I often feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place with smart home stuff. As a disabled person, it's totally life changing as an accessibility tool and enables so much more independence. But equally as someone with a computing background and an interest in electronics, I know just how bad a lot of it is. I appreciate people like Clive who dissect them so I don't have to and can make a much more informed decision. And fortunately I do have that knowledge and it allows me to make decisions about what to buy and how to set it up that allow me to get the best of both - the independence and as much control at possible over risks. Not everyone has that though and it makes me so sad that people either miss out or don't realise the risk they're taking because manufacturers are often in a race to the bottom rather than actually following both cyber security and electrical best practices.

For some reason both of my cats were totally fascinated by this teardown. I hope that they learned something.

They used to sell mains double adapters in Australia that swapped the active and neutral pins, because that was the easiest way to do it with physical strips and one socket upside down.

I wouldn't necessarily have thought to check the continuity across the earth terminals - every other socket I've ever seen has a bloody great bus-bar joining the mounting holes/earth terminal. Having installed it, I've got a little rudimentary plug-in tester, there's no guarantee that I'd have tried both sockets. So, maybe I'm painting a picture of me as an oaf, but it's the danger of making assumptions about how stuff works: that "an earth" would mean the whole thing earthed. I think it would be easy to be caught out if not checking stuff that shouldn't need checking. A lesson learnt - thanks Clive.

BS 1363 sockets normally have 2 E terminals because, until a month ago, BS 7671 required circuits with high cpc ("earth wire") currents to have 2 separate cpcs attached via two separate terminals. Think of a bunch of computer equipment in a data centre with lots of filtering capacitors giving lots of earth leakage. If there's only cpc and it disconnects, any metalwork becomes live via the relatively low impedance of the capacitors.

"There's always a bit of a weakness" in Web-connected things. How right you are, Big Clive. Years back there were Chinese USB-rechargeable vape sticks that contained malware/spyware, and they got plugged into computers used by US government employees. It is a *real* problem. The ol' "trust but verify" has become "don't trust at all" for good reason. We love your channel!

I absolutely agree with your trepidation around all things IoT. I was gifted one of the Sonoff wifi controlled switching devices, and I chose not to use it until i flashed my own code onto it. Which was surprisingly easy. And, yes, it was the same chip as this one.

The most shocking thinking was seeing that it was designed well enough to be dismantled without the need for the dremel of enlightenment or snips of gnostic-gnibbling. I'm not sure I've seen a socket come apart non-destructively before(this may admittedly be a feature rather than a bug).

as someone who is DIY and has been changing out GFCI's in the u.s I likely would have thought both shared a ground/earth. this was good to know, and now i'm going to be testing all new outlets.... Clive, you're amazing, and i can't wait for you to hit 1m

I have to say that I'd never install one of these things without a hard on/off switch next to it. My Mum had one of those simple USB sockets and one day it started to smoke. She panicked as she couldn't turn it off and had to call me, whereupon trying to explain how to isolate the circuit at the consumer unit while she was flapping around and stressed wasn't ideal. I eventually had to tell her to "flip the big red switch" to turn off the whole supply and then drive over as quickly as possible because she doesn't have a mobile and was calling me from a cordless landline phone that got disconnected when the power went off.

Love how you attack this exactly how any of us would , I’ve got about eight of those I bought home from a clearance store and I’m extremely grateful you did this video before I’ve fitted any , however the brand British general I have got has all the earths tied together by a bar from the screw mounts to both screw clamps

A decent piece of kit let down by dumb earthing, even a label would help, definitely the instructions should have the fact in large red letters. Lots of non smart sockets have dual earth connections, a lot that I've installed in recent years have, but every one of them had the earth terminals connected, normally by a metal plate going around the live and neutral brown connection block and picking up the mounting screws at the same time and yes I tested every socket with a continuity test at the *distribution board or at the socket with radial circuits and spurs. *Consumer unit, if domestic. I have mainly done commercial & industrial installations as well as event work (stage sound & lighting) for the last 47yrs. Some electricians I've worked with use the second earth for a metal back box strap putting the ring earths in one terminal which is something I do myself but most times I've seen the terminals used to complete the ring earth with plastic back boxes. I often - even with plastic boxes - put the ring earths in one connector, there is just something nice about seeing the wires connect in one terminal especially as 2.5mm (ring circuit) twin & earth has only a 1.5mm earth. Top tip! Never twist any of the solid-core wires together on a ring circuit before inserting into a brass terminal hole, that can cause the grub screw to sever one of wires with very little torque when tightening. Inserted straight, side by side shotgun style into the orifice so the screw can clamp both wires firmly from the top creates a much stronger connection.

In IOT, the S stands for security

- _They recalled it because it's so dangerous._ - _Yeah, Clive needs to see this product for sure!_

I absolutely love your videos, Clive. I've watched almost everything on your channel and I've learnt so much. Always entertaining, honest and informative reviews. Love it 👍🏼

That high voltage tester is brutal! I would like to know if the HV is AC, DC or both. Thanks, Clive.

it does give wiring at 1:23 near the bottom left, step 8, although it doesn't tell you to put it in both earth holes

Well, it's got the other problem of being an internet-connected wall socket, but that doesn't appear to be a design flaw in their eyes

Hi Clive, another excellent video. I have never thought it's a good idea to have any consumer electronics hard wired into a socket box. It can be damaged during installation, it can be prone to overheating, and difficult for a consumer to deal with in the event of a fault. At 17 seconds into you video, it clearly shows the product as being CE marked. It's not the first time that TCP, has been in trouble for put a test marking on its product without the appropriate design review and testing, without having been done first.

I've never quite understood the inclination to fill a house with security flaws and fire hazards. Maybe that's just me though.

Clive you missed the first part of the recall! At 1:21 you can clearly see that in the instructions leaflet they show only one of the earth lugs connected in the wiring diagram! (there is actually a small wiring diagram on the other side of the paper)

I think we need to see a hot dog across that flash tester...

Just in time for my breakfast and coffee thanks for the quality video love recalled videos

I think the text being upside down is so that it reads correctly as you wire it facing down, then rotate up to mount to the wall. Cheers for the video, always informative and interesting.

I hope you keep this type of videos reviewing recalls in electronics, I love reading the big posters at targets Walmart ect about recall products like baby carriers folding while in use 😀 and other dangerous products 😀

I prefer Germoline over TCP, it's down to the smell. 😆👍

I agree with you on those circuit board mounted relays, I'm a machine technician and one brand of edgebander I've worked on many times uses thermostats to regulate the temperature of the glue nozzle. There are two separate sections of the glue nozzle, the main heating section which uses five heater elements and the application nozzle which uses one heater. Each section has it's own thermostat and these thermostats use these board mounted relays to switch on the heaters. For years they used the thermostats to switch on separate larger relays that took the brunt of the load the heater elements drew. Somewhere along the line someone decided that the nozzle only had one element so they could save a few bucks by eliminating the second relay and switch the element straight from the thermostat. As you can imagine, eventually the circuit board relay burnt out from the load, I don't remember the wattage of that element, it was either 500 watts or 250 watts at 240 VAC, but the relay could only handle it for so long. What I started doing was recommending to the customers to add an inexpensive relay to the circuit to switch that element because those thermostats weren't cheap. Most of the time they would agreed and I would install the relay and draw it into the schematics.

Excellent Clive thanks I have shared this on a neighbourhood page

It's a shame really because it seems in many other ways that it's a good socket (tho I don't like the screwless façade). Especially considering the Rx, Tx and Rst pins are visible on the reverse so this could easily be loaded with a custom firmware from eg ESPHome as I have done with other TCP products in the past.

Today on "sounded good on paper" we see a dangerously smart wall socket.

Ideal for plugging in the oscilloscope, mark one as not earthed, top tip 😉😅👍

I was almost worried I wouldn’t get a ‘one moment please’ in this video after the first pause 😮 but nope, Clive just kept us on the edge of our seats 😊

Two earth terminals is quite common - mostly on double pole switched sockets, but almost always with a very clear obvious commoning bar between the two. Definitely uncomfortable with the size of those relays & even more uncomfortable with it being a "smart" internet connected thing - very much a solution looking for a problem....

Always test a new socket before installation! I get into trouble for taking things apart before putting them in😅

Thankyou for stripping and analysing this device , looks quite well made althou looks like the low voltage circuit is always live which I wouldn't have thought was very safe, especially as it's inside the wall. I have plugin smart plugs so atleast I can unplug when not using them, they are great thou as I can control devices from my phone anywhere

I remember when I saw a BS1363 plug for the 1st. time, I thought that it was for industrial use because hers huge pins in comparison with NEMA plugs and from another standards, another surprise with them was when I discovered hers built-in ceramic fuses... Greetings from Brazil!!!

Hardwiring any electronics into fixed house wiring is a really stupid idea.

I didn't notice whether you tested if that USB socket had any connection to ground. Considering how people have been electrocuted through their headphones listening to something while a mobile device is being charged, I think it's essential

Thanks Big Clive. Interesting teardown!

Well this was useful, I shall be testing earth continuity across any unfamiliar outlets from now on

at 1:23 you can see a basic wiring image that is only using the earth next to the live and neutral terminals

I'm really not comfortable with this kind of thing being hard wired.

The King has returned once again.

Came to comment that there was a wiring diagram but you figured that out already.

I just don't trust smart switches/outlets or really even outlets with USB ports. I don't like the idea of having random circuit boards inside my wall, seems like a fire hazard compared to an analogue switch. I have a few smart bulbs around the house and I like those, but that's about as far as I'd go IOT wise

I always see that yellow magnet wire referred to as "triple insulated wire" or TIW. As far as I can tell it's the only compliant way to wind the secondary on those little SMPS transformers.

Impressive breakdown, thankyou big Clive very informative and interesting

Thought I saw some reference to wiring in the instructions at 1:23. Bottom row 2nd from the left image seems to show the rear of the unit with wires illustrated..

at the 1:24, you can clearly see the wiring diagram which lacks the necessary instruction for the second ground connection.

Just wondering if you were to connect both "earth" connections would the lug or terminal where the jumper is added be rated for two wires under one lug or screw? I suppose you could tail it out. I guess just need to do what you needto do to make it safe.

Thank you for explaining the background of the issue. That's something that I didn't know/thought about. Maybe that's why there are no installation instructions in the box so that only electrician install it that knows how to deal with it. At the same time, any DIYer can get it so there is a risk that it will be installed incorrectly. Really strange design choices not to include instructions, jump cable or any lable on the back of the device.

Ahh Clive! You should have torture tested it with a nice 4kw inductive load! Would have loved to see how many times you can cycle those relays before the weld themselves closed? Side note, always use the same terminal for looping in an accessory. Lowest amount of failure points as possible. Great tear down, thanks!

We do like a good recall product. So many jokes about the missing link. I t is odd not to have the earths tied, randonJoe would just wire this the same way as "normal" sockets and have 1 side un-earthed. ⚡⚡We could put it down to Natural Selection. Interesting video 2x👍

13:27 Back in the days of valves it was quite common for the first smoothing capacitor after the rectifiers to be fairly modest (8uF was common in Fender guitar amps) so the rectifiers saw less ripple current, with a more substantial reservoir capacitor (16 or 32uF - us Yanks loved multiples of 8 for "condensers" back then) after the choke. Go too big with that first capacitor and the cathode bonding wire acts like a fuse. No idea why they'd do this with low power solid state except, perhaps, "Tradition!"...or maybe knock down a harmonic resonance.

Those relays look like the same (or similar) ones that I recently salvaged out of an old Microwave when converting it to a spot welder, they were also rated at 16 amp.

That actually looks like a reasonably nice piece of kit. I wouldn't want one in my wall, but plonk the thing on the end of an extension cable and I can think of loads of uses for it (once earthed properly). Ideally I'd want to replace the firmware with something custom, but that might not be hard --- there are some handy-looking RX and TX pins on the bottom, which might connect to the ESP's UART. That chip's got either 1MB or 2MB of onboard flash, too.

Shame about that design flaw, other than that (and the dubious idea of USB in a wall plate) it looks like a pretty reasonable smart outlet (with two relays which is awesome) and suitable for ESPHome or other custom firmware.

Hey Clive. I’d love to see you strip down and figure out a “Medicur Electromagnetic Field Therapy Unit”. My mother has one and swears that it works for her but I’m pretty sure it’s just a box with some blinking lights and it actually does nothing. I can’t find a taredown of one anywhere. I might be able to temporarily disassemble my mothers and take some pics.

This seems like a tremendous engineering oversight that is such a simple problem.

Think it was MK who brought dual earth sockets out to satisfy some regulation about I.T. equipment about 25 years ago. The k2747 was standard and the K2746 had dual earths and outboard rocker switches. Now some cheapo sockets have dual earths although some are upside down compared to the line and neutral. Think the example in the video is a result of a foreign copy. Excellent videos thanks.

That was quick!

It must be OK its got a CE sticker on it

I was once on the trip to smartify my home - when none of those products were available and my education as an EE came into place. But when I figured, what an effort it would be, avoiding the risk to burn down my home and then having a safety inspector stating "this is a non compliant installation - costs for the burned home are on you" - I just chose to not smartify my home as much as I initially wanted.

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You're right being worried about shady firmwares (and their cloud stuff) but this one and many other devices like this are based on an ESP chip thus can be flashed with a number of open source firmwares. Tasmota is perhaps the most famous one and it really unlocks the potential of these devices. Another firmware is Home Accessory Architect which is specific for direct Apple HomeKit integration (this is the one I use and it works really well for me) and another is ESPHome. Unfortunately these days some companies like Tuya have caught on the fact that a lot of people bought their devices but got rid of their cloud s**t and replaced the ESP based wifi modules with equivalents which are however not supported by these alternate firmwares. So now you need to do a bit more research or be ready to return the device if it doesn't have the right chip

I've got several TCP products in my house, luckily not one of those. The lights and remote plugs are very good so it's a shame to see how bad this is.

A lot of good grounding to a painted frame ;-)

Judging by the copper wiring coming from each socket to the plate, it looks like the manufacturers expected these to be bolted to a metal frame box for grounding purposes.

I don't care for having wifi switches or built in USB power supplies as a fixture, but it's not because of hackers. Either one is likely to fail long before a standard switch or receptacle. Just for my own ease of replacement, I prefer to use smart bulbs and plug in smart outlets, and USB adapters. I guess it just makes me a lazy tech geek instead of a modern one! 😆

I don't really agree with this being grounds (no pun intended) for a recall, it will just create tons of e-waste for basically nothing, instead they could just have informed the public that a jumper is needed, and further, issued a correct wiring diagram plus a free jumper for every customer. Besides that anyone who messes around with mains voltage must know you need to test your work and thus would have found out that the earth terminals aren't interconnected and thereupon would have re-wired it accordingly.

Thanks from Texas Clive

I suspect that secondary winding on the transformer is actually *triple* enamelled wire (TEW). Very safe !

Shocking (literally) that such a basic and dangerous error has been made by a fairly reputable manufacturer

In the USA, duplex outlets never have more than one ground terminal. I think the reason why is that they don't want the ground to be interrupted if the outlet is removed or damaged. You have to splice all the grounds in the box together with a wire nut, crimp sleeve or a WAGO.

Awesome video big Clive but dangerous wall socket

A lot of sockets do have two earth terminals for earthing to the back box. A line-earth fault can burn the fixing screws and lugs, and a direct tail to the back box provides a better, safer earth. Of course, this can be connected straight into the same terminal as the CPC, but anyone who's connected a spur will know how difficult it can sometimes be to fit three wires into one terminal (I have seen a model that had two L and two N terminals that makes this easier, but bizarrely still only had one E terminal 😵‍💫).

IOT just screams please make part of a bot net. the security from name brands is lax, random brands are even worse.

I would have tested the connection between earth's if failed would kick it back for replacement Only to get another one

Yeah- I’d be happy to use that with a proper earth bridge. In any event, I ALWAYS check earths, AND correct active/neutral after doing any fixed wiring.

Great summary Clive, you miss nothing. This is why we do test certificates for new and existing installs, but early test both sides of a double socket with a plug in tester. 50-50 chance of finding it

At least the ones I've seen in the US, pretty much all of those wifi outlets seem poorly made. Especially the cheapo no-name ones that can be found on Amazon that aren't UL listed. They're probably fine for a lamp, but I've seen people use them with space heaters and window air conditioners and it just seems like you're asking for a fire running cheap no-name Chinese relays at 100% all the time. Although I wonder if the same basic design is actually somewhat safer in 230V countries. A 15 amp load in the US is only a 7.5A load for you, after all. (Give or take a bit) Much less stress on those little cheapo relays, I'd assume.

On a normal double 13A socket the earth link is visible, to the screw holes etc. Not being able to see the whole earth link imediatly rings alarm bells ! The point about no earth link between the two terminals being possibly to avoid blocking the wifi signal is not valid as it would make no difference with the socket fitted to a normal metal pattress box !

With the grounds separated, you could make one socket standard ground and other an "isolated" ground. an example of the need for an isolated ground would be in a sound booth where you have all the electronic devices such as lighting and computers using the standard ground, but you only plug the sound board into the isolated grounding circuit to help ensure noise doesn't get into the sound system. Of course I'm sure they didn't have that in mind when they made that device. You normally have the isolated grounding socket with a green dot and if there are two sockets the both would be isolated. I forget but I think hospital grade has an orange dot and the completely orange sockets used indicate that they are able to provide emergency power.

I did see wiring instructions in that manual Clive

As somome who have spent first 25 years of my life living in Eastern European old-style Soviet apartment buildings without ANY ground connectivity at all (grounding was not a part of Soviet electrical safety code - soviet time IEC sockets didn’t even had a grounding pins), I don’t see a problem here. All my youth I used the most terrible Soviet-made appliances that has little-to-no electrical safety measures at all AND no ground pins in sockets, and have never received anything but the faintest shock in worst case fault scenario. This whole “hazard” thing is a bit overrated…

i feel smart sockets always seem to have more issues than any other.

What a coincidence! I was about to ask you to test the trashy USB enabled wall outlet sockets you can buy everywhere these days.

A very good day to you all from Wellington Somerset

I would never want a SMPSU permanently connected to a 30A circuit in my house wiring, but if for some reason I did want something like this I'd want to add a connection from the low voltage side of the SMPSU to the mains earth.

6:42 Rule number one: USB ports in outlets are bad because they can fail, burn, often don‘t deliver (close to) 5V and generally are slow. Rule number two: A outlet with some relays most likely will fail 10 times faster compared to a normal outlet.

From a security POV IOT is still somewhat wild west - even basic things such as secure (signed) boot are not in place, despite being fairly easy to implement. Also if anyone has these & is using them knowing the limitations it is probably best to loop the earth through both terminals (So in one, link from 1 to 2, out of 2) as that way any electrical circuit test tests the full path - if the 3 wires-in-one and a link across is used the link isn't tested by that sort of test.

i was thinking about getting one but i use philips hue and im glad i went for the smart plugs by them over the now recalled ones

TCP was designed to be reliable, ordered and error-checked! Of course, I'm speaking of the Transmission Control Protocol, of course.

If I can't unplug it, I don't want it in my walls, I just don't trust there being always-on electronics connected directly to a 32 Amp ring, if it's of "cost-reduced" construction, whose to say that it won't go bang and start a fire in the wall? I just don't trust sockets with electronics inside...

I know of a seasoned electrician that transposed the the connections in a wall socket that was in an office of a laboratory. Several years later, a cleaner unplugged a computer in the office and plugged it back into the miswired socket. The computer died and sent mains down the RS232 network ,frying various lab analysers. *Very expensive* I don't recall if seasoning was used in the frying process. To add insult to injury ,the electrician was the husband of one of the lab staff.

I have a different smart socket that has not yet to my knowledge been recalled (but it is also no longer sold, so it appears that someone may have recognized the issue and quietly killed the product). It has rather beefy traces for neutral and line but a tiny trace for the earth connection that would most likely serve as nothing more than a fuse (which then would then obviously leave the device without a protective earth connection). Based upon the trace size I'm not confident it would be able to draw sufficient current to trip a traditional breaker before vaporizing, and as in some areas it is only a recent requirement for ground fault breakers this could be a very realistic hazard in normal use. I'm not sure how the design passed testing, but it is simple enough to solder a sufficient size earth wire and remedy the defect.

The weaknesses with IoT products is that they are dependent on a server and app, which will disappear when the company ceases to exist or decides they don't want to support that product anymore. There is nothing better than directly controlled circuits.

How annoying that the most important terminals aren't interconnected. How can such bad design have been approved for production.

Love your videos, I have learned so much since I have been watching them If I could afford to donate something to you I would without hesitation As I think it is worthy of some sort of payment for what I have learned All I can do is say Thank you for your wisdom of which has saved me many times in the past (IE) buying cheap crap

I've seen these cheap sockets that break neutral with the relay, not hot. Also, I recently saw some smart outlets with a recessed ground (about half an inch, 1.25cm). That's a risk, because a faulty device can have the case energized before the ground is connected. I have an outlet tester that specifically tests for a recessed ground, so it must be a common enough fault to design a test for.