Maximum power for the power outlet

General Discussion
1

Hello there,

I had a electric heater connected for a few weeks to one of the power outlets (2kW). after a while I noticed the plug from the heater that started to deform. To my surprise this is what I found when I unplugged it:

plug.jpg768×768 28.8 KB

After finding this, I measured the power of the heater with another outlet and it is giving me 2.4kW. Is this too much for the outlet?

What would be the maximum safe to use it with?
It was quite nice to use room temperature to switch on and off the heater so I would like to still have a similar solution. Any ideas?

2

Do you have any pictures of the inside of the plug on the heater cable?

3

Due to the way these are designed, I wouldn’t put more than a couple of hundred watts through. Get hold of customer support, see what they say, but there seems to be a feeling these outlets are not well designed.

4

The live pin on your heater plug was getting hot, the smartthings device may not be the source of that heat. It is quite possible that the plug live connection is not good - possibly the fuse or the terminal screw is loose.

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5

Hi,

Thanks! you men open the ST socket?

I doubt it was the plug from the heater as I have been using it for a while straight from the wall without any signs of overheating for months.

I was just wondering what was the usual power others use it with, or better the maximum power they have used it successfully. Reading the specs more in detail it seems confusing that it uses a 13A fuse but the specs say it is 10A. The heater at full power would be about that… 10A so I guess I was pushing the limits? But shouldn’t it have tripped?

6

There’s also a known issue with these smartthings outlets. The contact inside is way too shallow to cater for the UK standard sheathed live and neutral pins. This means that there is very little contact when the plug is fully pushed in.

You should definitely contact support for a replacement.

7

Thanks a lot for that! It looks a lot like the problem I had

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8

Oh dear have smartthings people not made any comment about this?

9

I’m sure they think that if they ignore it the problem will go away !

10

I found with my SmartThings Outlets that they would keep clicking on and off (almost like an overload protection) when I had my 3kW heater connected - I swapped them out for these (which are rated at 13amps - the SmartThings Outlets I believe are either 10 or 12amp) https://www.amazon.co.uk/FOXX-Project-Z-Wave-Smart-Switch/dp/B014JS57XI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1498638114&sr=8-2&keywords=foxx+project

11

Thanks for the tip. Will give it a try, although I think that one is Z-wave right.

12

Yes that’s right - i’ve decided after a year or so to go down the Zwave route as I found zigbee too flakey (mesh kept falling apart and no option to rebuild like the zwave protocol)

13

I can’t believe there still hasn’t been a product safety recall on these. Is it going to take someone’s house burning down before Samsung acknowledges the design fault?

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14

The maximum current rating for the Smartthings Outlet is 12A @ 220V. To find out what that is in Watts we need to do the following math;

Amps = Watts/Volts

Therefore your heater at 2000W / 220V = ~9A

This means that your heater, if drawing 2000W power at 220V, was not over the rating of the plug.

The maximum power rating of the plug can be determined by completing the formula;

Watts = Amps x Volts

12 x 220 = 2640 Watts (2.64kW)

Hope this helps somebody.

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