Smart Sockets from British General at Screwfix

T

Tetrarch

Joined
11 Dec 2019
Messages
163
Reaction score
28
Country
United Kingdom
Hi All,

I have recently swapped out a number of old sockets with these from British General at Screwfix:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-...a-2-gang-sp-switched-smart-socket-white/306hv

I am seriously impressed - they are attractive to look at, the functionality is excellent and you can even select the brightness of the indicator lights. Also the back boxes are not too deep. British supplier as well. If I am really trying to find any fault it is that there is a slightm click when they turn off and on - honestly - that's it

From a pricing point of view they knock extortionate Hive plugs into a cocked hat.

Regards

Tet
 
Now they do look like an attractive thing to me.

Do come back and let us know how well they are working (or not) as time goes on.

By the way, can you control these from outside the house?
Normally I cannot get past the router to turn on my PC, so does this have that ability?

Also, how does this affect ring final testing ?? (that's for the sparkies to answer)
 
Last edited:
I still use some Energenie, would not recommend, in the main mover to plug in units, I bought them while looking after my late mother, I had a problem that the extruder alarm was installed upstairs to alert us if mother went on walk about without us knowing, but during the day before opening door I had to run upstairs as disable alarm, I tried timer for when carers due, problems if any visitors out of this time, and tried remote control but it did not tell you if you had forgot to turn on again, and the smart socket had both time and remote so worked well.

The Energenie needed a hub to set timers, and only had three, but not for the remote control. Worked OK for around 3 years, but when we expanded we started to get problems where they seemed to transform themselves into flasher units. The problem was when it did go wrong, needed to turn off power to remove, with plug in devices easy to remove if they go wrong.

I have some units which need a zigbee hub, and some need no hub, and both use same app called "Smartlife" not had them long, they work well, but the app is slow to boot up.

I have looked with interest at these sockets, but it says
LUCECO said:
The inductive switching capacity of each socket is only 800W, although the resistive is 3120W, but most electric heaters are at least partially inductive so we cannot be 100% certain whether your particular unit would be ab acceptable load or a significant overload and therefore we would have to recommend that you do not use the socket to control that heater.
Click to expand...

The BG 900 Series seems to also be limited to 800 watt inductive load.
 
Old hat now hence the price drop. We Were using these back in 2006. The smart money is now is controlling and individual devices on the circuit. These are popular with a large user base https://shellystore.co.uk/
There is also a Bulgarian company who are doing some great stuff at low cost. Lots of them about now.
 
old duffer said:
Old hat now hence the price drop. We Were using these back in 2006. The smart money is now is controlling and individual devices on the circuit. These are popular with a large user base https://shellystore.co.uk/
There is also a Bulgarian company who are doing some great stuff at low cost. Lots of them about now.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at Shelly for zone dimming when the house is required. I think that these are a compromise between the two significant women in my smart life journey - Mrs Tet and Alexa

IMO this product looks normal and works normally but has a smart capability thus satisfying the technophile and the luddite simultaneously.

I also think that smart lighting requires a higher degree of control and sophistication that power sockets probably don't in normal use

Regards

Tet
 
The shelly dimmers do work well with the added bonus of working with a switch. You will need a retractive one.

Tetrarch said:
I'm looking at Shelly for zone dimming when the house is required. I think that these are a compromise between the two significant women in my smart life journey - Mrs Tet and Alexa

IMO this product looks normal and works normally but has a smart capability thus satisfying the technophile and the luddite simultaneously.

I also think that smart lighting requires a higher degree of control and sophistication that power sockets probably don't in normal use

Regards

Tet
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top