REVIEW – In a perfect world, all of the powered gadgets that I own (fans, humidifiers, heaters, etc.) would be smart gadgets, capable of being controlled with nothing more than a voice command to Siri or a preset automation via the Home app. I don’t live in that world just yet, so one way to make “dumb” devices behave a lot smarter is to plug them into a smart outlet, like the Eve Energy Outlet.
What is it?
The Energy Outlet is a receptacle with two outlets that supports the latest smart home standards, Thread and Matter. The Energy Outlet replaces an existing receptacle in your house so that the outlets can be controlled by voice and automation; they can also be controlled manually if necessary. Eve is a company that “builds beautiful connected home devices that set superior standards of comfort, safety, and energy efficiency.”
What’s in the box?
The Eve Energy Outlet comes with:
- One receptacle with faceplate
- One manual
- Two screws
- Two twist wire caps
Specifications
The Eve Energy Outlet has the following specifications:
- Smart home standards: Thread and Matter
- Thread node type: Router (aka full thread device)
- Size: 93″ x 4.7″ x 1.7″ (a standard 15-amp duplex receptacle)
- Current: 15 A / 1800 W
- Mobile OS: iOS/iPadOS 17+, Android 8.1+
- Color: White
Design and features
The Eve Energy Outlet looks like a standard pair of outlets, though the faceplate has squared edges instead of rounded ones. Other than a pair of small LEDs and the Eve logo, nothing distinguishes it from a normal receptacle, and that’s exactly what I want.
Installation and setup
The Eve Energy Outlet arrived in one Eve’s trademark white boxes that both displayed it nicely and protected it.
The first thing that I wanted to know was, “What wires does the Outlet have?” It has the three wires that you would expect from a modern electrical device: A black wire for hot, a white wire for neutral, and a green wire for ground.
The second thing that I wanted to know was, “Does the manual show me how to connect these wires to the wires in my junction box?” As I skimmed through the manual, I found the diagram that I was looking for. Perfect. The manual can be found here, if you want to take a look.
This means that the Outlet will be a simple install, especially in a newer home like mine; even so, I recommend hiring a professional electrician to install it for you, just to make sure everything is done right. My son-in-law is an apprentice electrician, so I asked him to come over and help with this. Before we did anything, we popped the circuit breaker in the garage and verified that the outlets were dead.
The first step was simply to remove the faceplate.
The second step was to remove the wires from the old receptacle, keeping track of which ones were hot, neutral, and ground. In this junction box, the wires followed the standard color scheme, but even if were atypical, we could tell them apart by where they were connected to the receptacle.
The third step was to connect the wires together, as per the manual. Although the Outlet comes with twist wire caps, I purchased some WAGO wire connectors and used those instead, as they are simpler and more reliable. We put everything back into the junction box and popped on the faceplate. Done. After restoring the circuit breaker, we manually turned on the outlets by pressing the green LEDs and testing one with a fan and the other with an air purifier. They worked!
Eve has an installation video that walks through the process.
The final step was to add this to my smart home using Apple’s Home app. I could have used Eve’s app, but I prefer to use Apple’s, because that lets me know that the gadget is truly interoperable with Apple’s platform and doesn’t require Eve’s app, at least not for the basic functionality.
The Outlet paired just like any other IoT device without problems. In the Home app, I was able to turn them on and off. I was pleased to see that the outlets function independently, meaning that I can turn on one outlet while leaving the other off. When I used Siri, however, to control them via voice, they did not respond. I waited until the next day and tried again, and they responded to voice just fine. I’m not sure what the delay was, but perhaps the devices were doing some updates that prevented them from being controlled by voice.
Performance
The Eve Energy Outlet supports both Thread and Matter. Thread is an open networking standard for IoT devices that is fast, low-power, and secure. Matter is an open connectivity standard that provides interoperability and compatibility among IoT devices regardless of the manufacturer or the smart home platform. At this point in time, all smart home gadgets should be supporting these standards.
The Outlet just works. There’s nothing flashy about it, but it has seamlessly added itself to my Thread network, which now has 16 devices from Apple, Eve, Nanoleaf, OREiN, Ecobee, and Schlage. When I say, “Hey, Siri, turn on the fan,” the fan turns on. When I say, “Hey, Siri, night-night,” all the IoT gadgets in my house, including both outlets in the Eve Energy Outlet, turn off.
One of the things that I have always loved about Eve, ever since I first reviewed their Water Guard, is their stance on privacy. There’s no account, no Eve Cloud, and no way for anyone else, including Eve, to gather data about me. This is how Matter works, and this is how smart gadgets should work.
Extra Features
Eve has several IoT devices, including a motion sensor, a light strip, and an outdoor cam, and they are adding more support for Thread and Matter all the time.
What I like
- Clean design
- Easy install
- Thread and Matter support
- It just works!
What I’d change
- Nothing
Final thoughts
The Eve Energy Outlet transforms dumb outlets into smart outlets and allows me to control my fan and my air purifier via voice and home automation. This gadget doesn’t sing or dance or do anything flashy; instead, it just quietly does its job improving the automation of my home. That’s exactly what I want it to do. If you’re looking for a smart outlet for your home, I highly recommend the Eve Energy Outlet.
Price: $49.95
Where to buy: Amazon or Eve’s online store
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Eve.
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Fifty bucks is a bit steep. I got some that are very similar (but WiFi only, which is fine with me as I have an extensive mesh network) for 12 bucks on Amazon… They work great.
You’re right, $50 a receptacle is somewhat expensive, and for most of us that would be way too expensive to upgrade every receptacle in our house. Keep in mind that we really don’t need to update all of them, just those in which we keep dumb gadgets (like my fan) plugged in. Personally, I don’t need but one or two such receptacles, as I have so many smart gadgets. Additionally, I’m all in on Thread and Matter both, so I don’t mind paying extra for those to get the convenience and security. It’s one of these things where you get what you pay for.
I’d love to know about less expensive alternatives that are still HomeKit compatible. But perhaps when you said “wifi only”, you meant that the ones you have are not?! (I ask because most HomeKit devices are also “wifi only”, so I didn’t really get what you meant).
Thanks for the review. I am wondering how easily the Eve fit into the outlet box? I have lots of Lutron smart switches in my house, but no smart outlets yet. In a previous house, I installed Lutron smart switches as well and sometimes found it hard to fit the switch box into the enclosure – as the hidden bits of those smart switches (and I assume smart outlets) are quite a bit bigger than their dumb counterparts.
It is true that the smart receptacle from Eve is larger than the normal one that the builder installed. Even so, we didn’t have any problem getting it to fit. It was snug, to be sure, but we didn’t have to use a hammer to force it in. 🙂 The WAGOs might have helped here, as they are smaller than a twist nut, but probably not much.