Sonoff S31 or other eWeLink WiFi SmartPlug with ST?

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
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As noted in the following thread, I am looking for a Wi-Fi plug that offers energy reporting that you can use as a trigger in a smartthings routine but that does not require a SmartThings/Aeotec hub to do so. So nothing that requires an edge driver. (Please don’t suggest just buying a SmartThings Station, I’m looking for something that does not require that. Also, at the time of This writing any matter device requires a smartthings/aeotec hub, so again, that doesn’t help for this specific use case.)

Actionable Energy Reporting w/o ST hub? (US WiFi smart plug)

Right now I’m looking for something in North America, but bonus points if you know of one for the UK.

Right now the most promising candidate is the S31 from Sonoff. Looks like I could get what I’m looking for by paying the $10 a year subscription for the eWeLink Advanced plan and then using Ifttt for the integration. But I’m curious if I can skip the Ifttt step.

So if you are using the Sonoff S31 wi-Fi smart plug or any other WiFi no-hub-required smart plug with actionable Energy reporting in a smartthings routine, please let us know the details.

Or if you are using the sonoff S 31 and know for sure that it can’t be used in that way through the native integration, please let me know that as well, because right now that model is my top candidate. :thinking:

A few notes:

  1. for this use case, I don’t want any solution that requires a SmartThings/aeotec hub. as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I did purchase a station two months ago, then returned it, because the SmartThings app just isn’t usable with voice navigation at the time of this writing, and it’s too expensive for me to have someone else do everything. (I am quadriparetic.) in this specific case, I am looking for a solution someone with similar physicality but no tech skills. So no edge driver solutions, thanks.

  2. WiFi is the strongly preferred protocol, but we might consider something proprietary if it’s super easy to use and not too expensive.

  3. we aren’t looking for energy reporting in the device’s own app. We want to be able to use a change in energy level as a trigger in a SmartThings routine created in the SmartThings app. Please don’t suggest any other type of solutions: that just isn’t what we’re looking for. And it’s not enough for the energy used to appear on the “smartthings energy“ service: we need to be able to use it as the if in a ST routine.

(Again, this specific use case is for a friend who has a similar physicality to mine, but no tech skills. I need to keep the solution simple and voice-navigation friendly. I think she would be willing to spend up to $40 total for the hardware, So if there are two devices required, they would need to fit that budget As a combined total. )

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My friend just told me she went ahead and ordered the Sonoff S31 from Amazon even though I had told her I was still researching, so I guess we will find out soon. I will report back after we try it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GKGS197/

Interestingly, she got a two pack for about $20, so I may set it up with one being used to monitor the energy draw, and the other just used as an on/off proxy for the high energy level in the first one, in which case we might be able to skip the Ifttt step. Again, I will report back once we’ve tried it. :thinking:

Her use case is to know when a dumb television is on based on the energy draw, so pretty straightforward, we just have to get the information into SmartThings in an actionable way. :tv::zap:

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The Sonoff S31 can be flashed with ESPHome, so that could be another method to connect it to ST. Not sure if ESP needs the hub or not…

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The only integration I’ve seen for ESPhome is by edge driver, so that would require a hub. (And that project has just started, it’s not available yet.)

I think the same thing is true if you flash it with Tasmota. (That edge driver has been out for a while, but again, all edge drivers will require a hub, so don’t fit this particular use case.)

But if I’m wrong on that, hopefully someone will post. :thinking:

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OK, out of the box, the sonoff 31 does not have actionable real time energy reporting, either through the official SmartThings integration, or through Ifttt. :disappointed_relieved:

There are people who report having successfully flashed it with Tasmota, and then brought in the energy usage level to home assistant, but that’s way more than my friend would want to do.

So back to the search.

update: @mlchelp was able to develop verify that the Shelly plug plus does have actionable energy reporting in Smartthings through the official cloud to cloud integration. This is a Wi-Fi plug available in multiple regions that does not require an edge driver because it does not require a smartthings/Aeotec hub. So that’s what we’ll be using for this specific use case.

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