We were looking for a HomeKit outdoor plug for our garden watering. Connected to the irrigation pump, it should be turned on automatically when the Eve Aqua starts watering the garden. In the end, we decided on the new Luminea outdoor plug. In this article, we will reveal how the Plug performs in everyday use.
Like many garden owners, we do not use drinking water for our garden irrigation, but rainwater from a rain barrel. The problem with this is that gravity is not sufficient for our Micro Drip system with relatively long hoses. Therefore, we installed an irrigation pump between our rain barrel and the Eve Aqua.
However, since we don’t want this to be on permanently, we got the Luminea outdoor plug. The splash-proof Plug socket with power consumption measurement can be used outdoors without any problems.
Old fashioned packaging – high quality Plug
While the packaging looks quite dusty, the Plug itself makes a very high-quality impression. The HomeKit code needed for the installation is simply attached to the bottom of the Plug. Due to outdoor use, the code should definitely be additionally secured, for example via HomePass or Controller for HomeKit.
The installation was quick and straightforward. The Plug was recognized directly and added to HomeKit via Wi-Fi. The manufacturer’s own app also recognized the Plug without any problems afterwards.
Fast response via HomeKit
In HomeKit, the Plug appears as a simple switch. As mentioned at the beginning, we use the Plug for our garden pump. Via two automations, the Plug is automatically switched on as soon as the Eve Aqua starts watering the garden and switched off again as soon as the Eve Aqua is finished.
This means that we can control our garden irrigation exclusively via the Eve Aqua. Whether we use the schedule, start the irrigation via HomeKit or use the physical switch on the Eve Aqua: Thanks to the automations, the Luminea outdoor plug is controlled automatically and amazingly fast and reliable.
We have been using the Plug for about three weeks now. The plug is already switched on via HomeKit before the Eve Aqua (2nd generation) has fully opened the valve.
Manufacturer’s own app with more features
Even though we only use the manufacturer’s own app for a single setting and future firmware updates, we would still like to briefly discuss it. For us, only the setting of the power-on state is important. We have set this to “Off”. After a power failure, the Plug is therefore switched off.
The reason is quite simple: the Eve Aqua runs on batteries. If there is a power failure during watering, the Eve Aqua will still switch normally, as the schedules are stored on the device itself and also run independently of the Home Hub.
If the power is back after watering and the outdoor outlet would assume the last state, it would be turned back on and run through until the next garden watering. By then our rain barrel would be empty and the pump running dry.
In addition to the power-on status, the power consumption can be viewed via the Elesion app. The Plug can also be controlled according to the position of the sun, via a schedule, with a countdown or randomly as a presence simulation.
Conclusion
The Luminea outdoor plug has proven to be a reliable solution for our garden watering. Installation was simple and does not require an additional bridge thanks to Wi-Fi. The fast response time enables reliable control of irrigation. You can get the HomeKit plug through Amazon as well as Pearl.
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