WiFi Plugs keep failing

54and56

Hi all,

I have a large fishtank and use Wi-Fi plugs to set schedules for various equipment to turn on and off. All work fine but no matter what brand of Wi-Fi plug I use on my LED Lighting (https://www.seahorseaquariums.com/Aqua-One-J-Bar-LED-Rio240-300/9805 which draws 66W) they all fail within a short period, sometimes days sometimes weeks and by fail I mean that whilst I can toggle them on and off i.e. the Wi-Fi switch clicks and the LED indicator changes on the WiFi plug they don't pass that command on to the plugged in LED lights so if the Wi-Fi plug fails when the lights are turned on they'll stay on regardless of the Wi-Fi plug accepting a command to turn off and if the Wi-Fi plug fails when the lights are off they'll stay off regardless of the Wi-Fi plug accepting commands to turn on.

I've been through at least 8 different Wi-Fi plugs from TP Link and Teckin etc and tried resetting them etc etc but they still fail when used with the LED lighting.

I'm thinking the LED lighting must be drawing more power than the Wi-Fi plugs I'm buying are able for. Could that be the case and if so are there "industrial" or stronger Wi-Fi plugs I should be buying?

Interestingly when I reset the "failed" plugs and redeploy them elsewhere e.g. on night lights etc they work fine and the LED lights also work fine on mechanical timed switches (the old school "clock" style ones which trip an on/off switch as the timer pins pass a certain point) and on regular on/off sockets.

I really want the control Wi-Fi plugs give me for the lighting as at different times of year more or less light is required from them and getting in under the tank to unplug and reset a mechanical timer would be a real pain plus it wouldn't enable me to just toggle the lights on for a while when I want which is a nice feature only Wi-Fi plugs will facilitate.

Any and all help much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Curry Addict

the fault description you describe is not possible. you are missing something and need to recheck your setup. Also 66watts is very little power and not going to be an issue. it is not possible for several wifi adapters to not give power when switched on. Check by plugging in something else into the adater.

Some led lights have a remote/switch its best to leave this always on and switch your lights on and off via the wifi adapter. if you then have issues, its likely that the remote/switch has been toggled off. You can check this by removing the wifi plug and plug straight into a normal socket, the light should switch on immediately. if it doesnt then someone has toggled it off and you simply turn it on again and then plug back into your wifi adapter.

hope this helps :)

54and56

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119299794#Comment_119299794

Hi Curry Addict,

Thanks for your reply, your logic is spot on and unfortunately a path I've already followed many times to try and isolate the source of the problem but it keeps coming back to the plugs. When plugs fail I do have to plug the lights in directly and they always come on immediately as they are never turned off on the LED light control panel itself. The lights are secure on top of the tank which is 7 feet off the ground and underneath a lid so nothing gets in to toggle the switch off.

I have moved failed WiFi plugs to controlling other devices like landing lights (sometimes resetting, sometimes without resetting etc) and they always work flawlessly on those devices.

It's a head scratcher.

acalmenvoy

Try one of these if possible https://www.screwfix.ie/p/british-general-900-series-13a-2-gang-sp-switched-smart-socket-white/827GV?gclid=CjwKCAjwiJqWBhBdEiwAtESPaGeo8aFyvu4wNn-Wy9Gc9w3bthFns3vkL0F0MHdnj-BzckjCimvXShoCYaAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

54and56

Thanks Acalmenvoy, I might pick one of those up.