Happy New Year!
As 2021 draws to end. I want to wish each and every one of our supporters a happy new year! It's been a pleasure to see so many positive reviews on our Smart Plugs, and support on our Twitter @LocalBytesShop. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting us!
What's new
As we go into 2022, we've got a few exciting updates to share with you!
This blog
As you may have noticed, the old blog didn't get much care an attention. But as we go forwards, we're looking to increase how we can help enthusiasts in achieving complete offline control of their smart houses. As such, we're officially launching the Local Bytes Blog, in 2 main categories!
- Knowledgebase - A home for technical documentation and guides.
- Posts - A home for news, updates, and announcements. Any informal exploration may also go in here
We're hoping that by adding more documentation around our products, we can make smart homes more accessible!
Power Monitoring UK Updates
As you may have noticed from mid-November to December, our smart plugs were out of stock. Whilst unfortunate, this was for good reason. During the first batch of plugs, we received a few questions about the safety of our smart plugs, especially when handling higher loads. In addition to this, we also became aware of inaccuracies in the Power Monitoring functionality. Having consulted with both the factory and the Tasmota team, we're delighted to be launching our 2nd version of the Smart Plug!
- V2 comes with a 13a relay, bringing it in line with the maximum permitted current of the UK standard of plug socket.
- V2 is now fully calibrated at the factory! No more manual calibration required! Any orders placed in December 2021 will be shipping the v2 plug. You'll know this by looking for the batch number on the plug or package being 2021-11 or greater!
New Zigbee Sensors
Eagle-eyed shoppers may have noticed our Zigbee Products have been restocked. Bringing along two new sensors, completing the Sonoff Zigbee line-up:
- SNZB-01: Wireless Switch
- SNZB-02: Temperature & Humidity Sensor
- SNZB-03: Motion Sensor
- SNZB-04: Door & Window Sensor
Honourable Mentions
Local Bytes would not be where it is today without the help of a few notable individual's and organizations, without whom, we would not be able to operate:
- The Self-Hosted Podcast Team! Whilst advocating for hosting your own software, they've been fantastic in promoting our products
- The Tasmota Team! Tasmota is an amazing piece of software that allows anything running ESP-8266's (and similar) to operate in a highly customisable manner. Their developers have been vital to our recent improvements
- All of our customers! Ultimately, as a customer-first business, you are all key to our survival!
- You, the reader! If you've got it this far
Thank you, and happy new year!
Adam Allport,
Founder & CEO - Local Bytes