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Looking for out-of-box Plug-and-Play Smart Plug or Sensor Device That Publishes MQTT to AWS IoT Core
I am looking for a small IoT device (available in the United States) that can allow another small appliance (e.g., coffee maker, printer, lightbulb, etc.) to plug into it.
My primary requirements are:
- The device should monitor electrical parameters such as voltage, current, or power consumption.
- It should be able to publish data via MQTT.
- It must be configurable to connect to an AWS account (ideally AWS IoT Core).
- I would like to receive MQTT messages directly in AWS IoT Core without requiring a complex custom firmware development process.
- A relatively plug-and-play setup is preferred (e.g., simple configuration of AWS endpoint, certificates, etc.).
I am flexible on additional features. The main goal is to demonstrate real-time telemetry from small appliances into AWS (for example, for a booth demo or proof-of-concept use case).
Has anyone used a commercially available smart plug or voltage/current monitoring device that can be easily configured to publish to AWS IoT Core?
If possible, I would appreciate:
- Recommended device models
- Configuration approach (native MQTT, custom firmware like Tasmota, etc.)
- Any lessons learned integrating with AWS IoT Core
Thank you in advance for your suggestions!
- Topics
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Tags
- AWS IoT Core
- Language
- English
- Newest
- Most votes
- Most comments
While I can provide information about AWS IoT Core's MQTT capabilities and requirements, I don't have specific information about commercially available smart plug devices that meet your requirements in my available sources.
What I can tell you is that AWS IoT Core supports device connections using the MQTT protocol and MQTT over WebSocket Secure (WSS). For devices to connect successfully, they need to:
- Use MQTT v3.1.1 or MQTT v5.0 protocols
- Support TLS 1.2 or 1.3 for secure communications
- Authenticate using X.509 certificates (the recommended method for device authentication)
- Be identified by a unique client ID
- Connect to AWS IoT Core endpoints in one of the 20+ available regions worldwide
AWS IoT Core is designed to handle lightweight MQTT communication, which is specifically built to tolerate intermittent connections, minimize code footprint on devices, and reduce network bandwidth requirements. It provides scalable, low-latency bidirectional communication between devices and the cloud.
For your use case, you would need a device that either:
- Natively supports configurable MQTT endpoints and X.509 certificate authentication, or
- Supports custom firmware (like you mentioned Tasmota) that can be configured to connect to AWS IoT Core with the appropriate certificates and endpoint information
The AWS IoT Device SDKs are the recommended way to connect devices to AWS IoT Core, as they support the necessary authentication protocols and connection requirements. However, for a commercial off-the-shelf smart plug, you'd need to verify that the device either uses these SDKs or provides equivalent MQTT client functionality with certificate-based authentication support.
I recommend checking AWS Partner Device Catalog or AWS IoT community forums for specific device recommendations that have been validated to work with AWS IoT Core for your monitoring and telemetry use case.
Sources
MQTT - AWS IoT Core
IoT for Connected Homes | Home Automation, Home Security & Monitoring, Home Networking | AWS IoT
Device communication protocols - AWS IoT Core
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