Elegant design

We have seen some other HomeKit powered power supplies on the market, but none really look like Eve Energy Strip. Start with the design - it's covered in aluminum with a matte black top. It looks modern, elegant, and in keeping with the rest of the (recent) Eve Systems range. It is easily suitable for the aesthetics of many homes without problem. In our opinion, this is one of the most beautiful food strips in the world.

One side of the Eve Energy Strip is a small round button, used to reset the fuse in case of tripping. On the back, two fixing holes allow to place it under a desk or against a wall. A HomeKit pairing code is also found here for pairing with the Home application.

At the top you will find three more buttons, three matching jacks and two status lights. Each of the three buttons allows you to turn on or off one of three outlets. This gives you a physical point to turn off the jacks individually and by HomeKit. If you do not want the buttons to work, a parental lock feature is available in the Eve app to disable them.

Eve Energy Strip

The Eve name "Energy Strip" is a little misnomer, and what you get is not usually associated with a normal "power strip". Power strips generally do not provide any protection for connected devices, contrary to the Eve Energy Strip surge protector. It is equipped with over-voltage, over-current and surge protection to ensure the safety of all your connected sensitive equipment.

Install

As always with any HomeKit product, the configuration is simple. Just open the Home (or Eve) application and press Add an accessory. The camera will open and you will quickly scan the pairing code on the back of the Eve Energy Strip or Getting Started Guide. & # 39;

In the Home application, you can name each of the three outlets, assign them all to a room, designate them as a lighting / fan / outlet and designate them as favorites during setup. Once set up, they can be tilted individually.

Eve Energy Strip in Home application

Eve decided that for this product, they would use Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is fast enough and Apple has improved, but Wi-Fi was even faster.

As it will be commonly used for a true functional flash, Eve did not want any delay for the lights to go off. In our tests, the switchover was almost instantaneous when we switched the power outlets.

Once configured, outlets can be controlled from the application, via Siri, via your Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and more.

Users can also trigger them based on the motion of a HomeKit motion sensor, depending on the time of day, depending on the sunrise / sunset, related to switches / buttons, and so on.

For us, one of our favorites is to attach them to a wall switch. Take the example of our living room: the room was designed with a single wall switch that would turn on the ceiling mount. But, this light alone was not enough for the room, so we completed it with additional floor lamps. Instead of enabling / disabling all these items separately, we turned to HomeKit.

Eve Energy Strip releases are controlled

We swapped the wall switch of the Eve lighting switch and connected the floor lamps to Eve's energy band. Then, for the ceiling light, we created rules in the Home application, according to which every time the switch was activated, the Eve Energy Strip also powered the plugs connected to the lamps. With this configuration, the lights can be controlled with a wall switch, as well as via HomeKit and benefit everyone.

The Eve app

The Apple Home app is adequate but has limitations. Especially when it comes to Eve's energy band.

For starters, firmware updates still can not be made via the Apple Home app. It can alert you to the availability of firmware, but does not allow you to install them. To do this, you must access the Eve app and press the device.

Eve Energy Strip in Eve application with power consumption

Another feature that does not exist in the Home app is the energy monitoring. Eve Energy Strip not only controls and protects your equipment, but also allows you to control the amount of electricity used and its cost. Since the Eve app, you can see which outlets are used and what power they shoot during that second. This will also give you a projected cost based on your location.

In addition, you can see past energy consumption and what it has already cost you. You can never use your Eve Energy Strip to turn your TV on or off, but you may want to keep it safe and know how much it costs you to operate. The "vampire power" that a TV draw can be remarkable, and a practical demonstration of the power of a piece of equipment when turned off can be striking.

A smarter house

Eve Energy Strip is what the smart home should be. It is a functional and aesthetic product that does not just Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for the pleasure of doing. It does this for a reason and gives you something beautiful, protects your investments, offers a perspective of usage / cost and allows you to control them as needed. He does all that and does them well.

Eve Energy Strip

The other "smart" power strips are plastic, non-protective and linked to five other intelligent wizards. Eve Systems focuses solely on Apple HomeKit. In addition to devoting more time to the Apple ecosystem, it also helps your privacy. All your data and your use live only with you. Nothing is sent to other servers, nothing is shared with third parties, everything is encrypted in HomeKit.

Eve Energy Strip packaging

The biggest problem with Eve Energy Strip is the limitation of three shots. We would like if more could be connected. There is always a use here, but we love it so much that we want more. This is not exclusively about Eve, Vocolink, Koogeek and others have the same problems with their products.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Or buy

If you want to buy an Eve Energy Strip, they are available now for $ 99.95 at Amazon.