Ridiculously stupid question about smart plug

[Raeven (Raeven Phillips)]

Hello,

I have a quick question that is, I’m afraid, incredibly stupid.

I have one smart plug (the SmartThings brand) paired and added to my system. The ridiculous part is I can’t remember where it is and I also can’t seem to find it. However, it’s showing as “on” in my SmartThings app and also showing a wattage drawer of 0.1w. So my question is, would it be showing this if the smart plug was not plugged in or would it be showing that it was off or unable to be reached? It would at least let me know that I lost it plugged in somewhere! I feel like I’m going crazy as I think I’ve checked all my outlets and multiplugs and don’t see it but if I KNOW for sure that it’s definitely plugged in, that would help narrow down where it is. I just don’t want to find out after the fact that it can show this information even when it’s not plugged in.

Thanks so much for bearing with my silly question!

[JDRoberts]

Check with support to be sure, but it appears that the Z wave devices will wait for the device acknowledgment, but zigbee devices will be marked as “on” once the command is sent even if the device is no longer connected to the network.

The SmartThings plug is zigbee, so I think it might show as on in the mobile app even if it’s unplugged.

Check the IDE and see what it says about the device. If it shows it as inactive for more than a day, it’s likely unplugged.

[whoismoses (Eric)]

The device does make a slight click when turned on and off. You might be able to find it based on the sound.

[desertblade (Ben W)]

It is possible it is unplugged. It will report the last known state.

Easy test is to turn it off then back on (via smartthings) and see if it updates. You can also check the history and see the last time it reported in.

[Raeven (Raeven Phillips)]

I went into the web interface and it is showing as active. I looking at the list of events and there were events as recent as just a few minutes previously. Again, in more sir if the plug easier for a response or if the signal is sent by ST, it simply gets logged.

I’ll try the idea tomorrow of seeing if I can turn it if and back on and also listed and see if I can hear it. Maybe I’ll find it that way.

I’m sure I say it somewhere “clever” do I would telemetry where it was! LOL. Isn’t that always the way?

By the way, just for my own curiosity, what does IDE stand for in terms of how it relates to something in the ST web based portal & device info/manager?

Thanks again, so very much!

[JDRoberts]

IDE is a computer programming acronym for Integrated Development Environment.

In this case, because you can write your own smart app code and enter it there, it counts as an IDE.

Back to the plug: if the events that you are seeing are differing reports of energy use, then it’s probably plugged in.

If the events are just commands being sent from smartapps, it might still be unplugged.

For example, I can turn a Zigbee device on and off from a smart app and it will show multiple events in the mobile app “recently” log. But it won’t show “activity” in the IDE. So you’re looking for events where it was the plug reporting to the network, not the network trying to talk to the plug.

As far as finding it by triangulation or whatever else, SmartThings just doesn’t give us the tools to do that. But it’s a plug, if you just go room to room, there are going to be a limited number of places that it can be. @whoismoses 'suggestion of listening for the relay click is a good one.

[ero4444 (Eric)]

I’ve done this too. In my ST phone-app there are a couple of found devices in the phone-app that I’m not sure what or where they are (maybe the Zwave repeater-device of a combo Zigbee+Zwave Iris plug-in ). But I blame society, not me

I “liked” the idea of cycling your lost device to detect the noise, but the ST/Centralite noise/click is very quiet. You could narrow it down by turning off circuits at the breaker panel. First if possible you want to gracefully shutdown the DVRs and drives.

If you have multiples of the same device then it may help to tag them with ID# by Sharpie pen and use the tag in ST phone-app. You may have already touched the one without realizing it.

0.1w is so tiny - even a phone charger draws more like 1w typically.

[JDRoberts]

We use tiny color dot stickers on all devices. They’re removable if you need to return or sell the device later, and we use the same color dots for one room, so if a remote wanders around we know where it belongs. If we have two of the same device in one room, we put two stickers on one of them, etc.

[Aaron (Aaron S)]

I am totally proposing a “Marco, Polo” version for the next generation outlet… battery powered for when your child or dog hides it under the couch!

Something to chew on… if you pull the outlet while it was on, the state will stay ON but after a while the status should switch to INACTIVE.

[bamarayne (Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)]

Go into each room when it’s quiet. Turn it off and on in the app and listen for the clicking sound… then check the neighbors house… and your shed.

[bobbles (Bob)]

Have you asked your family where they hid it?