Recently, an acquaintance mentioned the risk of electric leakage when connecting smart plugs to the internet. I also came across articles on several sites about the possibility of their data being hacked. In your opinion, how is the electrical safety of smart plugs ensured? Or are these concerns exaggerated? As an alternative, are there models that work without Wi-Fi or on a local network?
How reliable are smart plugs really?
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Haha, another electrical safety concern! I had also heard my friend say, "Don't use that smart plug, someone could hack it and turn on the heater, burning the house down," so I was pretty cautious. Last year, when I plugged my old heater into a smart plug, I did as much research as you did. The other day, I watched a video of a fire caused by a smart plug at a friend's house—it was truly something you wouldn’t want to go through. So instead of plugging it in every night, I bought one and even installed an additional residual current circuit breaker on the plug. I looked into grounded plugs and protection classes offered by brands for electrical safety and immediately dismissed cheap Chinese models.
As for Wi-Fi-free models, there are actually Zigbee models that operate entirely locally. I recently installed Philips Hue’s Zigbee smart plug at home—I don’t connect them to Wi-Fi; I manage them locally through Home Assistant. Along with grounded plugs and circuit breakers to prevent electrical leakage, I find the risk of Zigbee being hacked quite low. I feel much more at ease both in terms of electrical safety and data security. Ultimately, when buying a smart plug, it’s worth spending a bit more on a quality brand—otherwise, you might end up paying a heavy price for cheap options.