breaking News
So there I was, putting together an buy for half a lots or so of the Fibaro Z-Wave wall Plug, resigned to the truth that it was the very best choice for a “metering” wall plug socket in the UK, when I unexpectedly got news that the Z-Wave product maker TKB house had released an actual UK version.
Never might there be a starker contrast between exactly how business manage product introduces – look at the method Fibaro go about things, masses of pre-launch rumours, chatter as well as gossip, huge fanfare as well as advertising propaganda releases. as well as now compare the introduce of the “TKB TZ88E wall plug switch / Meter” (hereafter referred to basic as the “TZ88E”) from TKB house – exactly, what launch!? The very first I understood of it was it appearing on their product page a few weeks ago!
Roll forwards to last Thursday as well as Vesternet got our very first batch into the UK to offer (they are going quick too) as well as by Saturday I had one in my grubby hands for testing
Unboxing
A bit of a let-down really, no attractive packaging like the Fibaro devices, just a ordinary white box. as well as with the gadget taking the familiar shape of a lot of UK style wall plug sockets, it’s absolutely no looker either. A single remove On / Off button on the front that homes a LED which lusters red when the socket is on as well as that’s quite much it for “design features”.
Incidentally the red LED is an enhancement on other TKB sockets, which annoyingly by default have a blue LED to suggest off, obviously as a “night-light” feature. This can be altered in the settings to ensure that it indicates on instead, however it’s not possible to turn it off completely. So the red LED signifying on is a welcome change.
Once you’ve seen one socket…..
Seeing that this gadget is a UK version, it has a typical UK style plug at the rear as well as has a typical UK style socket at the front. So there’s no requirement for any type of of the adapter roguishness I experienced with the Fibaro wall Plug. Oh, as well as it’s an off-white colour…..um….can’t believe of much a lot more to state about it really… step along…. nothing else to see here.
Testing the hardware
I mirrored the tests that I brought out with the Fibaro wall plug utilizing a kettle as well as hair dryer without any adverse effects. To be honest, there’s nothing much else to report right here either, no flashing LED or other such gimmicks – the TZ88E just gets on with the task in hand without any type of fuss.
One thing I did note is that if you were utilizing a wall-wart type power supply with the socket, there’s a possibility that it might cover the On / Off button somewhat which would make it tough to operate. however it’s no huge offer truly as I would believe that a lot of people utilizing this type of gadget will be operating them remotely over Z-Wave from a smart-phone or tablet app or from an Associated device.
What else do I get for my £38?
Nothing. Seriously, this is such a tiring gadget that there’s not much else to report about it.
But, that’s really a great thing in my opinion. At the end of the day, what do you truly requirement from this type of device? You want it to switch stuff on as well as off as well as to report the power being used. as well as that’s precisely what the TZ88E does. There’s no superfluous additional features to bump up the cost. as well as that’s showed in the price, it’s not much a lot more than the common on / off wall plug socket from the exact same company, is £17 more affordable than the Fibaro wall plug as well as £6 – £8 more affordable than other makes as well.
Using it with a Z-Wave controller
As with all Z-Wave devices, without a Z-Wave controller it’s quite pointless. To get the most out of it truly needs a MiCasaVerde Vera, Zipato Zipabox or a Fibaro house center 2 or Lite.
I checked the TZ88E with both a Vera as well as a house center Lite, however I can’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work with any type of other controller – it utilizes the most fundamental of Z-Wave Command classes which 99% of controllers won’t have a issue with.
Like some other Z-Wave devices, TKB have thoughtfully included an “automatic inclusion mode” to ensure that when it is at first powered up if it isn’t already included in a Z-Wave network it goes into inclusion mode automatically. This then makes adding gadgets just a situation of initiating the inclusion process on the Z-Wave controller as well as turning on the power to the gadget – it truly is that easy.
Once added to Vera as well as HC-Lite, it shows up in the respective web UI with the immediate power usage shown in Watts on the gadget icon. HC-Lite likewise includes the KWH value as well, however this appears to be absent from the Vera web UI, although the data is still offered for utilize in Scenes, logging or energy monitoring.
In contrast to the Fibaro wall plug which has absolutely tons of “parameters” that can be fiddled with as well as tweaked, the TZ88E has just two. These just manage the frequency that the gadget sends the Watts as well as KWH data to the Z-Wave controller.
By default these parameters are both set to an hour, which seems type of strange, particularly for the Watts value which you’d truly want to be as near to genuine time as possible. A quick bit of editing in the Vera as well as HC-Lite gadget configuration screens soon sorted that out, after which the TZ88E was sending Watts every 60 seconds as well as KWH every 30 minutes.
Real world usage
In the Fibaro wall plug evaluation I composed previously, I covered the “ERGY” plug-in for Vera which is a elegant looking energy tracking as well as graphing facility. This is quite nice, however this time around I played around with the Fibaro HC-Lite “Energy Panel” which makes the Vera using look quite naff by comparison. I’ll let the pictures tell the story right here as there’s lots of settings to fiddle with to view the energy data in a range of different formats.
Over a period of time I compared the power measurement data from the TZ88E keeping that of both present expense as well as EDF ECOManager IAM (Individual Appliance Monitor) units, in addition to the Fibaro wall plug from the previous review. The TKB was quickly as precise as the Fibaro as well as when once again I verified all readings taken with a plug-in meter from Maplins.
Conclusion
This was a difficult final thought to compose as well as in truth I’ve re-written it a number of times now as my viewpoint keeps changing. The TZ88E is in stark contrast to the Fibaro wall plug – it is a extremely basic device, does precisely what you’d want it to do as well as comes at an exceptionally appealing cost point.
On the other hand, there’s no question that the Fibaro wall plug is a a lot more capable gadget with tons of extra features crammed in. however it comes at a cost, plus you likewise have to aspect in the expense of any type of adapters that you may requirement to utilize with it as well.
I have to question if I’d examined the TZ88E first, whether the Fibaro wall plug would have even got a look-in? I may well have been delighted sufficient with the TZ88E as well as perhaps the Fibaro wall plug would have been seen as as well much of a hassle with the requirement for extra adapters in addition to the higher preliminary cost?
After a reflective coffee, I’ve made a decision that I’ll absolutely be getting plenty a lot more of the TZ88E in the near future to add to my Z-Wave house Automation system. This will most likely even be in preference to the more affordable On / Off wall plug sockets as the cost difference is negligible compared to the benefit of having the power tracking features.
But, I’ll likewise be choosing up some a lot more Fibaro wall Plugs for circumstances that demand the additional performance that the Fibaro gadget has – for example the capability to set alarms must a piece of linked devices like a fridge or freezer stop working is a guaranteed plus point.
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The house Automation Insider – Martyn Wendon spent 20 years as an IT expert in demanding functions within leading business in the Gaming, monetary as well as Retail service sectors. During that time he has tried as well as checked countless products, protocols, systems as well as settings to slowly refine his own house Automation setup. Now what started off as a pastime has ended up being his day task and working at Vesternet he’s well put to bring inside news, evaluations as well as comments from a few of the largest players in the house automation industry.
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Last update on 2021-10-04 / affiliate links / pictures from Amazon product marketing API