They also promise energy and money savings.
But will they save enough money to pay for themselves?
Just plug it into an electrical outlet and then plug something into it.
You now have a smart outlet—use an app for the rest.
No need to get out any tools, or play with electrical wiring.
You might think that smart plugs would be a great way to save energy too.
But it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Second, smart plugs draw power to work.
), and it needs to listen for signals.
Those might be timed signals from a schedule or one you send through an app or a voice assistant.
Thankfully smart plugs don’t consume much energy.
Left plugged in long enough, eventually, we’d measure something but the use is pretty low.
So if you hope to prevent the vampire energy costs with a smart gear, you should hold off.
The low cost of vampire energy and the cost to run smart plugs will cancel each other out.
Related:Tested: Should You Unplug Chargers When You’re Not Using Them?
Josh Hendrickson / How-To Geek
Even Powerful Electronics are Energy Efficient
Vampire energy isn’t the whole story, though.
Do you tend to forget to turn things off?
Smart plugs can help here.
you’ve got the option to set a schedule to turn those devices off every morning and night.
But it still won’t necessarily save you money or even pay for the smart plug itself.
It’s unlikely to leave all those devices on 24 a day, every day.
Josh Hendrickson / How-To Geek
In that scenario, it would take 71 days for theEufy smart plugto pay for itself.
The time adds up when you stop being generous about how often you leave absolutely everything plugged in.
Instead, aim for something that sees heavy use and is likely to require more energy.
Then double check that you don’t already have a built-in option.
In our case, a large dehumidifier in the basement seemed like a prime candidate for money savings.
Wait either a half hour or an hour then press the kWh button.
The Kill A Watt monitor’s display will show you the amount of electricity used in kilowatt-hours.
Your next step is to do the math.
you’re gonna wanna determine how many kilowatts a rig uses in an hour.
Multiply that by the number of hours used each day.
Then multiply that by the cost ofkilowatt-hours in your area.
That’s how much the machine cost you to run each day.
Next, decide how many hours you’ve got the option to cut back with a smart plug.
That’s how much you could save under ideal circumstances.
Related:What Is a Smart Plug?
To make the math simple, we’ll double that to 0.6kWh in an hour.
That means in a day; the humidifier uses 14.4 kilowatt-hours.
(24 hours multiplied by .6 kWh).
With a smart plug, we can cut the time the humidifier runs back to six hours.
That reduces the electricity spent each day to 47 cents a day.
(Multiply .6 kWh by 6 hours, then multiply that result by .13 cents).
And in the first month, it will save $18.20.
Automation Is Still the Best Feature
It’s possible that smart plugs may save you money.
But for every place that math works out, there are probably two or three places it won’t.
But you’ll still gain automation.
Just because it doesn’t save money doesn’t mean scheduled outlets aren’t convenient.
You could use timers and schedules to give the appearance of being home when you aren’t.
Nice if it’s there, acceptable if it’s not.
