r/HomeKit • u/idkallex • 1d ago
Question/Help Meross temp controller plug
Hi r/homekit! I am trying smarten up my room, especially before the rough Canadian winters.
I have been looking into smart space heaters for myself, but none have tickled my fancy. I came across this meross smart temp controller, and as someone who is extremely into UI/UX and cares a lot about stuff like that, I would like to know how this actually shows up in the Home app!
Another quick question I had, was does this actually control the temperature of a dumb space heater no matter the brand? i have been looking into this amazon basics space heater and it would work extremely well with the space i am situated with right now!
Thanks!
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u/211774310 1d ago
I have one of these attached to an oil-filled space heater that has simple rocker switches for the heating elements and it works great.
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u/carnedv 15h ago
Seconding a mechanical switch oil heater on a smart plug instead of a space heater. It's been a game changer for single room heating in Maine winters for me. As someone who's experienced a house fire, smart plugs on a space heater made me nervous. They do take longer to heat up, but automation makes that a non-issue.
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u/ThePistachioBogeyman 1d ago
This doesn’t control temperature.
It’s just a smart plug with a thermometer attached.
- It will measure the current temperature.
- It will compare current temperature with your set temperature
- 3a. If on cooling, it will turn on your fan that is plugged into it till that temperature is reached
- 3b. if on heating, it will turn on your heater till temperature is reached
It does NOT control the temperature of your heating element itself, but rather the duration your appliance is turned on, till the set temperature is reached.
You also need to attach a fan/radiator that has a static on and off power setting, as it does not control the appliance directly, just whether it gets power or not. (Would work with the one you linked.)
It appears in Apple Home as a thermometer would, a temperature reading and then what your set temp is etc.
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 1d ago
It appears in Apple Home as a thermometer would
I think you mean thermostat, which shows set point and current temp.
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u/idkallex 1d ago
that’s what i thought,i just HAD to hear it from someone else before i blew 70 bucks
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u/clonked 1d ago
I’ve never used this but I found a review of it that shows HomeKit setup. The video has chapters, it’s at the end. https://youtu.be/ESxZlLGJFqc
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u/Fireant80 14h ago
I have one of these. I’m in the UK and have a pressurised hot water tank which normally uses the oil-fired boiler to heat water at set times. My tank had a couple of spare slots/inserts for thermostats, so i inserted this thermostatic element into one of those to measure water temperature. I then connected to electric immersion heater to the plug (ensuring, of course it’s safe in terms of max wattage, etc…)
I now have a thermostat in Apple Home showing the water temperature. It exposes like a square with the temperature inside. Tapping the square switches on the plug, which in turn switches on my electric water heater for a quick boost. An automation also switches on the oil fired boiler at the same time to help speed things up.
The plug allows you to set min and max temperatures so in my case when the water reaches 50C it turns back off
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u/youtellmebob 1d ago
I bought one of these to control an oil-filled portable radiant heater in a guest bedroom. So it was important that guests be able to easily control it independently of the “smarts”. My peeve with it, was the thermostat hardware interface. It was nothing like a typical hardwired wall thermostat. I don’t remember the particulars, but I knew it was not gonna be guest friendly.
I think I understood their choices, but I also didn’t like all the wires… I imagine the wired temperature sensor lets you move it away from being too near the heat source.
If you don’t care about others using the HW interface, and it does, as folks say, appear as a thermostat in Apple Home… then it will probably be fine.
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u/craigrpeters 12h ago
Why not just get one of the oscillating tower units that have a temp setting right on the device instead of this?
And if you want to see the temp in HK, just get a standalone sensor - like the ones your smart thermostat uses.
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u/liquidsmk 23h ago
65 bucks is a lot for a plug with a built in temp sensor. You can buy them seperately for significantly less. Ikea has $9 temp sensors and plugs.
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u/idkallex 17h ago
see that’s exactly what i was thinking!!
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 16h ago
There’s something to be said for simplicity, but on the other hand, if they are separate, you can place the temperature sensor in the most ideal location if that doesn’t happen to be right where the plug is.
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u/liquidsmk 14h ago
Plus the combo plug I’m sure generates a noticeable amount of heat being a power source and having a large lcd screen. The stand alone temp sensors use a watch battery or triple A’s so it’s not generating a lot of internal heat.
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u/ConfidentMeeting1233 13h ago
Also a good point. I guess it depends on the application, but it could make a real difference in some cases.
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u/liquidsmk 13h ago
A real world example for me is I have a green house and it has a bunch of temp sensors inside. I also have a home pod mini in there for music that also has a built in temp sensor. No matter what the home pod is always the outlier by at least 10°. Has a more narrow range of temps it can detect and is the only one that stops reporting when it gets a little too cold or too hot. So I just ignore its readings completely.
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u/pacoii 1d ago
It would work well with the heater you linked to (a 500 watt model which is also good for safety reasons). Essentially the device just turns on or off the attached heater (or fan) to match the temperature you’ve set on the device. I’ve used it with a similar space heater and it did exactly what I was wanting. What’s nice is this is purpose built and likely safer than trying to use a regular smart plug and a temperature sensor.