Smart plugin or battery night light?

Hey! Hope everyone is staying safe!
I’m trying to (motion) automate a small night light for night-time bathroom visits with super-low brightness light. I’m placing a motion sensor under the bed, so that’s simple. I’m not able to find a Z-wave or Zigbee small light source (battery or plugin). I don’t want to use a smart plug. Any recommendations? TIA!

Homeseer makes a plugin nightlight on the US zwave frequency. It also has a motion sensor, lux sensor, and temperature sensor built in. You can automate changing the color of the nightlight to one of eight colors, including white. it’s been quite popular in the community. It’s expensive, but given the multiple sensors not outrageous. :sunglasses:

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Another plug-in option that will work for some people is the echo flex device with its plug-in nightlight attachment. Integration would be through Alexa routines.

The echo flex itself is a plug-in device with Alexa functionality so you can speak to it. It usually costs around $25. The nightlight is a $15 add-on. It has 16 colors and you can control it with an Alexa routine.

You can buy the two together in a bundle but as of today you only save two cents.

So this is less expensive than the homeseer Z wave device with more functionality in terms of echo but less functionality as far as sensors go.

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YES! That’s as close I could get to what I want. The motion sensor makes it a big device and my outlet space is at a premium in that small space.

I have a Flex device but again, need something small. Besides, a built-in motion sensor is facing the wrong way :-). A small, battery-powered smart light would be ideal.

There are very few of these because having a networked radio frequency device almost always takes much more battery power than inexpensive light devices can offer.

Instead of going for something that communicates with smartthings, another possibility might be the ring step lights. You can put them on the wall and they don’t have to be plugged in. So space may be less of an issue. If you also buy a Ring smart bridge then again you can get integration through routines.

https://shop.ring.com/products/smart-lighting-steplight

These come in black or white.

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That’s actually awesome! Thanks JD!

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I really liked the older non networked Mr. Beams lights that are the basis of these models. Ring bought the company and folded it into its then nascent lighting division. They always had excellent power management.

Now the new smart Ring models have some very nice features. I have a few of them and like them very much. :sunglasses:

I’m actually thinking about just going “dumb”. Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should :slight_smile:

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Have you thought about using a dumb nightlight plugged into a smart outlet/socket? Then you could pick whatever kind of nightlight you wanted and would still have control over when it came on.

This is what I ended up doing with the couple of nightlights I have just in case motion lighting totally fails. In the end, the amount of electricity they use was so small that it didn’t make sense to go through the hassle. I will say, I will never go back to battery powered motion night-lights. They need changing too frequently. If you do, splurge and buy GOOD batteries. Because the cheap ones just aren’t worth it.

Oh, I also forgot to mention. You could go with a Hue Candelabra bulb and one of the small, dumb, switched candelabra night-lights, like this one.

You wouldn’t be able to use the little shade on the light and you’d have to check the max wattage (the hue candelabra is 6.5 watts at full 100% white and the candelabra incandescent night lights are 7 watts) but it could work if you want a smart solution and don’t mind the bare bulb.

Yea, as I mentioned in my original question, " I don’t want to use a smart plug". This is a very small bathroom, a power outlet, even if I wanted to use it, is facing the wrong way, so I would need a dongle… it’s just not worth it. Will see how these nightlights work out.

Then why is your post titled Smart Plugin?

Because they were hoping for something like the homeseer plug-in multisensor, but smaller.

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That still plugs in…I’m still not seeing how an outlet wouldn’t work. I’m not saying a pocket socket…I’m saying a built-in outlet or smart receptacle.

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I wasn’t thinking in terms of an inwall smart outlet because in the US now most building codes require that outlets in the bathroom be GFI and there are no GFI zwave/zigbee outlets for reasons we’ve discussed before in the forum. You can use a pocketsocket plugged into a dumb GFI outlet, but of course the first post in this thread says the OP didn’t want that.

So I think the fact that it’s in a bathroom limits the number of possible device choices even further.

Thank you both for great ideas and advice. You are a credit to this community and a valued resource of a wealth of information and experience.

So, for now, I will go with a dumb light/motion-detecting stick-on little light that has 2 brightness settings. One will go under the bed, the other will go in the bathroom, facing the entrance. This should provide functionality without over-engineering it. I ended up getting this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PB9Z1ZZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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