IFTTT - Van Heater - Smart Plug

[RAW]

Thought you might like to know that after some faffing and opening a Support Request with TP Link I have now created a small routine to Turn on a Van heater at A specific Temperature range and turn it off at another temperature range.

The device I used was a TP Link HS100 - It is a pretty neat Smart Plug albeit a little on the large side, link here
I tried a Teckin Smart Plug as well but that was awful to set up so I sent it back

The routine is fairly simple. First off head over to IFTTT and sign up, if you don't already have an account, here

When you have your SmartPlug registered on Kasa Cloud from TP Link you can use IFTTT to create a routine where a query is sent to Weather Underground for Temperature in a location (where your Van is parked) and if the temperature drops below say 3 deg Centigrade then the Smart Plug is switched on, that is connected to your electrical heater over EHU. Pretty neat I think. Then simply do another routine to turn off the Smart Plug.

If you have your own Weather Station integrated into Weather Underground then that is a better solution, sadly my old Maplin Weather Station went Bang a few years ago and never got another one to replace it with.

 

[Pugwash69]

I'm surprised you didn't get the teckin plugs working. I've got a couple of versions at home running on schedules (Smart Life app) and connected to google home for voice control. The round ones are especially nice as they don't cover the on/off switch of the wall socket, but they lack the energy use functions of the square ones I have. Can't say I've tried setting any IFTTT automations though.

 

[RAW]

I'm surprised you didn't get the teckin plugs working

They say they work on 2GHZ and not 5GHZ, I changed my router to 2GHZ only and they still did not link up. The TP-Link Smart Plug, on the other hand, worked first time. Teckin ones are going back post haste.

 

[Pugwash69]

That's weird, as my network is 2Ghz and 5Ghz, so not sure which one they're connected on. I just ran Fing on my phone and they all appear. The mac vendor is saying "Espressif" for all of them.

 

[RAW]

Is it a BT Router ? I have latest BT Home Router Model 3 coupled with a BT Disc for network coverage in the Building on the wireless band(s). The Teckin app SmartLife was shockingly sh1t IMO - whereas TP Link Kasa app is pretty good and links up straight and easy with Amazon's Alexa and Google Home. Notably though when I last looked Amazon had sold out of the TP-Link HS100

 

[Pugwash69]

It's a BT router but I disabled the unreliable WiFi and have tp-link access points.