A SOLUTION LOOKING FOR AN AFRICAN PROBLEM

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A SOLUTION LOOKING FOR AN AFRICAN PROBLEM

Bringing smart functionality to your home doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. If you have a smartphone and an empty outlet, you can use a smart plug to control, schedule, and automate nearly any electrical device. You don’t need programming skills or an installer on speed dial to set up smart outlets, and they become immediately useful with very little fuss.

Hooking even just one smart plug to your old table lamp, for example, ensures that you’ll never have to enter a dark house. And if you have mobility or dexterity issues, a smart plug can make it much easier to set lights, fans, speakers, air purifiers, game consoles, and air conditioners on a schedule, or to control them with a smart speaker and the sound of your voice.

Using a smart plug is the cheapest, easiest way to remotely control any electrical device in your home. Just plug one into an outlet, add a lamp, fan, or other on/off device, then set it up with an app, and—boom—you’re making magic. Automations and schedules make them convenient and fun to use. They can also be a crucial aid for those who have difficulty reaching light switches or other controls. Whether you’re home or away, you can turn outlets on and off, have them trigger at scheduled or random times, or set up your plug so that it turns on or off along with other linked smart devices.

In addition to remote control access and a timer and schedule tool, it can be integrated with a large number of other smart-home devices, including third-party support for Alexa, HomeKit and Google Assistant. It also includes real-time energy monitoring so you can keep tabs on electricity uses in hours, minutes, watts, and kilowatt-hours. It’s a bit larger than several other single-outlet plugs we like, but it doesn’t obstruct the other socket in a duplex outlet.

We have published other informative posts on Invention School’s website which may interest you. To view our entire catalog of over 740 posts go to inventionschool.tech/category/blog/ or use our handy search tool to find topics of interest to you.

Mechanical/Solar Engineer, Prof. Oku Singer

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