Amazon Smart Plug, for home automation, Works with Alexa - A Certified for Humans Device

The Amazon Smart Plug is a popular device that allows you to control your electronic devices using voice commands or through the Alexa app. Its a simple and convenient way to make your home smarter without needing to invest in a complete smart home system. Here are some key features and aspects of the Amazon Smart Plug: Easy setup: Setting up the Amazon Smart Plug is a straightforward process. You simply need to plug it into an electrical outlet, connect it to your Wi-Fi network using the Alexa app, and then you can start controlling your devices. Voice control: The main advantage of the Amazon Smart Plug is its compatibility with Amazon Alexa. Once the Smart Plug is set up, you can control it using voice commands through any Alexa-enabled device, such as an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot. This allows you to turn your devices on or off without needing to physically interact with the plug. Scheduling and routines: With the Alexa app, you can set schedules for your devices connected to the Smart Plug. For example, you can schedule your lights to turn on and off at specific times, creating the illusion of someone being home when youre away. You can also create routines to control multiple devices simultaneously with a single voice command. Away mode: The Smart Plug includes an Away mode, which randomly turns your lights on and off during specific time periods. This feature can be a useful security measure to deter potential intruders when youre away from home. Energy monitoring: The newer versions of the Amazon Smart Plug come with built-in energy monitoring capabilities. This allows you to track the energy usage of the devices connected to the plug, giving you insights into your energy consumption and potentially helping you identify energy-saving opportunities. Compatibility: The Amazon Smart Plug works seamlessly with other Alexa-compatible devices and can be integrated into larger smart home setups. You can create routines or control multiple devices simultaneously, enhancing the overall convenience and functionality of your smart home. Overall, the Amazon Smart Plug is a reliable and user-friendly device that offers basic smart home functionality. Its an excellent choice if youre looking for a simple way to automate your devices and control them with voice commands. However, if youre seeking more advanced features or compatibility with other smart home ecosystems like Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit, you may need to consider alternative options.

This plug can be a pain to setup. I have purchased two of these plugs and here is my experience with each of them. First Plug This plug is used to control a lamp that has an on/off switch that semi-broke when a labrador retriever tipped the lamp over. The switch still works, but you have to turn it just right or the knob comes off completely. So we left it in the on position permanently and we used to manually plug/unplug the lamp when we needed extra light. Amazon often runs promotions for these plugs so I think we picked this up on Prime Day or Black Friday. This plug for some reason I couldnt scan the QR code and had to manually setup. Once setup, it worked fine with Alexa controlling it as a light. We renamed it to light from first light so we could just say Alexa, turn on the light or Alexa, turn off the light. It was setup so long ago I have no idea how it got grouped into lights. Our lamp doesnt have a smart bulb. Second Plug This plug is also used to control an on/off switch. This plug was a major pain to setup. I tried both the QR code and manual setup. Sometimes it would connect to my wifi and sometimes it would not. If it setup, I couldnt turn it off or on using Alexa app for android for a quick test (my Alexa speaker isnt nearby). If the setup timed out, I would get various errors on not being able to see the plug or not being able to connect to wifi. Finally, I figured out the plug was flaky because of the distance from my wifi router. I happened to have a Netgear EX2700 (2.4Ghz only) laying around because my wife used to need it for an old Lenovo Yoga when she was in college. I setup the wifi extender again (after a factory reset as it was setup for an old password) about half way between my router and the Amazon plug. This time the QR code scanning worked. I used the same password for my network name plus _EXT on the end. I think the Amazon smart plug must have tried this network with the strongest signal and the saved password because I didnt have to pick the network and retype my password after I previously chose to save it. Finally, I could control the lamp from my phone which this time was grouped among my smart plugs. I renamed Second Plug to Piano Light and it was good to go. One thing the Alexa app cant tell you is the signal strength and reliability of your WiFi network. It might show it briefly when choosing the network (signal strength), but it would be nice to see it constantly displayed within the app when showing the network your plug is on. This way if youre going into your device list settings to see whats wrong with the device it might show a flaky signal which would explain why you cant control the plug with your voice or the Alexa app. It doesnt have to constantly show this signal, only when you open device settings. I can understand the limitation of the wifi radio they can put into these plugs and thus the need for extenders if you get far enough from your router. I am using a NETGEAR R6700 Nighthawk AC1750 Dual Band Smart WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet (R6700) also bought from Amazon.

Great choice especially when my lamp had a difficult-to-twist switch. I leave it in the ON position and just tell Alexa to Turn On the light and voila! Good power button also at the plug itself!

I have 4 of these plugs and so far they have worked extremely well. Biggest problem is coordinating the connection to Alexa but it is a learning process I have with electronics.

Works well, was easy to set up with my Alexa too. Had it for a few months and no complaints!

I love it. I use it to control my fan so I don’t have to get up to turn it on when it gets to hot.

Basically it works like a dream. Its easy to use. The only thing that youre not going to get with this particular product is being able to use it with Google. If you want to use anything with Google you want to get get something that uses Google or can be synced with Google because you can sync Google with Alexa. Just not Alexa with Google so its a one-way street with that. Otherwise its great. Really good product. I use it and if you have any issues where its not really connecting or its not responding sometimes reassuring a voice command can be good to do. You need to also double check your Wi-Fi signal strength. A little bit of issue with that myself fixed it and it works real well.

Title says it all. Didnt even have to run any setup, it literally autoconnected to alexa as soon as I opened the app. Easiest smart device Ive ever set up and pretty much my whole home is a smart home. It works perfectly. Look no further for your smart plug.

Efficient and effective!

I have Amazons Flex and like it very much. I decided to add a couple of smart plugs because I am disabled and sometimes getting up to turn lights on or off can be difficult. The first plug I got I used for the lights by my bed. Sometimes when Im tired and ready to sleep the activity involved in getting up to turn off a light wakes me up enough I *cant* sleep, which is really annoying. This has solved that problem. I just tell Alexa, Lights off, and theyre off. I love it. But. Setup was not intuitive at all. It took me about a half hour to wade thru the hassle of persuading Alexa that there actually was such a plug and getting her to name it. Part of the problem was that Alexa doesnt recognize the term Smart Plug, which is what I was ignorantly calling the smart plug. I finally figured out that I should be calling it Plug 1. Once that was going, I thought I would add an extra plug for a lamp I sometimes use. Plugging it in and turning it on wasnt sufficient for Alexa to find it, even tho I remembered to call it Plug 2. After searching thru the Alexa app on my Fire tablet I finally found a way to get Bluetooth to add it. Then Alexa was willing to rename it for me and it now works. All this took me over a half hour, but Im almost happy with it. Almost happy? Its theoretically possible to pair the two up so I can turn both on or off at once, but Bluetooth doesnt seem to know what the devices are so Alexa doesnt know, so its going to take another half hour, or more, to get that feature turned on. I recently read an article by a smart-home tech expert who says hes going with another brand (Google?) because Alexa can be too finicky. I dont want the stuff he was having problems with, like a curtain opener, but the hassle with setting up these two plugs makes me feel hes got a point. Still, things are easier for me than they were and I AM largely pleased with the results. It just seems like it should be simpler to get it going. If their e-readers and Fire tablets were this hard to setup, no one would buy them.