SmartPower Outlet v1 Problems

I have been using 3 SmartPower Outlet v1 devices for some time now and they’ve been mostly reliable (as reliable as ST can be). All of a sudden, about 3 days ago on Feb 29 they stopped working. That is they don’t respond to any commands.

These Outlets are plugged into different circuits and have different types of loads connected to them. I contacted SmartThings support and they say that everything looks fine on the back end. They had me run a Zigbee Repair a couple times but that did not help. They said I could try to remove them and then pair them again which was also unsuccessful.

They then told me that these devices are known to have problems and since they are out of warranty they would offer me a discount towards replacing them with the newer SmartPower outlets. Other than that support really has no other advice for helping me with these devices. While the offer of a discount is certainly appreciated, I’m hesitant to continue to invest in SmartThings branded devices for fear that they’ll be abandoned in the near future just like the SmartPower Outlet v1 was.

So has anyone had a similar issue with these devices recently and if so were you somehow able to get them to function again?

I have 3 of these as well and for the most part, they have been working but they tend to drop off the network very easily. Most of the time, I just unplug and then plug them back again and that seems to get them to work again. One of them dropped off the network on Feb 29 as well and it somehow added itself as a new thing which worked. The original Thing was still there but didn’t work. I had to switch over all its associated smartapps…what a pain) to my new Thing. The crazy thing was that when I wasn’t able to remove one smartapp, I left it. I went to work and later when I was home I discovered that my original Thing was working again and the new one didn’t work. I had to switch all my smartapps again!

I know it’s little consolation that your devices still don’t work even after resetting them. Have you tried moving them closer to your hub when adding them? Sometimes rebooting the hub may also get them back online again. If rebooting doesn’t work, then do a complete shut down, remove the batteries for about 15 minutes and then try adding them again.

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I probably have the same outlet you are referring to… OEM branded as “SmartenIt”?
I have occasional problems too, but nothing too serious. It supposedly has power usage monitoring (Watts) like the newer ones, but nobody’s attempted to update the Device Type Handler

It is hard to expect devices to live very, very long past their warranty dates … I don’t know what factor is appropriate for a ~$50 outlet (yah… that’s not pennies…); perhaps 2 or 3 years?

I know Z-Wave has had a major revision recently and that newer devices have more robust communication and it’s not just a firmware option.

So, particularly if this is a case of ZigBee having improved, but in any case, then expecting a piece of hardware to function optimally indefinitely is not realistic. A 3 year old laptop is not comparable to a brand new one, right?

What’s the upgrade discount? I only have one, but … I’m tempted.

The new manufacturer is entirely different (Centralite). In the long term (2 or 3 years) … we’ll know if they are better or worse overall quality.

First of all thanks for the quick responses! Whenever I get frustrated with ST and swear I’m going to start looking at alternatives in earnest, it’s this great community that keeps me from straying too far.

@Jimxenus Thank you - I feel pretty dumb right now :slightly_smiling:. In all my troubleshooting I failed to do the most basic thing - reboot the hub! I had reset it from the IDE but hadn’t actually pulled the power from it. That did the trick!

@tgauchat I agree that given the rapid pace of innovation and the constant struggle to control costs it’s hard to fault a company for sunsetting support after a reasonable period of time. However, I purchased these outlets in May 2014 so I’ve had them for a little less than 2 years. So did I get my $150 worth? Maybe. But I also know they continued to be sold for some time after that date and they only have a 1 year warranty. Perhaps they could have offered some kind of trade-in when the new ones were launched to replace what they’ve obviously deemed a faulty older version. But all of that is neither here nor there. My outlets are working and I’m happy now :smiley: For your reference, they offered what amounted to about a 30% discount.

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