Hi fellow OzBargainers,
Hope you're all well :)
Just saw that these Kogan smart plugs are on sale. They have been very popular in the past.
I'd buy them, but I'm currently broke, so hopefully someone finds this deal useful :)
Cheers,
Wystri Warrick
68 up votes, and at $10 a pop they are cheap for what they do :)
2x USB that's useful…was almost tempted to buy from this post, the 2-pack for $22.99 . Its compatible with Google Home, which I checked on the app so that s a plus. but im invested in the grid connect system, and that is very solid. good price, but i don't want to be the first to buy from kogan products. will wait for another Ozbargains' comparison to an arlec or similar quality system.
If i do cave and buy it, ill leave my observations when they arrive.
I've got about a dozen of these plugs and they work fine. I pulled all mine apart and flashed Tasmota but nonetheless the energy monitoring is good and they work well.
Were they hard to dissemble?
Hell yes. Basically glued together. It can be done, but the back won't be the same again after you've tried to pry it open.
You'll need to superglue it back and you won't be able to/want to access it again. Don't forget we are talking about AC power here so you don't want to leave anything exposed.
From memory, the pins weren't the easiest to access either.
I had mine from an old batch, I tried Tuya Convert originally and struggled, so that's when i decided to have a crack at opening one up. After that experience, I was almost ready to write the rest off and not bother. Thankfully, some way or another I figured out the correct way to get them to work with Tuya convert and flashed the others.
My recommendation: Please don't buy these unless you are prepared to force your way in and then superglue them back together now that the Tuya Convert process is defunct.
@randomdude: You're obviously not patient as I only had one with visible damage after doing all mine.
@Tacooo: Hey Tacooo,
I'll be buying these in a fortnight if they are still on sale. Just got a few questions that I'm hoping you could answer :)
What made you want to flash Tasmota? What are the added features of ?
What method did you use to flash them?
@Wystri Warrick: Tasmota doesn't phone-home to any outside networks, doesn't send any random information to unknown actors and is completely open-source. Also better integration with Home Assistant.
Pulled them apart, soldered pins to the pads required and flashed using a USB>TTL adapter and Tasmotizer.
@randomdude: Hey randomdude,
I'll be buying these in a fortnight if they are still on sale. Just got a few questions that I'm hoping you could answer :)
What made you want to flash Tasmota? What are the added features of ?
What method did you use to flash them?
Hey why did you need to pull apart?
I guess something to do with this?
https://www.markhansen.co.nz/flashing-kogan-smart-plugs/
Thanks..
Yeah Tuya updated firmware so you cannot OTA flash them with "tuya convert" to tasmota. You need to hook up cables physically in-order to flash to Tasmota.
@nofate: I've got a couple lying around that I bought over a year ago.
If I connect it to the internet, will the firmware get updated so that it can't be flashed?
Kudos to you for the patience to flash that many!
Its Tuya. You can use it with Grid Connect or Blitzwolf or whatever other app - it all works.
These are Tuya based, as are grid connect so you can use them in the same app. I had wanted to flash mine when I first got them, but ended up with the revised model that be to be opened up.
I'm using then in the smart life app alongside a grid connect power board and Lenovo smart bulb. I don't really notice them which is a big tick in my opinion. They work with both Google Home and Alexa.
I'm not a fan of Kogan in general but these have been great, I have 8 of them
You do realise that they are all based on TUYA so all the apps are essentially all the same just different accounts (they all look very very very similar).
You can install SmartLife (the main app) and install all TUYA based items in there. I have an Arlec power board, Kogan fan, aldi smart plugs & lights, random EBAY globe (cause I needed a skinny small one no one makes) and they all work through one app.
How to convert these to use with Alexa? I am a bit confused with the flashing.. need to take it apart?
You don't need to flash them to make them work with Alexa
I bought these just over a year ago and flashed with esphome. All four have slowly been dying, disconnecting from WiFi and randomly switching themselves on and off until they won't switch at all. I don't recommend.
Probably cause you flashed them. They would work much better on their OG firmware.
Same with mine. I had 3 of Kogan and few of other as tenda beli. Tends beli also isn’t great but at least still functional but Kogan one by one all recently died. Seems like killed by OTA software.
New ones are being reported as tasmota incompatible too even if you open them up to flash. The modules are different.
are they still Espressif based?
As in… ESPHome or home assistant?
Bugger :(. Thanks for the info :)
Ones I got 2 months ago were still TYWE3S module, completely fine to flash.
How do you know the module type….did you have to open or does it say in App anywhere? I have 12 from approx 6 months ago but too much hassle to open.
I've opened all mine to flash them.
@Tacooo: Ah ok thanks. I tried to open one last night, the top/bottom/left seemed easy to part however the right side right side is another story and not yet worked out how to part it. You don't by chance have a pic of an opened one for visual ref? I can't work out why the right side is so different to left and asume clips are diferent?.
@Borg: Nope, same clips on both sides. They're just very well put together. I don't have any pics handy now sorry. The way I got them open was to insert a thin knife down the long sides, starting from the centre and slowly edging your way up the corners while continuously pushing the two pieces apart. You need to get it almost all the way into the corners to get them to decouple and you may want a small pick or something to wedge in while you do the other side. Finally to actually push it out of the housing I used something small enough to wedge into the USB slots without bending the tongue inside and pushed on the inside side-wall of the USB port to force the board and plug portion out of the housing. If you still need help I can probably pull a plug apart again later and take photos.
@Tacooo: Thanks for those notes as it helps knowing the the left and right sides are the same. Strange the left side on the one I am working on popped open easily as did the top and bottom, They were done in a few mins and pushed back into place for now. The right side 30mins in and still not lifting. Weird. Will carry on. Thanks again and for the additional tips.
UPDATE: Only took a min more and all sorted. Mine is TWYE2S. Now to find out what that is.
@Borg: No probs. Once you get closer to the corners you can also try lifting them up. That's the part where you may crack/chip the corners but I've only managed it on one or two of mine so far and it's nothing much.
@Tacooo: Yeah all good no chips and came apart. Glad you methioned about USB part (pushing out) as I was unsure if part of the mainboard or connect via wires. They neglected to place 2 x screws at the top of the board so it was coming apart at that point. I just gently pushed it out. As per above mine is a TYWE2S not a TYWE3S.
@Borg: Good stuff. Mine might've been TYWE2S as well actually now I think about it. Either way, easy enough to flash them anyway, it's just an 8285 instead of an 8266. Oh they also only put two screws in, not all four. Unsure why, seems lazy. They also seem randomly placed, no obvious standard. I usually just put them diagonally opposite and call it a day.
@Tacooo: Yeah. I found one tutorial and it noted that the TYWE3S was fine assuming it wasn't firmware update over the air via Tuya already. No mention of the TYWE2S though.
I don't suppose you have links to the steps you used for Flashing. My endgoal goal is to add to HomeAssistant and then try track power from there…….PM me if easier?
I bought a batch of these some time ago - never opened any up of flashed them but they work fine with the Tuya app - I have one that drives 4 displays and a couple of studio monitors/subwoofer alongside a few other low power items but that one has failed 3-4 times already - I'm guessing these are good for low power devices but not so good if there is load - the relay inside seems to stop clicking over so they are stuck in either an on or off position.
Anyone have Kogan first membership and happy to assist with purchase?
pm me thanks
tl;dr there are easier brands to work with if you want to control these in Home Assistant
I just wasted a day trying to get tuya v2 software working with one of these in home assistant. It has been broken for some time according to the github issues but was allegedly fixed in an early October release. It takes a lot of stuffing around and when I finally got it installed, none of the power monitoring values are available. In the bin it goes.
My tplink ones all just work with zero fuss.
Still haven't found a use for these, automatic lightbulbs I understand, but I have nothing I need turned off or on via voice or app
I've had flashed and non flashed versions of these slowly dying on me, up to about 5 dead now so not purchasing any more of them. The relay is a normally open one meaning that if it fails the plug fails as OFF so they're essentially just a USB power supply after that happens, all mine that have failed continue to have USB operate ok. Got some replaced under warranty however even those have been failing. It doesn't seem like the amount of load feeds into the pattern of failures either as I've had low draw (15W) appliances on these plugs when they've failed too, as well as some higher draw (washing machine, dryer).
Tbf I'd prefer a fail off than on. That's just safety 101.
I agree. I thought it was worth mentioning as another comment here mentioned they fail either off or on when the relay stops clicking but in reality it's a fail off.
Our Australian earth pin is too long for this adapter therefore won't fit
Wtf are you on about? It's manufactured for Australia and as the dozens of replies above you have stated, they work fine.
Silly comment
Do these work with Apple Home Kit?
Sadly not. Only with Google Home and Amazon Alexa
FYI - I noticed this on the tuya-convert github:
https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert/wiki/Collabor…
"Kogan SmarterHome Smart Plug with Energy Meter [KASPEMHA, KASPEMHUSBA] (Kogan, June 2020, but by Oct 2021, now an tasmota incompatible WB2S)"
Thanks for this info :)
That might be for the fat ones. I ordered some of them in April (this year) and they had the WB2S chips inside. link to fat ones
The ones I bought in Jan 2021 have WE2S (not WB2S). No idea if it makes a difference or if talking about the same thing?
For visual purposes, here is a pic I took showing the module inside: https://imgur.com/a/eahNRM5
Yeah same here (April 2021)
https://imgur.com/a/KiLVujh
The fat types definitely have the WB2S
https://imgur.com/a/9lqnukN
The difference is the TYWE2S is based around the esp8266 (a highly popular chip with lots of tools for modification) while the newer chips are a bit unknown. If you wait long enough someone might come up with a solution to flashing them, or they may just be too hard to bother with.
@outlander: So seeing as yours (April 2021) are the same i.e. WE2S, have you tried flash with Tasmoto successfully? I am going to try once I receive USB to TTL Adapter. Am new to this and want to try add to HomeAssistant (also learning it).
Gonna be on sale tomorrow 2 lots of 4x smart plugs (8 plugs in total) for ~$55 WITH LATITUDE PAY
Or better get this version of deal 6 months later. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/618350
You should post that as a deal so you'll get the credit, and people are more likely to see it as it's a new deal :)
Don't really have much appreciation or get enough to be bothered to receive negative comments. You'll realise later sometime it may be better in some cases to not say anything just for sake of not receiving stupid comments/votes etc. Im too tired of stupid comments and can't be bothered to get another one sorry, probably will get down voted for this comment too. But i honestly don't give a dam anymore, you can take credit and post deal mate if you want to. I certainly am not going to.
I only commented here because you as OP was saying to wait for sale and wanted to make you aware of it.
Hey if it's not drop shipping, or Alibaba importing just post it. Can't go through life worrying about what other people say and think. Just ignore the neggors, and the negative comments. Though I know it's easier said than done, especially if one is already struggling with mental health.
This deal that I posted only got 21 up votes, though 842 people clicked the link. If the deal only helps a few people then I say it's worth posting it.
@Wystri Warrick: Regarding that I honestly would NEVER ever buy anything from Aliexpress/alibaba i cannot trust those seller biased platforms.
Anyway but if you want to post mate you can post it. I don't want to post stuff.
Now saying $46.99 for the 4-pack.
It's cheaper to buy 2x2-packs than 1x4-pack.
![[Kogan First] Kogan SmarterHome Smart Plug with Energy Meter & 5V 2.4a USB Ports (4 Pack) $39.99 Shipped @ Kogan](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/98/656298.jpg?h=74865af1)
Unfortunately, Kogan isn't that popular.