TESTING MORE IKEA MATTER SMART HOME TECH
Earlier this year I bought most of Ikea’s brand new Matter-Over-Thread smart home tech, and generally loved them. There were a few things though that weren’t available – or out yet – so I thought now the other bits are available, I’d grab ‘em and see how they fare! The two things I’ve got this time are this, the Timmerflotte temperature and humidity sensor, and the Grillplats smart plug. These things are genuinely insanely cheap – £5 for the temp sensor and £6 for the smart plug. For context, the Aqara Zigbee temperature sensors I use are £20, and even the ultra-cheap Sonoff Zigbee smart plug is £13, and the Innr one I use is £20. That’s four times the price for a temp sensor, and at least twice the price for a smart plug. So with that in mind, let’s take a look, test them out, and see if these are another gem or not worth your cash. Spoilers, they are.
I’ll start with the temp sensor. This is actually a pretty large puck, being noticeably bigger than any other IoT temp sensor I’ve seen. That is, in part, because this thing (like the rest of Ikea’s smart home tech lineup) uses two AAA batteries to power it, rather than the typical varying sizes of coin cells. To me that’s actually a good thing. Rechargeable AAA batteries are much easier to find and they’ll last longer anyway. The other reason becomes evident when you stick the batteries in and connect it up. If you press the button built into the front face, you’ll get a display with the current temperature and humidity. That’s awesome! It’s only on for a couple seconds to save battery, but still. That’s unique, and makes these more useful than you might expect. The big catch with this design though is that the only mounting option Ikea offers here is hanging it on a screw head. There isn’t an adhesive pad or mount – unlike the motion sensor, for example – it’s hanging from a screw or nothing. That makes this a little less useful than I would have hoped, but I’m sure if you had a 3D printer you could make a little button mount for it, which is what I’ll likely do.
When it comes to the data you get from it, that’s just as impressive. You do only get temperature and humidity, not pressure like the Aqara Zigbee ones I use (not that it matters), but you do get the actual battery voltage which I think is amazing, and the report rate on the sensors is incredible. It does seem to update on temperature change, rather than a fixed schedule (which is great for the battery), but if the temperature is changing fast, hot damn do you get a lot of updates. Comparing the Timmerflotte, Alpstuga and an Aqara Zigbee sensor, obviously the Alpstuga updates the most frequently as it’s USB powered, but the Timmerflotte isn’t far behind, giving way more granular updates than the Aqara one. The sensors all agree within 0.1-0.3°C, although the Aqara one is noticeably delayed in its reading changes at times. In short then, this is a gem. Oh, and what’s cool is when you scan the QR code to connect it to Home Assistant, it even shows the Timmerflotte as the device you are connecting – something I’ve never seen any other Matter device do. That’s cool!
As for the Grillplats, that is a pretty typical smart plug size. It’s round, although doesn’t quite fit next to other plugs on an extension lead. It does fit well on a double gang socket though. You’ve just got the one button on top, along with a status LED, and the in and out plug faces. That button, with a single tap, toggles the plug on and off, while holding it for long enough factory resets it. Hooking it up to Home Assistant though gives you the relay control, the instantaneous power usage, and cumulative usage. You also get the power-on behaviour control, plus, if you look at the “Diagnostic” sensors, you get apparent, reactive and effective power, current and voltage. This is a level of information I’ve never seen before in a smart plug. That’s incredible. I also hooked it up to my Samsung SmartThings plug to compare, and the readings are down to the hundredth of a watt, with the cumulative usage being per watt, and updates almost instantly. Incredible.
For just £6, this thing actively outperforms all other smart plugs I have here (including the EVE Matter over Thread one), with just the sheer amount of data you get included. This handles the full 13 amps a UK plug can carry without issue, and I trust this to continue tracking cumulative power well, so I’m sold. I’m glad I bought two! Honestly, Ikea’s Matter smart home tech is slowly convincing me that Matter-over-Thread is the best option for new DIY smart home builds, it’s that good. Getting temperature sensors for a fiver when even aliexpress Zigbee ones are a tenner is just nuts (in a good way), and yeah same for the smart plug. Add in the Alpstuga for £25, a couple lightbulbs, and you’re almost set. All I want now is a Matter-over-Thread switch face that lets me control lights without a neutral and fits in UK lighting backboxes. Then it’ll be perfect. Anyway, great job Ikea, and if you have a Thread network for your Home Assistant system, definitely consider getting yourself some Ikea Matter-over-Thread devices, because damn they’re cheap AND good.
