What are smart plugs and how do they work?
A smart plug is an easy and low-cost way to make your regular home appliances, devices and lighting into smart home devices.
In the last few months, the smart plug has grown in popularity. A small adapter that can be plugged into a regular electrical wall outlet and can be connected to a Wi-Fi network. It may not be a fancy device to show off but it’s the most basic device needed to make a connected home.
How does a smart plug work?
The idea behind a smart plug is to convert regular devices and appliances into your home “intelligent”. They need stable Wi-Fi and don’t require a hub. Most smart plugs come with a companion app that can be easily downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Smart plugs may seem slightly bulky, but they immediately blend with the interior of your home.
As we have mentioned earlier, smart plugs make your “dumb” devices and appliances smarter at a very nominal cost. The possibilities are endless with smart plugs. Turn the lights off without getting out of bed, control your heater from another room, or schedule your coffee machine even if you get out of bed in the morning.
A lot of smart plugs do support popular voice assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa but some don’t come with Alexa and Google Assistant either. So before you buy the smart plug, make sure you see the plug can be connected to Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant. Voice-controlled assistants like Google’s Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa make it easy to control smart home devices by speaking simple commands like “Hey Google, turn on the light.” Though each of the voice assistants has its pros and cons.
Otherwise，the smart plugs are great to add to your home if you're looking to save money on your energy bill. By utilizing the scheduling feature of your smart plug's app, you can schedule things, like your lights, to only come on during certain times of the day when you're home so they're not wasting energy in the meantime.
Smart plugs also come in handy for keeping your home safer from fire hazards. If you use heat-powered items daily, like a curling iron or a clothes iron, plugging those into a smart plug when using gives you the ability to turn them off remotely from your phone. So, just in case you get to work and realize that in your rush to get out the door you left it on, your smart plug can save the day.
CHRISTMAS TREE OR HOLIDAY LIGHTS
Smart plugs can help to spread the energy-saving love all year round. To make sure you're only running your holiday lights when someone is around to enjoy them, you can use your smart plug to set up a schedule to turn the lights on and off throughout the day.
COFFEE MAKER
There's nothing quite like waking up to the smell of fresh coffee. With a smart plug, you can either schedule your coffee maker to start brewing before you even open your eyes in the morning; or, you can flip the switch on the app when you wake up and let it brew while you enjoy those last few precious moments in bed.
AIR CONDITIONERS AND SPACE HEATERS
Smart plugs are great for helping to keep your home at just the right temperature, if you're someone who uses a small space heater or a window air conditioner unit. Schedule the heater to turn on right before you get home so it will be nice and toasty inside.
