WiOn 50049 Outdoor Wi-Fi Wireless Plug-In Switch; Smartphone And Tablet Automation For Up To 12 Devices 2 Grounded Outlets Weather Resistant Energy Saving Wifi Controlled Switch

This is my third purchase of this product. Works great. Durable. Weatherproof. Use it to light my back and front yards. Easy Alexa integration. Great scheduling feature.

For a few years, I had 5 of these controlling my outdoor landscaping lights. I liked that they didnt require a hub, didnt require communication over the Internet with a server somewhere, and was completely self-contained on my home network. I finally abandoned these in favor of a hub-based system (like SmartThings and Wink) because they are just way too unreliable and have very few programming options. The app that controls these is atrocious and looks like it was designed by someone with no app design experience. Although it can do things like turn on the lights at sunset and turn them off at sunrise, theres no way to do something like turn off the lights 4 hours after sunset unless you program it manually. That may have changed in the few months since I got rid of them. It should be something easy to implement if someone was actually working to improve the app. These have to be in range of a really good wifi signal, otherwise they are impossible to program and control manually. One nice thing is that it will remember the programming, even if not connected to wifi. There were lots of times where the app said the switches couldnt be reached by wifi, but they still turned on and off at the right times. When that happened, the only way to reset the wifi connection was to physically go to the switch and reset it, which was a huge pain. I was constantly having to mess around with the app and the switches to get them to work. Since switching over to a server-based hub system with a better app interface, Ive not had to touch or reprogram my landscape lights once.

Works easily with the app but pairing with Alexa is way too hard and required back and forth email with their customer service. Long story short, don’t use long names for the switch. I named mine “Holiday Lights” but the Alexa couldn’t find the device on the network. Turns out you need to use just one word for the name. I renamed the switch “holiday” and Alexa worked first try...after trying to figure out the issue with their customer service. Not the greatest app or Alexa integration here.

I got this item to control the outdoor ground/pathway lights in my backyard. I have and old power supply for the lights but all it can do is turn the lights on or off. I need adjustment for daylight savings time. So instead of buying a new power supply. I got one of these. It works great! I now plug the power supply into this and then into the outlet. The app is good and easy to set up. With the app there are many different options for turning lights on and off. I cant try the Alexa part of things because I dont have one. Sorry. Great product would buy again if need to.

After a few days of use, I can say this: The actual hardware works. The problem is the app. Example: I wanted to have it run for an hour from 11:30 p.m. It claims a countdown timer. So I set the countdown timer, and, in doing so, it looked like this: Start 11:30 p.m. 4/21/17. Stop 12:30 a.m. 4/21/17. Noticing that this would run for about ... 100 years, I manually changed the stop time to 12:30 a.m. 4/22/17. Then I waited. It didnt turn off at 12:30 a.m. on 4/22. More experimentation is in order, but my tentative guess is that DESPITE what the timer said (about 12:30 the same day), it had originally been set for an hour, and that by changing the date, I messed this up in some way. My conclusion, however, is that whoever programmed the app did not consider the possibility of a timer running past midnight, and just set it up wrong. Which is a shame because, otherwise, this thing is EXACTLY what I wanted. I dont have it controlling lights, I have it controlling the circulation pump for my hot water heater. (The pump was initially on a timer, but I got annoyed with having to run outside the house any time I wanted hot water outside the timer hours.) I have it set for a morning shower sort of timer, which (so far) has been turning on and off exactly as programmed. It also has no difficulty with just turning the pump on and off from the app (which saves me from the run-outside thing I was trying to avoid). The only place where it has fallen down on the job (so far) is if I want to turn it on for a couple hours at night (to, say, have the dishwasher running overnight). But I quite like it. I may acquire a second one for the holiday lights.

Edit 2: It seems Southwire / Woods has merely rebranded the ECO Plugs RC-028W. I was able to install the ECO Plugs app from the Google Play store and successfully connect a factory-restored WiOn outlet to my router with it. It took me a few factory resets and forgetting the ECO-serial network on my phone and reconnecting, but the connection eventually succeeded. Although the Woods WiOn app is abandonware, the ECO Plugs app is a passable substitute updated for compatibility with Android 9. Connecting with the ECO Plugs app is quirky, though. A successful connection to the router does not deactivate the plugs temporary wifi access point. --- Edit 1: Beware! The Woods WiOn Android app doesnt fully work on the latest version of Android. It doesnt appear that Woods / Southwire has updated their app in a year and a half. Unless you have access to a device with an older version of Android, you may not be able to get this outlet to connect to your router. The out-of-box router connection dialog simply will not appear as it should when a new outlet is detected, regardless of clearing your phones cache and app data or resetting your outlet back to factory defaults. Maybe the ECO Plugs app would be a suitable workaround? Maybe, but I havent tried it to see. I ended up digging an ancient Android 4.4.2 device out of a drawer to perform the connection to my wireless network. Also, the WiOn products domain seems now to be controlled by a cybersquatter. There is no longer a website available for you to find support or documentation for this outlet. The outlet and its app are abandonware. I emailed Southwire a request for assistance, then followed up with my Android 4.4.2 workaround. If they respond with anything worthwhile, Ill update this review. So far my emails have gone ignored. --- Original review: Rugged, stable network connectivity from the opposite corner of the house and through walls, and Alexa integration is flawless. The WiOn app features above-average flexibility, offering automation with many triggers: time of day, countdown, astronomic, and random vacation timers. It does not offer Google or IFTTT integration, though. Bear in mind that Internet of Things devices such as this are heavily dependent on a reliable router. If youve got a garbage router, dont bother with this or any other IoT / smart home devices until youve upgraded. The Internet of Things tends to expose latent instability in mediocre routers. If youre not running Tomato, DD-WRT, Google Wifi, Ubiquiti, or better, dont blame inexplicable disconnections on your outlets. With OEM router firmware, more often than not, bugs are par for the course.

Working well. I’m getting ready to order my third. WiFi range is good. One is in a crawlspace under the house. Even next to a steel beam, it’s connecting to WiFi well. Instructions on setting up and controlling second unit could be better. I found help on an online video. To adjust second or additional units, you have to shift the devices icon to the leftmost position on your display. Once you know to do that, it’s simple to set up. I have it set up on a non-broadcast WiFi network. That can be tricky with some devices, but not this one.

I decided to purchase this Wifi timer to control my Christmas lights this year. I wasnt sure about switching from a mechanical light sensing timer to a Wifi timer, but I decided to give it try so I could have some control over my lights when Im away from the house. Out of the box, this outlet seems pretty robust. The hardest thing about the setup was finding the Woods WiON App in the App Store. Once you download it, you can get started on the power settings. I used the Astronomic Mode, and set my lights to come on 30 minutes after sundown, and go off 3 hours before sunrise. Like other reviewers have asked it would be nice to either have the option of either longer intervals, like 5 or 6 hours before sunrise, or to fill in this field with an actual time. The iPhone interface makes the home screen look a little silly on my iPad, but hey - its a plug! Aside from hanging my Christmas lights, this was an easy installation. I would recommend it to any clever homeowner!

After wiring and installing low voltage lights around our backyard pool and spa, I wanted an easy way to turn them off when using the spa to see the night sky better. The low voltage transformer for the yard lights is on a side of the house not easily accessed from the backyard. A Google search for outdoor WiFi switch brought up this WiOn product and the description sounded perfect for what I needed. When I received it and set it up, it was exactly what I needed. Product was easy to install with the matching app and easy to use. On those cool, cloudless evenings when a soak in the spa with stargazing is the perfect ending to our day, I can easily switch the yard lights off from the pool with my phone. If I didnt have a dedicated, switched outlet for my outdoor Christmas lights, the WiOn switch is a great solution to add to an outdoor outlet to turn lights on and off from the comfort of your living room.

I started building my smart home system with an outdoor Wi-on triple socket set for remotely controlling Christmas lighting. That device is still in use after three years and working well. The dual-channel device is similar quality and easy to connect to Alexa and the Wion app. As with other smart home products, your mileage may vary depending on the quality of your local wi-fi network. Local interference or obstructions can make the device not work as intended. Search Youtube to find videos on how to improve your wi-fi. In my case, I was able to add an outdoor weatherproof access point and that helps keep this product online and working.