Meross Smart Wi-Fi Surge Protector & WiFi Plug: easy way into Smart Home

You’re into the market trying to find some affordable ways to make your home smarter? Then you must be happy to know that there’s a ton of compatible devices out there. Devices such as video doorbells, air purifiers, and lights are all available to purchase and install to make a person’s life easier. MEROSS is no stranger to the Smart Home (but also Homekit compatible) market. It has a wide range of affordable products ready to make your home better and safer. Today we have not 1, but 2 Homekit compatible products – MEROSS Smart Wi-Fi Surge Protector & WiFi Plug – that can secure your electricity plugs and make your home safer – without breaking the bank.

Meross Smart Wi-Fi Surge Protector – does what it says

Main characteristics:

• 4 Outlets and 4 USB Ports: Equipped with 4 individually controlled outlets and 4 groups controlled USB ports. Up to 4.0A for four USB ports. You can charge your cellphone, tablets, and other USB gadgets with a smart power strip.
• Remote Control: Control the 4 outlets and 4 grouped USB ports from anywhere with Meross App/Apple Home App.
• Voice Control: Works with Apple HomeKit, Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings, Control your devices hands-free, just make a voice command to turn on/off the connected devices. Works with any 2.4GHz or Dual Band WiFi router. No hub required.
• Schedule and Timer Setting: WiFi Surge Protector automatically supports turning home or office devices on and off. An added benefit of saving energy when devices are not needed or are left on by accident. Support sunrise and sunset settings.
• Safety Design: The smart power strip is made of flame retardant PC material and has been approved for safety and quality assurance (CE and RoHS certified). It supports any home device up to 10A. Never allow other low-quality surge protectors to endanger the safety of your family.
• Suitable for use in Europe and other countries that use EU-type plugs.
• When adding a device you may see a prompt for a device that has not been added for authentication, you can simply ignore it and click Add, this device has completed 99.99% authentication and can be used with confidence.

This surge protector has 4 independently controllable AC outlets and a bank of four USB ports, controlled as a group. Each AC outlet is well spaced to allow standard plugs and fairly large DC adapters. The power strip includes a 1.8 meter power cord with a standard three-prong EU outlet. (Available also for US and UK plug ends.)

Smart home compatibility

Meross provides maximum compatibility by including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant support. When pairing with HomeKit, all you have to do is plug it in, wait 5 seconds, go to the Home app of your iPhone/iPad and scan the Homekit code that’s placed at the back of the surge protector. After this all you have to do is configure the room you want to place it into. Name the 4 plugs – and the group controlled USB hub and you’re ready. You can have the surge protector appear as a single item in the Home app in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Then press and hold or double-click its entry to control or set automations for each outlet and the USB bank. You can also choose to have each of those items appear as separate entries.

It’s easy to use such type of smart plugs if you name them, because afterwards you easily know what device is plugged into which outlet! The USB bank is much simpler. Each port can draw 5 volts at up to 2.4A (12W) up to a combined maximum across the four of 5 volts at 4A (20W). This is sufficient to run smaller USB devices and charge smartphones and tablets at a moderate pace.

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This surge protectors includes a standard warranty against defects and failure. According to Meross is made of flame retardant PC material and has been approved for safety and quality assurance (CE and RoHS certified).

The Smart Wi-Fi Plug is reasonably small, measuring 2.6 inches by 2.6 inches by 2.3 inches, including the prongs that go into the outlet. The version being tested is for EU outlets, but there are variants for US, UK, Australian, and French outlets.

Main characteristics

• Compact 2-in-1 Design: Allows you to get 2 spaced outlets with one plug. Mini enough but there is a wide place between the two sockets, no interference and more space-saving.
• Remote & Voice Control: Compatible with Apple HomeKit (ios 13+), Apple Watch, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant and SmartThings, remotely control your device on your smart phone with the Meross/Home app or just simply make a voice command to Siri/Alexa/Google from anywhere (Anywhere with internet access) at any time.
• Schedules & Timer Setting: Schedule the smart plugs or set auto-off timer routine to work automatically as needed, saving energy and money. Your data is securely transmitted and stored using Amazon AWS servers.
• Easy Setup & Reliable Connection: Simply download the App, power on and configuration then you can enjoy the convenience of our products. 
• Suitable for use in the Europe or other countries that use EU type plug. (there are variants for US, UK, Australian, and French outlets)

Easy to use

Although it’s small, the plug is slightly too large to be ideal for extension cables. The relatively close together outlet positions make it hard to fit something in beside the smart plug, though it is possible. For wall-mounted outlets, where there’s typically more space between each outlet, it’s great.

When the connection is done, you can add the hub in Homekit using the typical addition procedure:

• Add Accessory
• Scan Setup Code of WiFi plug
• Add it in your Home

All connected outlet ports will be now visible in Homekit.

I really enjoyed the Schedules & Timer Setting, because it allows me to manage the lights in my living room as I prefer. For example I set a schedule for my main living room floor lamp to turn on at sunset. Then turn off automatically when I go to my bedroom to sleep. All these save energy and money in the longterm. Note also that all data is securely transmitted and stored using Amazon AWS servers.

Our opinion

For a price of $39.99 (for the Wi-Fi Surge Protector) and $26.99 (for the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug) you get more than what you paid for. Both plugs can easily connect to Homekit or SmartThings, providing control over all outlets. It’s quite easy to connect them to the Meross app and update them when needed. (Both updates completed in under 5 minutes). As for the Homekit integration – it is flawless.

If you’re in the market for such type of smart plugs – and you currently operate an Apple HomeKit/Samsung SmartThings smart home then you can’t go wrong with their price. Highly recommended.