I have been a big fan of thinkeco’s modlet for a while for many reasons and suggested it long ago before smartthings was on the market - but i think the company was closed to opening API - but it could be different now, per their webpage. My reasons for liking modlet:
2 outlet controls for each plug with independent control (name one
"lamp" , the other “fan”)
measures energy usage in real time no
no electrician needed - just plug in if you want to override programming
there is a button on the unit to turn on/off ignore all other settings
zigbee
now they have a new model and its even better, see link below… includes geo location functions, “learning” - i guess device learns your habits, etc , etc — AND it also mentions api
“We do have the ability to open the API but its on a cases by case basis. If you are interested in a partnership with ThinkEco, we could have conversation about that.”
same question last year
“Thank you for your interest but MyModlet.com is proprietary software and we don’t not offer an open API.”
I’ve created a device handler that I’ve been using for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t find an API with OAuth capabilities, so it needs the username and password to mymodlet.com. It currently supports setting a cooling point and switching modes to operate the AC, but does not yet collect energy information.
for those who might need help, i installed the device handler via the api website, then created a device there. once done, i went into the smartthings app and configured the username/password and device name. it seems like i had to append “modlet” to the name of the device, but beyond that, pretty simple.
so, @Nevdull77, after getting this going, i’m pretty pleased with it. couple thoughts, if you wouldn’t mind taking a read through:
there isn’t an indication as to if the outlet is on/off, just the modlet itself, at least not that i can tell. the upper right button lets me turn the whole shebang off, which is great when away, but i’d also like to see the status of the outlet so i would know if the AC is on or off.
from a routine perspective, i have a couple of fans on outlet switches that i want to have turn on and off with the AC. i’ve built a smart lighting automation that should turn on/off the fans when the AC goes on/off, but for some reason, it’s not really registering the AC going on/off, so nothing happens.
regardless of any of this, many thanks for the work you did!
Hey @WylieGraham, I’m happy you were able to get it setup and test it out. As for your comments, I’m not entirely sure that I’m following. The top right corner indicates whether the thermostat is enabled or not. Right now, when it says “cool” the thermostat is enabled at the selected temperature, and when it says “off” the thermostat is disabled. The outlet will be controlled by the thermostat itself and turn on and off based on the temperature in the room and the temperature set on the thermostat. Looking at the UI web.mymodlet.com I am not sure whether I can tell if the outlet is on or not or in any way control that? From what I can tell, I can only see if the thermostat is enabled or not and if the temperature is above the thermostat level set I can assume it’s on. Maybe I am missing something or misunderstanding your ask?
The way I read the other question is that you are looking to trigger a routine based on when the outlet turns on and starts your AC? I’m not sure whether that’s doable as the outlet itself is turned on by the thermostat in the modlet rather than smartthings, so there’s not really an event triggered for that I think. Going back to the mymodlet.com UI I can’t tell whether the outlet is on or off in there either.
Let me know your thoughts and whether I misunderstood any of your questions.
so i think you’re reading my questions/request right, i’m probably not using super precise wording here.
for the first question, i was curious to see if there would be any way to indicate when the AC was running or off. i agree that there’s nothing obvious at the mymodlet site to indicate if the outlet/AC is on/off, it’s kind of a weird site overall.
for the second question, you’re right there too, i want to have fans turn on to assist the cooling of the AC. currently i have them on zigbee switches, which work great, but i can’t figure out how to trigger them on/off with the AC.
so it all seems to come down to mymodlet not providing info in the status of the power/outlet, which isn’t a bit surprise given their site. if you can find anything/any way to trigger the fans when the AC turns on, that would be great, but ultimately i’m plenty happy with the device handler and being able to use it with smartthings!
Thanks for the clarification. As all the interaction with the modlet is actually through their website and not direct, we’re somewhat limited to what’s being supported.
As for the outlet being on or off, I don’t see a way of checking that except some logic like;
If thermostat is set to on and cooling temperature is above or equal to current temperature then outlet is on, else outlet is off.
If power consumption is above zero then assume outlet is on. I haven’t implemented the power consumption monitoring but thought about doing it.
Neither option is great and would probably result in a delay as the information would need to be polled on an interval I think.
As for your second question, there may be a way to trigger the fans based on #1 using a different smart app or create one that supports monitoring the state of a thermostat (on or off) and the current vs. set temperature. Again, this method would result in a delay. Theres an app called Thermostat Mode Director which could possible be able to do what you are looking for here. If not let me know and I can take a look at the effort to implement something like that.
thanks for writing this… it works like a charm…
i just have the modlet and not the thermostat…i wish it would show real time power consumption…on the website it seems to be a day old