Plus Plug UK - Smart Wi-Fi Outlet with Power Metering, 13А, Max 3000W, Socket Remote Control, Electricity Usage, Custom Schedules & Timer, LED Indicator, Alexa, Google Home

This plug is brilliant if you're into advanced home automation! My objective: using a physical switch, control a firewall rule on my router that blocks or allows my internal surveillance cameras to communicate with the outside world. Context: whilst my Reolink cameras feature secure passwords, I still run a firewall on my GL.iNet Flint 2 router to block them completely from the outside world. This is great when at home, but if I'm on holiday or out of the house and need to check into my home, I simply can't. I could of course allow access to my router externally, either directly or via VPN, but for security reasons I don't. So it's impossible for me to toggle the firewall rule on or off from outside the home. And if in my home, whilst the process is simple, it requires logging into the router's config, clicking a few buttons, it's not a quick solution. This is where the Shelly Plus Plug comes in: the beauty of this plug is that you can connect to it via http and it will provide the status of the plug (whether it's on or off). With this feature in mind, I created a simple executable Unix shell script on my GL.iNet Flint 2 router to poll the plug every 10 seconds and check whether it is ON or OFF. If it detects a change vs. the previous poll, it flicks the router's firewall rule. I.e., if the plug is now ON, the script disables the firewall allowing my cameras to talk to the outside world, and if the plug is now OFF, then it enables the firewall, blocking my cameras from the outside world. I could have stopped there and used the plug's own ring LED lights to provide the visual indicator for the status of my firewall rule, but that would require placing the plug in plain sight. Instead, I went and bought a red 230V pilot light from RS Components, hooked it up to a lead with a plug, and plugged it into the Shelly. Now, when the plug is ON, the pilot light is ON, the firewall is OFF, which means the cameras are potentially 'On Air' (i.e. I can access them remotely, and so could, theoretically, a very good hacker). And when the light is off, I'm comfortable my home security is locked down. To add to this, Shelly integrates perfectly with Google Home. So after setting up a Shelly account, and connecting the plug to my IOT wireless network (where devices cannot talk to each other), I connected Google Home with Shelly and the plug is now part of my Google Home dashboard. This means: if the firewall is up and running, and I'm outside of the home and need to connect to the cameras, I can simply flick the switch on Google home to toggle my firewall rule. I also discovered that It's a mini server which can run its own scripts - I have not explored half the possibilities I can achieve with this plug, but it's absolutely amazing. Honestly, this is the best smart plug inside my home. In summary, excellent value for money, and highly recommend it to advanced automation geeks like me :)

I actually bought this smart plug mainly because of the scripting functionality, and it was definitely the right choice. The power metering is accurate, the app is easy to use, and remote control and schedules work exactly as expected. The best part for me is that you can create custom scripts. With the help of AI, I created a script that automatically cuts the power when my charging power drops below a value I set for a certain number of seconds. This is exactly the kind of automation I was looking for and is something many basic smart plugs simply cannot do. The Shelly Plus Plug UK gives you much more control than a standard smart plug. If you like automation and want to create your own rules rather than being limited to predefined functions, this is an excellent choice. Highly recommended — especially if you want the scripting capability!

Set schedules, see how much energy is being used, good app to control the plug, everything u could want from a smart plug , at an ok price

I've just ordered my 3rd Shelly Plus Plug UK (Gen2) and I’m really pleased with them. Although they don't support Zigbee, they are Wifi based, they worked really well with Home Assistant and also as a Bluetooth Proxy for presence sensing. I was using a Frient Mini power plug with my washing machine, so Home Assistant could detect when it starts and stops a washing cycle, but AI recommended I replace it with the Shelly. I'm now replacing another Frient Mini plug with a Shelly bc the Frient randomly switches from reporting in Watts to kW (which breaks my automations). Also, if you don't use Home Assistant, Shelly has a really good app for configuring and controlling it such as defaulting it's power on state, limiting it's power output, turning the LED ring light on or off, and changing it's colour or brightness among other options.

Hands down this is the best energy monitoring smart socket I’ve owned. Works flawlessly every time, you can program it to turn itself back on if it’s been switched off accidentally (like with a fridge). Change the colours of the switch when on/off or disable the colours altogether. It works either using its own app, with Alexa or Home Assistant. I bought 2 and am now waiting for Black Friday to get a load more.

This is more than a home automation socket. This socket is capable of monitoring the consumption of electricity along with macros. It is quite straightforward to install and use. I purchased this in advance of a solar panel installation to help me calculate my actual power consumption. The Shelly system has many other interesting products which I am sure I will explore soon.

Now my go to WiFi mains adapters for switching heaters and dehumidifiers etc on or off on my boat remotely. Never failed once in several months so great start. Also a great app which requires a bit of input from the user end but no bother if you are confident with retail tech and apps.

I find the range and quality of Shelly products just superb and I have quite a collection now around the house. The Plus Plug is great, seems super reliable (I have had them on high-current items such as the tumble dryer and washing machine for almost 2 years now) and they have some neat functionality that other smart plugs don't have, such as being able to set the power-on status (i.e. what happens after a power cut), setting the colour of the status ring depending on what it's doing (including being able to turn it off completely) and so on. The Shelly range - including the Smart Plus - also integrates beautifully with Home Assistant. A tad more expensive than others perhaps, but It Just Works!