Humanity has progressed to a state where we now have smart devices that help us control our household appliances, such is the D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug. It’s an interesting device that helps you take greater control of appliances, regardless whether it’s home or office. For others, this could be the device that helps you overcome your forgetfulness. 😛
The DSP-W215 that allows you all that. Not only are you able to toggle the power for your appliance, you are also able to set the plug to function based on schedule, or have it monitor the appliance based on heat reading. The DSP-W215 looks like a typical plug point, just that it’s quite huge in size and that makes it quite inconvenient when it comes to negotiating space between plugs on a multi-socket extension.
The DSP-W215 comes with indicators for connectivity placed at the side, again a horrible location for an indicator to be placed since it’s not a spot that helps visibility.
Here’s what the plug can do.
More details at the official product page. You may also download the Product Guide (PDF Format).
User Experience
Installing the smart plug was easy, the only thing I didn’t like about the installation process is that D-Link placed an obscenely small QR Code and it’s placed at the bottom of the unit.
They could’ve placed it at the side or top or something but nope, for some reason it’s placed at the bottom, perhaps it’s for security reasons (harder to access) of which I’m fine with but what I really didn’t like was the size of it. The App comes with a QR Code reader function but that very much depends on the quality of the phone’s camera, believe it or not a HTC One M8 took a minute or 2 just trying to get the reading correct.
The second frustration is that the WPS button and indicator is placed at the side which is rather inconvenient when it comes to keeping the plug in place while wanting to complete the setup or at least, know the status of the plug.
Once the installation is done with, it’s all very simple. The list of device is listed on the app, you can turn it on and off easily.
The device takes not of the finer details of the plug, such as power consumption and temperature.
Here’s the section of the app where you set the schedule. In the image below you see the BASIC setting.
ADVANCED settings on the other hand gives a more detailed control on when the device should be activated.
I’ve also tested the temperature reading settings and it works, my recommendation is that if you ever purchase this Smart Plug, test the actual temperature reading before setting the cut-off limit.
Here’s a video on how it works.
The Verdict
The D-Link DSP-W215 Wi-Fi Smart Plug retails at RM 169, it’s not cheap and the money you could potentially save is far less than the cost itself BUT what’s great about it is that you are able to get things up and running (like lights) without your intervention, assuming your lifestyle is such that you are able to schedule everything to perfection.
FACT : A 15w bulb running 24/7 for a whole month adds only about RM 3.30 to your electricity bill. Cost per hour is about 0.45 sen.
Another thing about it is safety, especially when it comes to matters like leaving the iron on, this RM 169 investment could spare you A LOT some tragedy.
The only down side is that this product would not work with lights that are already linked to wall switches, and it doesn’t work with devices that require you to press Power ON button.
