I recently bought a 5-pack of BroadLink Smart Plugs to use as light timers. These work great and give you more features than your regular light timer would. I got a 5 pack for under $30 bringing the cost per unit to $5.50. My only regret is not buying these sooner.

The features you get with a smart plugs are incredible compared to traditional light timers. The cheapest cycle timer you can get will run you $20 and these do the same thing for $5. Smart Plugs can also be used to control your exhaust fans, oscillating fans, humidifier, dehumidifiers and of course your light cycle.

How to Setup Broadlink Smart Plug

The setup is fairly straight forward. Do it one at a time to simplify things. Start by installing the BroadLink app on your phone.

• Plug in Smart Plug
• Connect to Smart Plug WiFi using your phone
• Enter your WiFi password when prompted
• The device is now on your network
• Repeat for remaining plugs
• You will now see the smart devices on the BroadLink app

How to Set Light Timer on Broadlink Smart Plug

The timer feature is best setup through the “routine” function on the broadlink app. Routines in the BroadLink app are essentially conditional “if” statements.

Event Triggers:

Actions:

Conditions:

As you can see there are a number of options available for programming your smart plugs. The only limit is your imagination when it comes to setting up the environment in your grow space.

How To Set Cycle Timer on Broadlink Smart Plug

For controlling lights you will want to use the routine function. For controlling cycle timers (E.g auto cure bucket, aeroponics cloner) use the cycle timer option. To access this enter the smart plug’s individual settings.

At the top right you will see a box that says “cycle”. Click this to enter the cycle timer settings.

This is what the settings would look like for a cycle timer that is ON for 1 minute and OFF for 30 minutes. This is what I would use to control the spray pump on my aeroponics cloner.

Connecting with Google Home/Alexa

Although BroadLink smart plugs are compatible with Google Home and Alexa I don’t recommend connecting them if you use these platforms for other home automation as I do. All it takes is someone saying “Hey Google, Turn off all the lights” and you’ve left your plants in darkness.

Will Smart Plug’s work without Internet?

The first thing I tested was to see if the smart plug would work without internet. The answer is that yes they will work without internet as long as your router is still on. This means that even if your internet goes out the smart plug will still control your lights. So you don’t have to risk re-vegging. The only time that the smart plug will not work is if a cycle change happens while your router is turned off. This typically only happens if your power goes out, in which case your lights will not be working anyways.

Another advantage of the smart plug is that during a power outage your cycles will not shift like with a traditional timer. This means that if you have your lights setup to run off-peak hours, they will never drift away from this via power outages.

Other uses for Smart Plugs

These smart plugs typically come in 3 or 5 packs. It pays to have a number of these, especially on the same platform like Broadlink plugs allow.

• Operate Exhaust Fan for 20 min during night cycle in a Sealed CO2 room
• Turn on Ozone Generator remotely
• Use as Cycle Timer for Aeroponics Cloner
• Use with DIY humidifier to prevent adding humidity during night cycle
• Use as Cycle Timer for Auto-Cure Bucket