My $40 'smart' light switch turned my living room into a disco

I bought this wifi light switch for about 40 bucks thinking it would be a cool upgrade. I followed the install guide, turned the power back on, and the lights just started flashing on and off like a rave. My dog was losing his mind. I spent the next hour checking all my connections before I realized the switch itself was just broken out of the box. Has anyone else had a smart home gadget completely fail right after installing it?

4 comments

4 Comments

henry_ross3mo ago

Remember that smart plug that kept turning my coffee maker on at 3 a.m.?

jessem593mo ago

My smart lights once woke @henry_ross up with a disco show.

averymartin3mo ago

That 3 a.m. coffee maker thing is genuinely terrifying. Imagine the sound and smell just blasting into your dark bedroom. I'd have a heart attack. My old robot vacuum used to start its cleaning cycle by itself in the middle of the night. It's like these devices get bored and decide to host their own little parties. The logic behind why they do it is completely missing.

amy_martin13d ago

The whole "device deciding to host its own parties" bit really got me. I actually read something the other day about how some smart plugs can glitch and default to "on" after a firmware update or a power outage. So your coffee maker might just be the victim of a bad update, not a ghost. That 3 a.m. thing though, that's a special kind of nightmare. I had a similar scare with a smart fan that started spinning on high in the middle of the night during a heatwave. Thought I was losing my mind until I checked the app log.