I just received one of these from Banggood – and I’m struggling to see what’s special about them, apart from the price that is. Depending where you live these could be as low as €7.38 + €1.68 shipping (price given here in Euros). Ok, it’s a neat, small box with on-off control over WiFi, just like a Sonoff unit and like a Sonoff, it claims 10A maximum (that will be non-inducive load as usual). It also has a nice, big on-off button that glows blue when on.
What I don’t understand is the timers… “Device location” – “Spain” – “the current city does not support sunrise/sunset”.
Since when is Spain a city? So I checked my settings in the Broadlink APP – sure enough I’d entered Spain as the country – then narrowed down to Anadalusia, then Granada. I’d also gone into settings in the APP for the device and grabbed the latest firmware.
So off I went to add a timer – regular timers no problem – but sunrise/sunset? “The current city does not support sunrise/sunset” – so I went into the location in timers – guess what – another setting for location – this time missing out Andalusia and instead the option was “Spain Granada” – and now sunrise said “5 minutes ago” – really? – what I think they MEAN is 5 minutes EARLIER as the next option is “0 minutes” and the one after that is “5 minutes later”.
All of this would be fine if I could bin their software and install Tasmota but right now I’m not seeing a “Tasmota template” anywhere for this device. Am I wrong?
In the APP I noted “Notification Center” – no notifications. Then “Help center” – lots of info. “Sales Promtion” – WHY? Voice assistance can be added for Alexa, Google Home, IFTT (I thought they’d gone over to the dark side) and Yandex – whatever that is. “How to add Yande with Broadlink app” – ignoring the minor spelling error there, the rest of that page is entirely in Chinese – so clearly Yandex or Yande is not for our use in the west – so why include it in the English instructions?
Overall I’d be happy if I could bin this nonsense and simply install Tasmota on the device. I figured I’d go in and have a look to see what processor it uses – but could not figure out how to get the back off (no obvious screws even under the label). Also “Pro Install” – could someone tell me what that means? It SOUNDS like they are suggesting purchasing the unit for €9 then hiring an electrician for at least twice that amount to fasten a bulb to it? What next, hire a professional to help with hand-washing? Taking the time to create easy connection instructions might’ve been more practical along the lines of something you might see with a Shelly product or Sonoff etc. To be fair there is slightly better info here.
Compare with the slightly more expensive – but Tasmota-compatible Blitzwolf SS5 I’ve discussed elsewhere – or Sonoff Mini. I do like the big lit-up button on the Broadlink – but that’s about it so far – for me, having yet ANOTHER APP does not really appeal.