Eve Energy "Smart" Plug (North American) Review

Update: Eve was acquired by ABB in June 2023.  I am uncertain if eve will keep its privacy commitment.

I bought a Eve Energy "Smart" Plug (model #10027863) recently for $40. I bought it to schedule an oil filled radiator to reduce my electricity bill.

Here is my review, going from positive sides to negatives.

The manufacture claims that the plug does need any registration and does not send any usage data to the "cloud". This was why I chose it over cheaper alternatives like TP-Link Kasa.

The device was made in Taiwan with decent quality components. The FCC internal photos show that it contains an Nordic Semi SoC and a PL7211 energy metering IC.

The plug supports Bluetooth and Thread. The manufacture claimed it would support Matter soon. However, the latency on Bluetooth is human noticeable.

A Thread "border router", e.g. Apple HomePod, is required for remote control due to the lack of WiFi.

The plug works with Apple HomeKit exclusively. It requires an iOS device and the home app. However, not all features are available on the iOS home app.

The plug has a energy metering feature. However, the Eve iOS app is required to view the current power and history. In addition, the manufacture did not specify the accuracy of the metering. So the metering feature has little value to me.

The plug also has an independent scheduling feature. This is why I bought it. Initially, I confused it with the HomeKit automation feature. The latter requires a "home hub". Eventually I found the scheduling UI deep in the Eve iOS app.

The plug has an internal clock but no battery backup. So the schedule stops working silently after a power loss (even a few seconds). The fix is to open the Eve app nearby and let the plug sync the time from the phone. This is very annoying. The manufacture could have put a capacitor inside to keep the clock running for a few hours after a power loss.

It does not have a timer feature. For example, I cannot set it to turn off in 2 hours. Maybe the feature was intentionally left out to avoid more confusion?

The manual control button (integrated with the indicator) is too small for everyday use.

Probably due to the metering circuit, the plug generates some amount of heat. When supplying an 1 kW oil radiator, the plug feels warm (at around 40 degC) in a room at 20 degC.

The plug will eagerly trip whenever it senses a tiny overload. This is good for safety. But I doubt if the energy metering IC is calibrated.

Thoughts on EU USB-C mandates

EU and some other countries will mandate USB-C on cellphones, tablets, and even laptops in a couple of years. I am ambivalent towards such mandates.

Firstly, USB-C is a physical connector specification. It does not guarantee charging interoperability. I encountered several devices with USB-C connectors but only charge with USB-A power adapters. However, I expect that manufactures will learn to implement USB-C correctly eventually.

Secondly, the mandates seem to target Apple only because other phone manufactures have converged USB-C. Apple debuted the reversible lightning connector in 2012. Two years before USB-C came into being. However, Apple holds patents on the connector and tightly controls who may use it. Apple even embeds a small chip into the connector so that phones can refuse to work with unauthorized cables. As a result, lightning connector accessories are more expensive than USB-C counterparts. It seems that complaints to Apple's money grab caught attention from EU legislators and they passed a law to essentially "ban" the lightning connector. However, I don't think such a ban is necessary to force Apple to embrace USB-C. Apple already use USB-C on iPads, probably due to lightning's speed and current limitations. I expect Apple to encounter the same problems on iPhones and thus switch to USB-C voluntarily. In addition, Apple's main patent on lightning will expire in 2032.

Thirdly, I don't think governments should regulate low voltage charging ports. However, governments are justified to mandate certain mains sockets and fuel pumps because they could cause safety issues.

The biggest concern I have on USB-C mandates is the suppression on innovations. Mandating USB-C would disincentive innovators to work on better technologies. The EU lawmakers seem to be aware of this problem. Since the mandate 1)  applies to devices with physical charging ports only and 2) allows manufactures to include other ports in addition to USB-C.