UK smarthings plug with timer function?

[dougie175]

Can anyone suggest which is the best plugs to use for Smartthings which I can set to only be switchable at certain times of the day?

The situation is under my TV I have a display cabinet with small down lights, using my Harmony Remote I want to send a command to the smart plug to turn on when the TV is on, this is nice and simple to do a simple Smartthings plug will happily do this.

I don’t want the lights to turn on in the daytime however, I only want them to come on in the evenings, is there a way to set a time so even if the plug is told to switch on it will stay off if is not at a time it is allowed to turn on?

I would like the lights to be on at 6pm - 11pm when the TV is on, so if an ON command is sent to the plugs at say 11am the plug ignores the command and the lights stay off.

Thanks very much if anyone has a suggestion

[JDRoberts]

On the SmartThings platform, restrictions like what time of day to run are not applied to the individual device. Instead, they apply to the rule you set up, so you could have different rules run at different times of day.

One of the big advantages of the structure is that literally any plug that you buy which is compatible with SmartThings can then be put on the kind of time restrictions you describe.

You don’t have to look for a timer feature in the plug itself. It’s already built into the rules system.

For example, the following is part of the official smartlights feature and could be applied to any plug:

[dougie175]

Thanks that is really helpful, now just to find a most cost effective (cheapest) UK plug socket that I can control with the Smartthings.

[JDRoberts]

@dougie175

Thanks that is really helpful, now just to find a most cost effective (cheapest) UK plug socket that I can control with the Smartthings.

Not sure exactly which pocket socket is the cheapest right now , but there is discussion of specific brands in the following thread (this is a clickable link):

Cheap Plugs? (UK) (zigbee or EU zwave)

As of October 2016, what does the UK community suggest are the the cheapest zigbee plugs that work with the SmartThings hub? With Christmas coming up, I have a number of ‘dumb’ devices in the house that I’d like to control e.g. Christmas Tree / Outside Lights etc… so I think now would be a good time to buy a few more plugs and when Christmas is over I can just move them around the house. Ideally I don’t want to spend an awful lot of money, but at the same time I don’t want a plug that is terrible / overly bulky. So what do you guys suggest?

[Tonto (James)]

I use both the Smarthings Zigbee socket, and also the TKB Z-Wave ones:

http://www.vesternet.com/smart-home/popular-brands/tkb

Both work great, but I find the ST ones quite bulky. TKB are cheaper and I find slightly quicker.

[PailOckenden (Paul Ockenden)]

The Foxx sockets are good too. They are rebadged Aeons (they even respond with Aeon IDs). But they have better distribution (I think my local Argos stocks them), and they are usually cheaper than the Aeon badged version.

[dougie175]

Thanks very much chaps. TKB switch arrived today, works a treat, haven’t had chance to setup the times yet, but have it all linked to the Harmony.

Spent most on the night wiring up 4 swiid cord z-wave switches, all lamps in the house are not controllable by both cord switch and z-wave! Just the rest of the ceiling lights to go.