Arlec Smart Home | Grid Connect Starter Kit

Recently I was visiting Bunnings to pick-up some batteries for some solar christmas lights when I came across the Arlec Smart Home Starter Kit on clearance for $20. This is an incredibly great deal for a smart plug system which would usally retail for close to $50. Watch this video to find out if it's really worth your money buying a cheap home automation device.

The Arlec Smart plugs are also compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

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[CraigWeston]

I just bought the Smart plug-in socket so I can turn the aircon on remotely. I don't want to run the aircon all day when I am not there so I am hopping that this will allow me to turn it on half an hour before I get home.

[DanielTheeRoperto]

It is good to remember this is a closed system. There is no API or communication with other devices -- for example if you have a switch, sensor or any other device you cannot make them work together. If you are not interested in future house automations that is probably fine, otherwise I would suggest getting a ZigBee-compatible smart plug.

This is a shame as the devices are already on the network and have their own IP, it would be easy for them make it open (some people managed to hack their own mobiles to get the access keys and control it from other apps, but that's not trivial).

Many vendors are also closed with their own apps but then they offer a "bridge" device (usually around $100) that allows you to integrate them with other things via wifi.

[Cheeky_Chelsea]

sweet thank you so much for this review, im interested in the arlec stuff but they seem pretty niche

[skystalker]

Can you also please look into Apple Homekit compatible devices in Australia? Seems like we have a few but there are not many who do reviews of those, especially in Australia

[patrickolugbemiro]

Great video, Did you have any issues with the setting up the bulb? I'm about to return mine because it won't detect the bulb from the app.