Looking into getting a few plug in light switches for the various lamps we have. The first floor of the home is mostly an open floor plan with some walls that define a hallway, the front of the house, the kitch and the family room but for the most part you can stand in the back of the house and see the front pretty well. That being said I want to get switches that have the best range just in case walls reduce signal, which I suspect they will.
Looking for recommendations on the various plug in switches that are available. I know answers are subjective but I’d like to hear what I can.
I feel the best value is/was Aeon Labs DSC06106-ZWUS - Z-Wave Smart Energy Switch , which handles about 1450watts and 14+amps, unlike a lot of smaller plug-in modules. This is pretty big and the light is somewhat obnoxious. But holy cow, Amazon is presently showing $57 each and limited availability… so
I prefer plug-in modules to be less than $30. Pretty much anything will work. The one exception I know of, is Schlage RP200 Dimming Plug - I forget the exact behaviour now but it was persistently unreliable - it might have just been a single lemon.
I find the Zwave plug-in’s to be less annoying that the Zigbee plug-in’s.
All the plug-in’s will repeat so signal strength should improve as you add more.
The most convenient plug-in I have, is Remotec ZDS-110us, which can be manually switched between dimming and on/off-only. Plug spacing is not terrible (like some that block the lower plug on the wall receptacle). And provides an unswitched plug on the module. But the power rating is not great, something like 4-500 watts. I wonder if it’s rated higher for on/off-only - strange I don’t see them on the market now.
The GE/Jasco plug-in’s have been pretty reliable, now that I think about it, they also have an unswitched plug that is convenient.
The following thread has a lot of details. (BTW, on this forum we often call the plug in switches “pocket sockets” just because then it makes it really clear that we’re talking about the plug-ins and not an in wall receptacle.)
Iris Smart Plugs work fine for me, although I have been unable (despite trying everything) to get the Z-wave repeater function to work. They are not dimmers so if you want that functionality you can either get a dimmer switch or simply use a smart bulb. I use 2 Osram dimming bulbs in a multi-socket lamp (without a smart outlet) so I can control them independently. I can change the bulb “temperature” on one which is great for reading.
I had a Schalge branded Z-wave dimmer module several years ago which connected to my Piper but it failed after 9 months.
(BTW, on this forum we often call the plug in switches “pocket sockets” just because then it makes it really clear that we’re talking about the plug-ins and not an in wall receptacle.)