Want to make your home wire free? Smart plugs are here to the rescue. A smart plug can help automate your home by converting your basic home devices in to smart devices. All you need to do is put your smart plug in any outlet and there you go. You now have a remote control to control your home appliances or even lights. 

This little piece of brilliance can turn any outlet in to a smart one or any basic home appliance to a smart appliance. It does not require a smart outlet and the devices for which it is used do not need to be smart either. It won’t be long before you realize you should have invested in this device sooner than you actually did. 

How Do I Reconnect My Smart Plug?

How it works

You may be wondering how a simple home appliance can be transformed in to a smart device by simply inserting a plug. It really is quite simple. A smart plug acts as an adapter between the power outlet and the appliance you want to manage. An app on your phone allows you to manage the power supply being provided to the home appliance through the smart plug. Therefore, your appliances can now be remotely controlled via the internet or the WIFI network in your home. 

Smart plugs have an inbuilt WIFI antenna that allows it to connect with any smart home system like Alexa or Amazon. Once connected, the smart home system can now easily communicate with the smart plug through the WIFI network. All you will have to do is give a voice command to your smart home system, which will then transmit the message to the smart plug and it will act accordingly. 

Smart plug isn’t connecting; here is why

Admittedly the smart home technology is in its initial stages and is evolving constantly as well. This may lead to certain technical issues here and there which may impact connectivity and hence performance of the smart plug. Disconnection with the WIFI does not let the smart plug effectively control the appliances. Before we give you guidance on how you can reconnect your smart plug, here are a few things you may need to assess:

  • Firstly, you need to ensure that your location, WIFI and Bluetooth are all enabled. Not doing so may not let you connect your smart plug with the WIFI. The WIFI network should be efficient in order to ensure seamless connectivity.
  • Secondly, if you are using any app to control your smart plug; do check that it is updated. Apps used with home systems like Alexa usually require regular updating. A common app that many consumers use is Smart Life. It requires adding the smart device in to the app manually. When you put the smart plug in to the socket, a light will flash on the plug. This indicates that the plug can be found by the app. Enter password for the WIFI and then the email address with which you have synced your phone. From here on you can add your device to the app and start using it. 
  • Smart plugs like smart lights need a frequency of 2.4 GHz. In addition to this you may also need to check your internet connection. If the internet router is acting up, you can simply turn off your router and turn it back on. This may help stimulate the connectivity.
  • If your phone’s battery is low and it goes in to power saving mode, this may hinder certain apps from working. This may be true for your smart plug app as well. You can eliminate this problem by turning off the power saving mode and revive connectivity. 

Reconnecting the smart plug to WIFI

In order to reconnect your smart plug and get it back online, you can unplug the device. Press and hold for ten seconds. Let go when the LED starts flashing quickly. Restart discovery and check if it is back online. Whether it is a phone app, a smart home system like Amazon or Alexa, the basic technique to reconnect your smart plug to the network is to turn on the power button on your plug, hold it down for a certain amount of time, which may vary according to vendor instructions, and then proceed with adding your smart plug device on the associated app once the light starts blinking. 

Earlier we discussed certain issues that may cause the smart plug to disconnect from the network. Trouble shooting in those cases would not necessarily require re-adding the device on the app. We will now discuss some instances where you may need to reconnect your smart plug to the WIFI.

Reconnecting after an update

If you update the password to your WIFI or have a new router, this too may require you to reconnect your smart plug. One way is to use the same password and name for your new network, which you used previously. When you are done with updating the settings in your router, connect your phone to the new network. All the devices will then reconnect automatically. 

In case you do not use the same name and password for your new network, the approach will be a little different. 

  • If you do not wish to remove the devices from the app, then connect your phone to the new network and open your smart app. Click on devices in the app, choose the edit option and remove the device. This will cause the LED indicator on the plug to flash. While it is flashing, choose the add device option, add the smart plug and follow the requisite steps to reconnect. Be sure to add the accurate password. 
  • In case you do remove the devices from the app, here is what you can do. Press the WIFI button to turn your smart plug on. The red LED will turn on. Now turn it off. Press the button and hold it like this for ten seconds. When the blue LED starts flashing, release the button. While it is flashing, add the smart plug device in your app and again follow the steps to reconnect.