I just purchased a 'Wemo Insight' smart plug which I was going to use with my new sump pump. The idea was when the sump pump activated it would draw energy and the plug would then notify me. Sadly, I had to send the plug back as their notification system doesn't work with IOS right now (not impressed), plus I heard that in the event of a power cut their plug defaults to an 'Off' position (REALLY not impressed). Can anyone recommend a HomeKit plug which will do what I want? So far the best I've found is the Eve plug which tracks energy use (good) but won't send a notification. They seem to have good support though; they answered my questions very quickly.
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HomeKit Best Smart Plug to Tell Me when my Sump Pump Comes On?
- Thread starter Digital Jive
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I'm not sure of anything that has a notification like that.
It can be done though,
I use z-wave and a program called homeseer. Some of the z-wave outlets will report back their power usage, but you'll have to get other software/hardware involved in order to receive the z-wave signal, and act on it with sending you an alert.
if you had a system up and running, it would be fairly cheap and easy to add the outlet and notifications.
setting up a system from scratch, could be complicated, and not necessarily cheap.
I don't have any power meters, but have tested with a light meter that I do have.
The eve app will allow you to set up automations based on sensor values. It gives you many more options than the home app. You can set triggers based on values of variable sensors, as opposed to home which only triggers with on/off sensor. It still can't notify you though.
I believe these "complicated" automations will still work from a home hub if you're not home.
There are homekit water sensors, you could add one of those in your sump, and it will alert you if the water gets too high.
Here are 2 options, there might be others
--fibero makes one that has sensing feet, it has to be sitting on flat ground, and will tell you if it gets wet
--eve makes one that has a "sensing cable" that will alert if any part of the cable gets wet, comes with 6.5 ft / 2 m, you can buy extensions, and make it up to 490ft / 150m
It can be done though,
I use z-wave and a program called homeseer. Some of the z-wave outlets will report back their power usage, but you'll have to get other software/hardware involved in order to receive the z-wave signal, and act on it with sending you an alert.
if you had a system up and running, it would be fairly cheap and easy to add the outlet and notifications.
setting up a system from scratch, could be complicated, and not necessarily cheap.
I don't have any power meters, but have tested with a light meter that I do have.
The eve app will allow you to set up automations based on sensor values. It gives you many more options than the home app. You can set triggers based on values of variable sensors, as opposed to home which only triggers with on/off sensor. It still can't notify you though.
I believe these "complicated" automations will still work from a home hub if you're not home.
There are homekit water sensors, you could add one of those in your sump, and it will alert you if the water gets too high.
Here are 2 options, there might be others
--fibero makes one that has sensing feet, it has to be sitting on flat ground, and will tell you if it gets wet
--eve makes one that has a "sensing cable" that will alert if any part of the cable gets wet, comes with 6.5 ft / 2 m, you can buy extensions, and make it up to 490ft / 150m
Thanks both! I actually purchased both the 'Wemo Mini Smart Plug' and the 'Insight Plug'. I had no issues at all with the Mini Plug but the Insight was a hassle to set up; I had to login to its wifi network and it required several firmware updates. After each update though it didn't restart itself and didn't tell me what to do... I had to touch the button to activate it. Also when unplugging and replugging it, it was very slow to reconnect to the network... it would take 4-5 minutes which seems unreasonable for a plug. Plus I would need to manually switch it on each time. Their tech support seemed overwhelmed... I waited 20 minutes to web chat to someone only to be told to call another number that took another 30 minutes. The person I spoke to was very pleasant but could only acknowledge there was a problem without providing an ETA on a fix, or even confirm one was coming. So I felt I didn't have much choice but to return it.
I saw the Eve water detector and might go that route: I could dip an end of the cable into the Sump Basin and know when the water hits a certain level.
Thanks again - cheers!
I saw the Eve water detector and might go that route: I could dip an end of the cable into the Sump Basin and know when the water hits a certain level.
Thanks again - cheers!
I’m curious what your experience with Wemo is. I have several of the Mini smart plugs I’ve been using for the past couple years and they’ve probably been my most reliable HomeKit devices. Never had one drop off WiFi or show “No Response” in the home app. I’m very confident adding them to scenes and automations.