WiOn 50049 Outdoor Wi-Fi Wireless Plug-In Switch; Smartphone And Tablet Automation For Up To 12 Devices; 2 Grounded Outlets; Weather Resistant; Energy Saving; Wifi Controlled Switch

Edit 2: It seems Southwire / Woods has merely rebranded the ECO Plugs RC-028W. I was able to install the ECO Plugs app from the Google Play store and successfully connect a factory-restored WiOn outlet to my router with it. It took me a few factory resets and forgetting the ECO-serial network on my phone and reconnecting, but the connection eventually succeeded. Although the Woods WiOn app is abandonware, the ECO Plugs app is a passable substitute updated for compatibility with Android 9. Connecting with the ECO Plugs app is quirky, though. A successful connection to the router does not deactivate the plug's temporary wifi access point.---Edit 1: Beware! The Woods WiOn Android app doesn't fully work on the latest version of Android. It doesn't appear that Woods / Southwire has updated their app in a year and a half. Unless you have access to a device with an older version of Android, you may not be able to get this outlet to connect to your router. The out-of-box router connection dialog simply will not appear as it should when a new outlet is detected, regardless of clearing your phone's cache and app data or resetting your outlet back to factory defaults. Maybe the ECO Plugs app would be a suitable workaround? Maybe, but I haven't tried it to see. I ended up digging an ancient Android 4.4.2 device out of a drawer to perform the connection to my wireless network.Also, the WiOn products domain seems now to be controlled by a cybersquatter. There is no longer a website available for you to find support or documentation for this outlet. The outlet and its app are abandonware.I emailed Southwire a request for assistance, then followed up with my Android 4.4.2 workaround. If they respond with anything worthwhile, I'll update this review. So far my emails have gone ignored.---Original review: Rugged, stable network connectivity from the opposite corner of the house and through walls, and Alexa integration is flawless. The WiOn app features above-average flexibility, offering automation with many triggers: time of day, countdown, astronomic, and random vacation timers. It does not offer Google or IFTTT integration, though.Bear in mind that Internet of Things devices such as this are heavily dependent on a reliable router. If you've got a garbage router, don't bother with this or any other IoT / smart home devices until you've upgraded. The Internet of Things tends to expose latent instability in mediocre routers. If you're not running Tomato, DD-WRT, Google Wifi, Ubiquiti, or better, don't blame inexplicable disconnections on your outlets. With OEM router firmware, more often than not, bugs are par for the course.

This would have been a 5 star review, except for one major issue: software. I have 4 of these outlets and they have worked dependably and consistently for several years. However, the WiOn app hasn’t been updated in quite some time, and it no longer works with my iPhone running iOS16. So… I’m unable to set up and program the outlets anymore, rendering them useless. I’ve contacted customer service three times (both email and voicemail; couldn’t talk with an human) and have received no response. I can’t recommend this item until the software issue is resolved.UPDATE: WiOn has updated their software to work with the new iOS update. All is fine, and I reiterate the complement I made: it works reliably and consistently. Highly recommend WiOn outlets.

After a few days of use, I can say this:The actual hardware works. The problem is the app.Example: I wanted to have it run for an hour from 11:30 p.m. It claims a "countdown timer." So I set the countdown timer, and, in doing so, it looked like this: Start 11:30 p.m. 4/21/17. Stop 12:30 a.m. 4/21/17. Noticing that this would run for about ... 100 years, I manually changed the stop time to 12:30 a.m. 4/22/17. Then I waited. It didn't turn off at 12:30 a.m. on 4/22. More experimentation is in order, but my tentative guess is that DESPITE what the timer said (about 12:30 the same day), it had originally been set for an hour, and that by changing the date, I messed this up in some way. My conclusion, however, is that whoever programmed the app did not consider the possibility of a timer running past midnight, and just set it up wrong.Which is a shame because, otherwise, this thing is EXACTLY what I wanted. I don't have it controlling lights, I have it controlling the circulation pump for my hot water heater. (The pump was initially on a timer, but I got annoyed with having to run outside the house any time I wanted hot water outside the timer hours.) I have it set for a "morning shower" sort of timer, which (so far) has been turning on and off exactly as programmed. It also has no difficulty with just turning the pump on and off from the app (which saves me from the run-outside thing I was trying to avoid). The only place where it has fallen down on the job (so far) is if I want to turn it on for a couple hours at night (to, say, have the dishwasher running overnight).But I quite like it. I may acquire a second one for the holiday lights.

Great idea. Works great when finally working. The Good: I can control various outdoor lights with the 4 devices I purchased. with the wion app and alexa. Worked through the snow we received in NY this weekend. Now that they are set up I really like controlling and scheduling outdoor lighting from anywhere.The Bad: Set up was a nightmare. Part of it was because I have a big property and had to assign different wifi networks to different wion devices and always check which had the strongest signal. The biggest problem was the instructions and the app. Sometimes the app didn't find any wifi. Or the app went out of set up. Then my android phone asked me if I wanted to stay connected to the wion device. Because this step wasn't in the app, I ignored it and never connected. I spent fruitless time resetting the wion to factory setting to try to connect.. Finally I instructed my phone to stay connected to the wion device and then connected promptly to wifi. The device plugs into a receptacle with a very rigid 90 degree plug, which made it impossible to put 2 wion devices directly into one receptacle. Don't plan on using 2 wion on one receptacle. The cord is very short and stiff, so it is hard to position with the plugs down to avoid water entry into the plugs. There are 2 outlets on the device. 3 would be more sensible. I'm using 5Watt LED lights so power draw isn't an issue. In addition, the rim around the outlets is close so big outdoor plugs are a tight fit.In brief, poor industrial design and installation instructions, but a great concept and it seems to work well.