When you get the EZHome device it will need to be connected to your wifi network before it can be used. Our plugs use Tasmota Open Source firmware to give you 100% local control over your plug. TH3D has no remote access to your EZPlug as we believe that the hardware you purchase is yours.
You can use the EZHome device with smart assistants through Home Automation platforms like Home Assistant. The EZHome device is not capable of directly being controlled by voice assistants.
You will need something on your local network to talk to the plug through these assistants. We recommend Home Assistant as your local home automation platform for all your smart home devices. The EZPlug can be used with any device that has a 10A load or less.
To connect the EZHome device to your Wifi is very simple. You will need a computer, smartphone, or tablet that has a 2.4ghz Wifi radio in it.
The EZHome device is only 2.4ghz compatible so make sure the network you use will be a 2.4ghz one.
5.8ghz networks are not compatible with the EZHome device as it does not have a 5.8ghz radio in it.
The first thing to do is plug in the EZHome device and wait for it to boot. This takes about 10 seconds.
EZPlugs – When you first plug in the EZPlug it will turn its relay on if it completed its startup successfully. When it is ready to be paired to your Wifi you will see its LED blinking quickly. The LED is a low-brightness LED so you may have to look close to see it flashing. We opted for a low-brightness LED to conserve power and prevent light pollution from being an issue in the room it is installed.
EZPlug ready to pair with your WiFi
EZBulbs – When you screw the EZBulb into the wifi network it will light up full brightness WHITE.
Once it is ready to pair you will need to connect a computer, phone, or tablet to the EZHome device. You will see a wifi network that starts with “EZXXXX_”. The letters and numbers after the wifi name are unique to each EZHome device based on its mac address. It is recommended to setup each device one at a time so you know which one you are connecting to.
Connect the device you are using to the EZHome device Wifi network. Some devices will warn you that there is no internet access on the network, you will want to tell it to stay connected even though there is no wifi network available.
On your device that is connected to the EZHome device, open a web browser and go to http://192.168.4.1. This will bring you to the Wifi setup page. You can scan for your networks in the area and then click the one you want to use OR you can manually enter in your Wireless network name and password. The EZHome device supports Open and WPA2 encrypted wifi networks. Make sure to match your network name and password identically as both are case sensitive.
In the previous step, we copied the plug name and had you note it somewhere. This is what we will use to find the plug on your network in some of the methods listed below. There are many ways to locate the plug on your network. The below methods are in order of easiest to hardest.
Some routers will allow you to access the EZHome device directly if their DNS service supports it for the DHCP clients. First try accessing the plug by adding http:// to the front of the name we copied in the pairing step in your web browser
For the plug we are using for this example it would be:
http://ezplug_6fa665-1637/If the web interface comes up then you now have access to the EZHome device and you will see a screen like this that shows the plug information and IP address:
If you are familiar with your personal router then you can login to it and find the EZHome device name (the one copied earlier) along with its IP address.
Due to the thousands of different routers out there we cannot cover those steps here but you can refer to your router documentation on how to see what clients are connected to your network.
Once you have your EZHome device IP address you can use that to integrate it with the Tasmota Octoprint plugin or just simply use it from a web browser by going to the IP address with http:// in front of it. In our example, our plug has an IP address of 172.16.21.144.
The URL for our plug in this example would be: http://172.16.21.144
In the above Wifi setup step we asked you to note the EZHome device name. If your router supports DNS resolution of the local DHCP clients (most do) then you can “ping” the device name and get back the IP address. On Windows, you just open a command prompt (press WINKEY+R then type CMD and press enter in the run command) and then type the below command with your EZHome device name in place of the example one (example one is EZPlug_6FA665-1637).
Most operating systems all use the same command (Linux, Mac, etc) to ping a computer.
ping EZPlug_6FA665-1637
Once you have your EZHome device IP address you can use that to integrate it with the Tasmota Octoprint plugin or just simply use it from a web browser by going to the IP address with http:// in front of it. In our example, our plug has an IP address of 172.16.21.144.
The URL for our plug in this example would be: http://172.16.21.144
If you do not know how to access your router’s client list you can use a program called an IP scanner to see what is on your network. The one we use and prefer is called “Advanced IP Scanner”. You can download it for free from their website here: https://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/
When Advanced IP Scanner loads it will usually auto-fill the network address to scan. If it doesn’t then you will need to enter it in yourself. In our example our network is 172.16.21.0/24. We would enter 172.16.21.1-254 into Advanced IP scanner to scan the whole network. Examples of typical home network addresses are 192.168.0.1-254 and 192.168.100.1-254.
Make sure your network scan range is correct and click the “Scan” button in the upper left hand corner. Let the scan run.
Once the scan finishes, click the “Name” header to sort the network clients by name. Look in the list for the EZHome device name we copied and noted down in the initial Wifi setup step.
If you do not see the name of the plug then check the devices with the little > to the left of the Status icon. Look for one that shows “HTTP, EZXxxx – Main Menu” when you click the > to the left of the status icon.
Once you have your EZHome device IP address you can use that to integrate it with the Tasmota Octoprint plugin or just simply use it from a web browser by going to the IP address with http:// in front of it. In our example, our plug has an IP address of 172.16.21.144.
The URL for our device in this example would be: http://172.16.21.144
At this point, your EZHome device is connected to your home network and ready to use. You can use it standalone by visiting the EZHome device web page as described above with no further configuration needed. But there is so much more you can do with the EZHome device!
By default, the EZHome device will get its IP address from your home router. Many home routers allow for what is called a “DHCP reservation”. This means that the plug will get the same IP address every time it boots up. Refer to your router documentation for setting up a DHCP reservation. There are too many different routers to cover all of them here in a guide.
If you do not know how to set up a DHCP reservation or your router does not support it then you can static assign an IP address on the plug itself. It is important to assign it an IP address that is NOT already in use. See our guide here on setting a static IP on the EZHome device using its web interface command line: Setting a static IP on an EZHome device
To get the most out of your EZPlug you can connect it to your Octoprint/EZPi set up to allow for automated control and safety features of your 3D printer. See our Octoprint-Tasmota plugin setup guide here: Using the EZPlug with OctoPrint/EZPi
If you are a Home Assistant user, the EZHome device can be integrated with Home Assistant via the MQTT protocol. We have MQTT discovery automatically enabled in the firmware so all you need to do is enter in your MQTT server information and credentials to have it talk to your Home Assistant installation.
Home Assistant MQTT Documentation: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/mqtt/
