A smart plug is a connected home device whose potential is not visible to everyone. Often the product is explained as just a timer tool for unconnected electronics. But it’s much more than that. The possibilities are many, and many of them are quite creative. See below for 10 fun ways to use smart plugs.

Perhaps one of them will not help you come up with a new opportunity to make your daily life easier.

1 – Leave coffee ready for time to get up

Waking up with the smell of coffee and just a few minutes after waking up drinking it is an idea that seems to be from the future. But it is not, and you can do it today, in 2022.

All you have to do is have a coffee maker that never turns off and plug it into a smart outlet. You then go into the device app and program the power on about five minutes before the alarm goes off. Okay, coffee will be ready when you get up.

This idea depends on several options for working. Not all coffee makers automatically turn on when plugged in. In addition, it is necessary that you put water and coffee grounds in the right place before going to bed at night.

And don’t forget to program the outlet to turn off a few minutes later than expected to finish making coffee. Or manually, using the device’s button when you pick up your cup. Otherwise, you risk ruining the coffee maker.

2 – Fan remote control

Sleeping through the night with the fan on can be bad for some people. But there are days when it’s so hot that you can’t sleep without the wind. How to do it then?

To do this, you can use a smart socket. Simply connect a fan to it and program the app for the duration of the power outage. This may be, for example, about an hour before you fall asleep. Then it’s time to sleep soundly in a cool room.

You can even schedule a fan restart time. Then it could be, say, 15 minutes before you wake up. You will wake up and the environment will be refreshed again.

3 – Avoid unwanted visitors

This is only for those who have a bell plug. You can use a smart plug to avoid unwanted visits at certain times.

The idea is to automatically turn off, say, every day at 22:00. And turn it on again when you wake up, or just during business hours, at 8am.

This way, if someone tries to ring the doorbell late at night or early in the morning, you won’t hear them. After all, it will be turned off. And you don’t even need to touch the outlet.

4 – Fresh water for pets without disturbing them at dawn

The advice is mainly for those who have a cat. Cats are very fond of running water, and some even refuse to drink non-carbonated liquid. Therefore, many cat owners buy a fountain in which the water is always fresh.

But the noise of the fountain engine can be annoying in the early hours when everything is quiet in the house. And it doesn’t have an easily accessible on or off button, so it’s only limited to busy home hours.

This is where a smart plug comes in handy: simply program it to turn off the source pump shortly before the last person in the house goes to bed, and turn it back on shortly before the first person wakes up. This way, the kittens will have fresh water at least during the day, and they can continue to drink still water at night if they want to.

5 – Turn off the TV at night

Not every modern TV has a self-timer function. And not everyone remembers to set the function when they go to bed to watch the series before bed. There is a simple solution for both problems.

With a smart plug, you can set a fixed time to turn off your TV every night. Or use a voice command to have your home assistant turn it off after a few minutes or hours.

In addition, you can also use an outlet to prevent children from watching TV when they should be playing outside or doing their homework. The options for using a smart TV socket are numerous.

6 – Avoid excessive cold with a humidifier

Having a humidifier may be necessary in some Brazilian cities where the weather is usually very dry. But the device can cause a second problem, which is excessive cold in the environment if left on all day.

To prevent this from happening and not have to get up several times a day to turn it on and off, you can use a smart plug. It is enough to program it several times a day to turn it on and off, and thus make cycles of 15, 30 or even 60 minutes of work with some breaks.

Keeping in mind that a smart socket can always be connected to a voice assistant. And then you can turn on and off the device connected to it with a simple Alexa command or Google.

7 – Save the battery life of tablets and laptops

Laptops and tablets are designed to be portable, but they are not as easy to carry around as a mobile phone. They tend to be used a lot indoors – which is even better since the battery doesn’t last that long.

Sometimes we use one of these devices in the same place, or at least in the same environment. And it’s even easier to keep them always connected, taking them out only when we need to temporarily move them to another location. So why not leave it always on?

The answer is simple: keep your battery healthy. This is where a smart plug comes in. Just program it in the app to run once or twice during the day and thus guarantee multiple recharges so that the device is always on battery.

8 – Avoid overcharging batteries and accumulators

Some devices still require a battery or a removable battery to recharge. And we do not always forget to unplug it for the time allotted for a full charge, which can lead to overload and shorten the life of the product.

To avoid this, you can use a smart plug. Simply connect your charger to it and program the app to turn off after the allotted time.

For example, let’s say you want to charge a battery that needs eight hours from a wall outlet. If you plug it in at 13:00, simply program in the app so that the outlet cuts off power to the charger at 9:00.

9 – Save energy

The electricity bill is getting higher and higher, but you can use a smart plug to reduce consumption in your home a little. Of course, there are electronics that cannot be turned off, such as a refrigerator. And others do not need it, because they do not have a reserve.

But you can try to reduce the excessive consumption of older devices created at a time when standby was not as economical as it is today. However, you can cut your consumption a bit with smart plugs on TVs, microwave ovens, and even set-top boxes and the like.

One idea is to always leave the outlet off and only turn it on when you need the electronics. But you can also leave it on at times when it’s most likely to be used, and turn it off mostly at night.

It’s a small savings, but it can make a difference at the end of the month.

10 – Christmas tree flasher

And finally, the holidays can be a lot less stressful if taken wisely. After all, why remember to turn your Christmas tree or porch lights on and off every day when you can rely on technology?

You don’t even need to buy a new smart socket for this. You can temporarily use the one that has a different function. And then simply program it to turn on shortly after dark and turn off at dawn. There, your Christmas decoration is automated.