Smart Plug, TECKIN 13A Mini WiFi Socket Works with Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, Timer and Schedule, Wireless Remote Control, No Hub Required, Only Support 2.4GHz, 3 Pack

Brilliant plugs that work instantly & easily. The only slightly less than brilliant thing is the instructions, so I’ll summarise here:1. If your router is dual band, then google how to turn off the 5ghz channel on your router whilst you set the plugs up. You can turn it back on afterwards. It took 20 seconds for me to do it on my Sky router. It’s easy.2. Download SmartLife app and set up an account.3. Enable the SmartLife Skill on your Amazon Alexa app.4. Pop a plug in to a socket nearby (doesn’t need to be the final socket it’ll sit in but just one close by for convenience).5. Click to add an ‘Electrician, Socket (Wi-Fi)’.6. It will search for it, find it and then give it a name. You can change this name if you wish but for the Smart Life app, I just kept them named 1 to 3.7. Complete this process for all the plugs and then head on over to your Amazon Alexa App.8. If Alexa hasn’t already detected the new plugs, go to “Devices” and then add a plug device. Here, you can give the plug a name that makes sense to you eg. Heater.9. Once you’ve done all that, return to your router settings and enable 5ghz again.10. Enjoy asking Alexa to turn on and off your devices, which happens at lightning speed.I purchased 6 sockets in the end and I’d say it took a total time of about 20-30 mins to get everything set up including placing them around the house and getting Alexa to recognise them as I’d like. They really are fantastic and I’ve used them for a multitude of appliances.In terms of what you can use them for, you can use them for anything that turns on with a plug so think of them as a virtual hand turning a socket on. I’ve got them to control lights and lamps and heaters in my conservatory. I’ll also use them for turning on my Christmas Tree lights.There is no limit to the number of plugs you can use but for ease, I’d suggest making sure you add each plug to a group. For example, I’ve got a group called ‘Lounge’ and a group called ‘Christmas’. In the lounge, I’ve installed 3 plugs to control lamps and 2 plugs to control Christmas lights. When it comes to turning them on, instead of listing ‘Alexa, turn on lamp 1. Alexa, turn on lamp 2. Alexa, turn on lamp 3’; because I’ve added them to the lounge group, I can just say ‘Alexa, turn on the lounge lights’ and all 3 will come on. Similarly, I’ve got a socket called ‘Christmas Tree Lights’ and another called ‘Outdoor lights’. Both are in the ‘Christmas’ group so I can just say “Alexa, turn on the Christmas lights’ and they’ll both come on. Obviously, if I just want one of them on, I can just call out to Alexa with their individual names but to really get the best out of Alexa and these plugs, I’d recommend using the power of groups.I’ve seen many questions about timers and controlling them remotely and this is all possible through the app. Just open the Smart Life app, find your device and set up any number of schedules. You can also access them remotely with this app so you don’t even have to be at home. Don’t forget, you can also set up routines etc through the Alexa app. There really is no limit to what you can do.If you’ve found this review helpful, please click below. It’s always good to know if it’s helped or if I’ve left something out, feel free to comment.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  Exceptional on time delivery as expectedNeatly and securely boxedSet up amazingly quick and simpleUnboxed and plugged in.... Downloaded app and used the smart find feature. All three of the smart plugs found almost immediately. Set up and renamed one two three within maybe five minutes of opening the package. ExcellentRenamed and located the plugs choosing electrical installations / products around the property. All worked first time .... renamed each smart plug and working fantastically.These connected and were located automatically by Alexa with a voice acknowledgement.On m our way to a smart automated home thanks to Teckin products.Excellent and competitive price so I will be a retiring customer as you can’t go wrongGareth

UPDATE: 04/05/2020If you want to use these in any form of sequence or scene (e.g. Dusk > Turn On), be aware that Tuya (the Chinese company that actually makes them) is dropping support for "If This Then That" (IFTTT), with no alternative proposed. IFTTT is a WYSIWYG front end to allow sequences. It is very difficult to get hold of the API, mainly because of the language barrier. Although, I've read IFTTT is going because they're dropping the API. wifiplug.co.uk is a much better alternative.WiFi security needs to be reduced to configure.It took me about 3 days to get these things working, because, like most of these Chinese-made IoT devices, they don't bother with security. In this case, my WiFi doesn't broadcast the name (SSID). A simple setting that everyone should have enabled. Unfortunately, for ease, ISPs leave the name publicly visible.The device is made by a Chinese company called Tuya, and in order to control the device via an app, your data is sent to China via your Internet connection. Unfortunately, the once easy way of making these more secure has been blocked. (I believe the older square one still allows this (flashing)). It was also possible to totally bypass the Chinese connection, allowing one to control these through a RESTful API or MMQI. It is still possible, but 10 times harder amd includes requesting API keys from Tuya.If you want a fully customisable device to work with things like Azure Logic Apps, MS IoT, OpenHAB, Zapier research Zwave, Zigbee and other more proprietary systems like Samsung's SmartThings.

I already had smart plugs by TP Link (Kasa) and Amazon own brand working on my home network but the special offer on Amazon for a three pack of the Teckin smart plugs was good enough for me to try them.They come well packaged (see photo) and the plugs are of high quality and compact allowing the socket switch to be completely accessible.Installation was a real breeze and as explained in other reviews, I used the Smart Home (Tuya) app and each plug was activated in a few minutes. Already having other brand products (security cams) using the same Smart Home app, I already had the skill enabled in the Alexa app on my Android phone. Once installed on the Smart Home app, I found that Alexa had already discovered the new plugs and so I was able to set them up for Alexa voice control.As mentioned in many reviews, the plugs only use the 2.4 Mhz WiFi band and often these reviews state people switched off the 5 Mhz Wifi band (if they had one) before installation. From my experience (I have a dual band router 5/2.4 Mhz with both bands using the same SSID). I did not have to turn off the 5 Mhz signal and the plugs automatically attached to the 2.4 Mhz band and installed via the app without issue.Also note that my Android phone running the Smart Home app was actually connected to the 5 Mhz band demonstrating that the phone did not have to be attached to the same 2.4 Mhz band as the plug during installation.I can highly recommend these smart plugs.