off the lights. I assumed I could use my phones bluetooth to create a direct signal between devices in close proximity the way my phone and bluetooth speakers do without involving any third or external party. It would appear that I was mistaken about that. All the devices that I could find seem to want to force me to use wi-fi or dual wi-fi/bluetooth with Google Home or Alexa. I also learned that some kind of hub, whatever the hell that is, seems to be essential as well. That being established, heres my review. Installation took a few tries. First of all, I had to disable the 5g part of my wi-fi, a PITA in and of itself. This whole 2.4g only situation is just flat out stupid. Kudos and thanks to the reps at Comcast for helping me with this. Then, once I figured out that powered off meant the blue light was on and figured out the difference between between blinking slowly and rapidly as well as discovered the plug has to be removed from the outlet for a few seconds after each unsuccessful installation attempt, I was able to get the wi-fi working but I still dont completely understand how I did it and couldnt really explain it if my life depended upon it. Interestingly enough, once the installation was complete, the plug worked fine when the 5g was re-enabled. Bluetooth, however, was a completely different story. First of all, the bluetooth instructions are vague and seem incomplete. Theres something about blinking lights and the HBN app finding BLE devices. It was never able to find the plug. I dont know if the plug was supposed to somehow be switched to bluetooth mode or some kind of hub is required as seems to be the case with Google Home for bluetooth to work, but both the HBN app and Google Home were never able to find the plug using bluetooth. Both work fine with wi-fi which, at the moment, is workable but not preferable. The physical dimentions of this plug limit where it can effectively be used. It cant be used in the bottom section of a typical two-plug outlet without blocking the upper socket. Any sockets directly to the left and right, such as on a power strip, will also be blocked. If anyone can tell me if a bluetooth-only smart plug or bulb that will work with my Android without some kind of third party like a router or hub the way my speakers do exists, I would love to hear about it or an explanation as to why such a beast doesnt...as well as exactly what a hub is and why its needed. - [email protected]

I bought a single pack back in October to use for a strobe light during halloween - I found it was VERY easy to setup and schedule. Integrating with with Alexa was a breeze as well. I tried an Amazon brand plug when it was on sale, but had nothing but issues with it. On top of the Amazon plug not responding, I didnt like having to go-to the Alexa App for that plug and SmartLife for the other - 2 different apps depending on the plug I was controlling was annoying, so I bought a 2-pack of the HBN plugs and now have 3 of these. I use 2 of them to control the lights on my two fish tanks, and the other will be a holiday plug - CURRENT-ly; get it, current :-); I have it turning my Christmas tree lights. Pairing and setting up a schedule in the Smart Life app (just make sure you switch your phone to the 2.4GHz network or it wont see the plug). There are a lot of simple schedule options - have a planted tank that has a scheduled times to be ON and OFF so the plants to get enough light. My other tank has no plants, so too much light would lead to algae - so I have setup so that Alexa can turn it on demand, and set multiple times that turn the lights OFF if my kid, wife, or even myself (Mostly my kid) didnt turn them back off. And at any time I just ask my Echo Show, Alexa, or google phone assistant to turn on the fish tank lights, or turn off the Christmas Tree :-)

These things were very hard to connect. I spent a few hours of trials and errors. I tried to connect using the HBN Smart App on my iPhone, but couldn’t connect. I even turned off the 5GHz band on my router. So installed the Smart Life App on an iPad instead and was able to connect using the AP mode. I tried to do the same thing with the iPhone, but couldn’t add the device, not sure why. Once the devices were added, controlling them work very well. The Smart Life app on the iPhone also showed the devices once they were added via the iPad. Integration with Alexa is simple by just adding the Smart Life skill to Alexa and link your Smart Life account with Alexa. The HBN Smart app on the iPad couldn’t connect the device either. So I recommend using the Smart Life app instead. I wouldn’t recommend this if you are not tech savvy. The timer function works well, but you have to schedule a time to turn off and the the time to turn on separately. Instruction how I connect is below. 1. Installed Smart Life App on iPad and register for an account. 2. Open the app and go to add device, and follow instruction: type in your 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi SSID and password 3. Plug the Smart plug into wall outlet, wait a few seconds, then press and hold the power button for about 5 seconds. The light will flash quickly ( a bit hard to tell). Now, press the power button and hold again for 5 seconds. The light should flash slowly. 4. In the App, once you reach the screen where it ask whether the light blinks fast or slow, choose Slow. 5. Now it will ask you to connect to your device, so click on Connection in the app, or just go directly to your WiFi setting on your iPad. There should be a new SSID for “SmartPlugxxxx”. Connect to that and go back to your App. 6. Once you go back to your app, it should automatically try to discover the device and will list the Smartplug. Click on it to add. 7. When I went back to the app Home Screen, I saw the device added, but the app continued to work on something and I couldn’t do anything else. So I close out the app and restart it. It worked fine after that. 8. You can link your account with Alexa from the app. Click on “Me” button at the bottom, and under Third Party Services, click on Alexa and follow instruction. I hope this can help someone else. I am still not sure why I can’t add the devices via my phone.

We go overboard w/ decorations each year, and had a whole production of shutting off lights before going to bed each night. Not anymore. We absolutely love the ability to click a button and shut down the festivities. Not sure how long they will last but definitely worth the purchase to get us through the season.

I had a problem with the set up program regarding getting it to recognize the blinking light status. ( you have to touch the text for “confirm light is blinking” this allows the next button activation and the tethering process to continue. Kudos to Darren and Diana from support. They were great at following up with me to clear this up allowing me to program my plugs

Cant believe how easy these are to use. We have a friend who told us about these. You are missing out. You have to get these. Best thing ever!

These are not as easy to setup as the “enbrighten” brand but once you are able to connect one it makes the process of connecting the next ones way easier. Love being able to set the timer for multiple times a day and it works great!!

This is an update to my original review. I have seen in the questions and answers section that many people have problems with this device. They say things like “there is no timer, I couldn’t get it to work, it’s useless I put it in a drawer.” I will be 77 yrs old in April and I installed it and it is an amazing device. For a timer function you must download an app, on an iPhone, from the App Store. The one I use is Smart Life. The timer function is truly unbeatable. To install this you need, as stated in the device description, a 2.4 GHz network on your router. Many routers, such as mine, are dual band. No problem. If your router has only 5 GHz, I have seen on YouTube there is a way to cause the router to default to 2.4 GHz. I cannot attest to that, so take it with a grain of salt. If you have access to 2.4 GHz and use the correct WiFi password during setup you should have no trouble using this smart socket.

AMENDMENT 11·8·2021; ★ Added for.Aleaxa finally seeing the device. Its weird, I didnt try to add it, alexa just made a suggestion once when I turned on the switch in the manufacturer app. It would be great if I could custom title the actions assigned. Instead of calling it what the HBN app says it is. END AMENDMENT! I cannot fathom, the need to customer support, for a freaking plug, until I bought this one. I tried Alexa echodot voice, didnt detect. I tried Alexa App, wrong products and did not list the correct app for this product, and installed the wrong ones. Installed from GooglePlay, Did not detect device. I created an account, added the skill to Alexa, it still will not detect the device, but it will detect my other devices, even neighbors devices, but not this one. 3 stars for offering customer support, final rate pending.

Allows me to turn on a lamp when I am not at home and also set a plug to turn on and off at certain times of the day. I have timers on my lamps but when I want to see something and its too dark I can just use to app to turn the lamp on to view the room. then I can just turn it off and then let the other timer do its thing at the regular times. The only small complaint is the instructions dont always explain things completely. Wanted to know if once I set up a plug and if I moved the plug to another outlet would it retain the information. Turns out yes it does but I had to do a test to see if that was true. Would have been easier if it explain that in the instructions. What I like is if I am going out of town for a vacation/business I can have lights go on in the bedroom then in the bathroom. After about 10 minutes have the bathroom light go off then five minuets later the bedroom light go off. Gives the appearance of someone at home. Good product.