Lights & power

[Tombrown]

I bought a Roku Smart Plug to control a Roku camera and a sump pump under the house so I can monitor water level remotely. And for technical reasons, I want to manually turn the pump on/off rather than use of a float. 

I set it all up, and it worked as advertised via my phone. On/off/on/off went the pump. 

However, after 2 nights now, I wake up in the morning and turn the pump on via my Roku app (smart plug ON) and nothing happens. 

I then unplugged the Smart plug and plugged pump directly in and the pump worked. Both mornings. 

why?

I could hear the plug click On and click Off after touching my screen. But it wouldn’t drive the pump - until I unplugged/replugged.

is this some problem with the plug or my pump? Makes no sense to me. It worked while initially testing it - but I go to sleep and no more functioning until I replug?

Last night I went out for dinner, gone 5+ hours. It worked before I went to sleep. But not this morning!

Anyone? 

[renojim]

Why don't you try the smart plug with a lamp or something other than the pump in the same location?  It may tell you if it's the pump or the plug or some kind of incompatibility between them.  I use a non-Roku smart plug to turn on/off a recirculating pump which I would think is similar to a sump pump and I haven't had any problems.

[Tombrown · Accepted solution]

I need to update my initial post!

I have determined that it is my sump pump float switch which is intermitent, not the Roku Plug. 

The situation made no sense, but when the pump was discovered to be acting up even when not plugged into the Roku Plug I dove into figuring out what was going on. I have since learned that the float switches often act up, and I can simply replace that for reliable performance. 

My apologies to Roku, for assuming it was their switch. But I'm glad to now know what the problem is, and that I can indeed rely on this new tech solution!