The Belkin WeMo WiFi Power Outlet

[Stu]

Cool find, Centizen. Is it a hard thing to set up, or is it pretty simple to do?

FWIW, anyone that doesn't have an iPhone can still use a WeMo with their Cloud. You just need to know someone with an iPhone that will donate 15 minutes of their time to configure it for you. Once it's set up, you can run recipies on IFTTT.com to have the Cloud automatically power cycle every hour (I do mine every 30 minutes). You can even turn your Cloud by simply launching the recipe from their website on your Android.

 

[CentiZen]

Well, the whole thing requires soldering 101 level skills and about 40 dollars worth of components.

There is a little bit of programming involved - i.e. you will need to burn a program I have written to the micro controller you get. This one is not like the microcontrollers used by hippie dickie or professional engineers in their projects that need special programmers (though there is nothing stopping you from using one of those if you are so inclined); all you need to program this is a miniUSB cord. It's called a Teensy2.0 and it is my recommendation because of it's small size and price - though honestly you can use any micro controller on the planet to do this.

There is a grand total of two solder joints that need to be made, so it is very basic. The PowerSwitch takes care of all of the legwork (and danger) of dealing with 120vAC powerstreams, so its something anyone with the most basic knowledge of soldering could do.

The downsides are that it is ugly, may look like a bomb, and also requires two plugs. Or one plug and a USB port on a computer. But it works !!

 

[Purpl3_Haz3]

Nice sounding workaround you've got going there CentiZen; sounds really promising!

In some recent reading, I stumbled upon this, and thought others here may be interested!

...exploit could be developed into a virus that will scan for WeMo devices. Once these Internet-connected devices are found, it’s easy to turn these devices on and off really fast; something not too dangerous for a desk lamp, but potentially lethal if it’s plugged into a space heater.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/31/turning-the-belkin-wemo-into-a-deathtrap/
Watch between 2 minutes 25 seconds, and the end. How do you think the Cloud, for instance, would hold up to being powercycled like that??

 

[John Lewus]

I've been using the WeMo with my Galaxy s3 for over a month now. The app is a bit buggy but it works and ifttt works as well.

 

[weedemon]

holy f'n shit! I have to get this!!! amazing!! but ill be using it for my sub!! thanks for telling me about this!

 

[CentiZen]

Watch between 2 minutes 25 seconds, and the end. How do you think the Cloud, for instance, would hold up to being powercycled like that??

It handles it pretty well. I don't do it for extended periods of time (or on purpose at all, for that matter), but sometimes when I am unplugging my sustainer my Cloud will shut on and off a dozen times in two seconds and it hasn't hurt it at all.

I do my best to turn it off before unplugging it though.

 

[Stu]

I just downloaded the IFTTT app on my iphone. It's a lot easier to use than trying to use Safari to start/stop recipies.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

A friend and I have been having WeMo issues for the past day. It is not cycling properly through IFTTT.com I assume it is just an issue on their end. Is anyone else having problems recently?

 

[MacRadish]

Yes. All my WeMo's (2) have vanished from the drop down of "turn off then on", they are, however, listed in the dropdown for all the other Actions under the WeMo Switch, but I need the "turn off then on" function.

Tried creating an additional account, no go. Added the third new WeMo, no go. Next was going to be complete removal of the app from the phone. Maybe later.

 

[Stu]

Mine has been acting weird over the last 2 days as well. On Saturday, IFTTT recipies were working fine, but I couldn't use the WeMo App on my iPhone to turn the unit on or off. Very strange.

Well, the situation flipped around yesterday, so that the WeMo app works fine to turn the unit on or off, but the IFTTT recipies do not work at all. I can turn the recipies on or off (even tested them) but they do nothing.

WTF?

 

[MacRadish]

Mine has been acting weird over the last 2 days as well. On Saturday, IFTTT recipies were working fine, but I couldn't use the WeMo App on my iPhone to turn the unit on or off. Very strange.

Well, the situation flipped around yesterday, so that the WeMo app works fine to turn the unit on or off, but the IFTTT recipies do not work at all. I can turn the recipies on or off (even tested them) but they do nothing.

WTF?

Does the action show your configured Cloud in the dropdown?

 

[Hoops]

I'm also having the same problems as Stu. Looks to be an IFTTT issue today as far as I can tell.

 

[John Lewus]

I've seen issues with IFTTT as well this week but seemed to work yesterday.

 

[MacRadish]

This is what happened to me. The choice to select which WeMo from the dropdown is gone.

 

[Budzman]

Yeah, the "turn off then on" option has been broken on IFTTT's site since the early AM hours Sun. (10/13/13). I wasted time this morning resetting the WeMo back to default factory settings hoping that was the problem, but no joy. I emailed IFTTT's support this morning to bring this to their attention, still waiting for a reply...

 

[Slightly Medicated]

I am amazed IFTTT.com works so well. Logistically it is a pain to work with so many different services. You have to make sure everyone is on the same page. If you update one thing it might require them to go through and fix connections to various 3rd party services. I imagine sometimes they update one thing and a random service stops working. Would be quite the logistical nightmare to keep everything running well...

 

[Hoops]

IFTTT has been texting me the weather daily without fault since SliM introduced it to FC. I love it.

 

[Budzman]

For what it's worth I've come up with a work around until IFTTT fixes this. Simply set up 2 separate recipes, one to turn the Cloud off, and one to turn it on, both set for 0.00 hrs. Cloud turns off for 1 full minute, and then back on. I've tested this for 3 hourly cycles and so far it's definitely working.

Same result really as the Cloud doesn't really lose much heat being off for 1 minute. Works for me!

Edit: Create the "turn on" recipe first, otherwise this works in the opposite manor (turns the WeMo on, then off).

 

[Stu]

Thanks, @Budzman . I just did that and it worked.

 

[Slightly Medicated]

I got a work around through IFTTT.com

I can select the switch on certain commands but not turn off then on... so here is what I did:

First, I set up a recipe to turn the WeMo off at the top of the hour.
Second, I set up a recipe which turneds the WeMo back on if it is toggled off... I did this by selecting the WeMo as both the trigger and action. If the WeMo Switch is turned off. Then it triggers it to turn back on.

At the top of the hour it will turn off for a moment and then toggle back on.

I just had it run once with no issues.

 

[John Lewus]

I can't even get IFTTT to see my WeMo switch anymore when creating a recipe for toggling at the top of the hour when trying to create that recipe new again. I think Slim's approach above is the most convenient to do now.

 

[Budzman]

I got a work around through IFTTT.com

I can select the switch on certain commands but not turn off then on... so here is what I did:

First, I set up a recipe to turn the WeMo off at the top of the hour.
Second, I set up a recipe which turneds the WeMo back on if it is toggled off... I did this by selecting the WeMo as both the trigger and action. If the WeMo Switch is turned off. Then it triggers it to turn back on.

At the top of the hour it will turn off for a moment and then toggle back on.

I just had it run once with no issues.

Hmmmm.... I just tried your method (I believe I got it right, check out the screenie):
WeMo turns off but it never turned back on again!

Edit: I tried this at 00, 15, & 30 min. past the hour (3 test cycles) and the WeMo never turns back on for me. Activity log shows the recipe using the WeMo as both the trigger and action never triggers:

 

[MacRadish]

ifttt.com appears to have fixed the glitch, at least on this end.

 

[VapeArts]

ifttt.com appears to have fixed the glitch, at least on this end.

Same here. I just witnessed my switch turn off and on. I hadn't gotten around to trying the workaround.

 

[Stu]

I can confirm that my OG Cloud recipies are back to running ok again.

Thanks for the heads up!



Edit: I have now lost all functionality of my WeMo app. So it has reverted to the problem I was having over the weekend, but right before the IFTTT problem started up.