Smart Plugs¶

Control your printers with Tasmota, Home Assistant, REST/Webhook, or MQTT smart plugs for power monitoring, automation, and energy tracking.

Overview¶

Smart plug integration enables:

• Power control - Turn printers on/off remotely
• Energy monitoring - Track power consumption
• Auto power-on - Start printer before scheduled prints
• Auto power-off - Shut down after cooldown
• Automation - Hands-free print scheduling

Requirements¶

Bambuddy supports four types of smart plug integrations:

Option 1: Tasmota¶

Direct control of Tasmota-flashed smart plugs:

Popular Options:

• Sonoff S31 - Compact, power monitoring
• Gosund SP111 - Affordable, power monitoring
• Athom Plugs - Pre-flashed with Tasmota
• Shelly Plug S - High quality, Tasmota compatible

Option 2: Home Assistant¶

Control any switch/light entity through Home Assistant:

Supports:

• Zigbee - Plugs via ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT
• Z-Wave - Plugs via Z-Wave JS
• Matter - Matter-compatible devices
• WiFi - Any WiFi plug integrated with HA
• ESPHome - Custom ESP-based devices

HA Scripts for Multi-Device Control¶

Want to control multiple devices together (e.g., printer + enclosure fan)? Use Home Assistant scripts:

1. Create a script in HA that turns on/off multiple devices
2. Add the script entity (e.g., script.turn_on_printer_setup) as a smart plug in Bambuddy
3. Link it to a printer
4. Configure automation triggers (optional)
5. When triggered, the script executes your automation

Script Automation Options:

Scripts appear in a dedicated row on printer cards with "Run" buttons for quick access.

Option 3: REST / Webhook¶

Control any device with an HTTP API using custom REST requests:

Supports:

• openHAB - REST API for item control
• ioBroker - Simple REST API
• FHEM - HTTP command interface
• Node-RED - Custom HTTP endpoints
• Any REST API - Any system with an HTTP interface

Option 4: MQTT (Monitor-Only)¶

Subscribe to MQTT topics for energy monitoring from any MQTT-enabled device:

Supports:

• Zigbee2MQTT - Any Zigbee energy monitor
• Shelly - Via native MQTT or Zigbee2MQTT
• Tasmota Discovery - Subscribe to Tasmota sensor topics
• ESPHome - ESP devices publishing to MQTT
• Any MQTT source - Any device publishing JSON with power data

Adding a Smart Plug¶

Adding a Tasmota Plug¶

Automatic Discovery¶

The easiest way to add Tasmota plugs is with automatic discovery:

1. Go to Settings > Smart Plugs
2. Click Add Smart Plug
3. Select the Tasmota tab
4. Click Discover Tasmota Devices
5. Wait for the network scan to complete
6. Click on a discovered device to select it
7. Fill in remaining details and Save

Manual Entry¶

If discovery doesn't find your plug:

1. Go to Settings > Smart Plugs
2. Click Add Smart Plug
3. Select the Tasmota tab
4. Enter configuration:

1. Click Save
2. Click Test to verify connection

Adding a Home Assistant Plug¶

Initial Setup (One-Time)¶

Before adding HA plugs, configure the connection:

1. Go to Settings > Network
2. Find the Home Assistant section
3. Enter your Home Assistant URL (e.g., http://192.168.1.100:8123)
4. Enter your Long-Lived Access Token
5. Click Test Connection to verify
6. Enable Enable Home Assistant toggle

Automatic Configuration (Home Assistant Add-on)¶

When running Bambuddy as a Home Assistant add-on, the integration is automatically configured using environment variables provided by the Home Assistant supervisor:

How it works:

• The add-on sets HA_URL and HA_TOKEN environment variables automatically
• Bambuddy detects these and configures the integration on startup
• The connection is established to http://supervisor/core using the supervisor-provided token
• No manual configuration needed!

In the UI:

When environment variables are active, you'll see:

• Lock icons on the URL and Token fields (read-only)
• "(Environment Managed)" labels
• "Automatically enabled via environment variables" badge on the toggle
• The integration is automatically enabled

Adding the Plug¶

1. Go to Settings > Smart Plugs
2. Click Add Smart Plug
3. Select the Home Assistant tab
4. Select an entity from the dropdown (shows all switch/light/input_boolean entities)
5. Enter a friendly name
6. Select the associated printer
7. Turn Powers the printer off if this entity drives an accessory rather than the printer itself — a chamber filter, a light, an enclosure heater (see Powers the printer)
8. (Optional) Configure energy sensor entities (see below)
9. Click Save

Adding a REST / Webhook Plug¶

REST plugs let you control any device by sending HTTP requests to custom URLs.

Adding the Plug¶

1. Go to Settings > Smart Plugs
2. Click Add Smart Plug
3. Select the REST / Webhook tab
4. Configure the control settings:

Control (at least one URL required):

Headers (Optional):

Status Monitoring (Optional):

Energy Monitoring (Optional):

Each value (power, energy) can use its own URL or fall back to the shared Status URL. This is useful when your system exposes individual endpoints for each data point (e.g., ioBroker simple-api).

1. Click Save

Adding an MQTT Plug¶

MQTT plugs subscribe to topics and extract power/energy data from JSON payloads. Each data type (power, energy, state) can use a different MQTT topic with its own settings.

Prerequisites¶

Configure your MQTT broker in Settings > Network (same broker used for MQTT Publishing).

Adding the Plug¶

1. Go to Settings > Smart Plugs
2. Click Add Smart Plug
3. Select the MQTT tab
4. Configure each data source:

Power Monitoring:

Energy Monitoring (Optional):

State Monitoring (Optional):

1. Click Save

Energy Sensor Configuration¶

Many Home Assistant smart plugs expose energy data as separate sensor entities rather than as attributes on the switch entity. Common examples include:

• Tapo P110M - sensor.tapo_power, sensor.tapo_today_energy, sensor.tapo_total_energy
• IKEA plugs via Zigbee2mqtt - sensor.ikea_plug_power, sensor.ikea_plug_energy
• Shelly plugs - sensor.shelly_power, sensor.shelly_energy

To enable energy tracking for these plugs:

1. After selecting the switch entity, expand Energy Monitoring (Optional)
2. Select the appropriate sensor for each field:
3. Power Sensor (W) - Current power consumption
4. Energy Today (kWh) - Today's energy usage
5. Total Energy (kWh) - Lifetime energy usage (used for per-print tracking)

Home Assistant Sensors¶

Read-only Home Assistant sensors (door contacts, thermometers, and similar) can be bound to a printer to show their state on the printer's card, with alerts and notifications — see Sensors → Printer Sensors for the full guide. Sensors use the same Home Assistant URL and token configured here for smart plugs.

Switchbar Quick Access¶

Add frequently-used plugs to the sidebar for quick access:

1. In Settings > Smart Plugs, expand a plug's settings
2. Enable Show in Switchbar
3. A plug icon appears in the sidebar footer
4. Hover to see status and control all switchbar plugs

The switchbar shows:

• Current power state (ON/OFF)
• Power consumption (if available)
• Quick on/off toggle buttons

Admin Link (Tasmota Only)¶

Each Tasmota smart plug card includes a direct link to the Tasmota web interface:

1. Click the Admin link on the plug card
2. Opens Tasmota interface in a new tab
3. Auto-login if username/password configured in Bambuddy

Finding Plug IP Address (Tasmota Only)¶

From Tasmota Interface¶

1. Access your plug's web interface
2. Go to Information
3. Note the IP Address

From Router¶

1. Log into your router
2. Find connected devices
3. Locate the plug by name or MAC

Static IP (Recommended)¶

Assign a static IP to prevent changes:

Power Control¶

Manual Control¶

Toggle power from Bambuddy:

1. Go to printer card
2. Click the power icon
3. Select On or Off

Or from Settings > Smart Plugs:

• Click the power toggle for any plug

Power Status¶

Automation¶

Powers the printer¶

Deleting a printer deletes the plugs linked to it.

Linking a plug to a printer serves two different purposes, and Bambuddy needs to know which one you mean:

• The plug feeds the printer — switching it off really does take the printer down.
• The plug feeds an accessory that follows the print cycle — a filter fan, a chamber light, an enclosure heater. The printer stays on.

The Powers the printer toggle appears on the plug (card and add/edit dialog) as soon as a printer is linked, and is on by default:

Turn it off for accessory plugs. Otherwise their auto-off marks the printer offline, which shows the printer as Unknown and stops the queue from dispatching to it.

The setting also decides which plug the queue power-cycles when it needs to bring an offline printer back: if several plugs are linked, the one marked Powers the printer is used for the boot wait, and the rest are switched on afterwards.

Which plug the printer card shows¶

A printer card has one Power row — a plug name, its current draw, and the auto-off and on/off buttons. When several plugs are linked to the same printer, Bambuddy picks the one for that row in this order:

1. The plug can be switched — a Home Assistant script can only be run, and an MQTT plug is monitor-only, so neither answers the on/off button
2. Powers the printer is on
3. The plug is enabled
4. Show on Printer Card is on
5. The plug can report watts, so the row shows a figure rather than --
6. Oldest plug, if several are still equal

Every one of these is a preference, and none of them excludes a plug: a printer whose only plug is an accessory, is disabled, is hidden, or is monitor-only still gets its Power row, because that row is where the on/off button lives. Powers the printer ranks above Show on Printer Card deliberately — hiding the plug that really feeds the printer should not hand the power buttons to a filter fan.

Whether a plug can report watts is read from its configuration — a Home Assistant plug with a Power Sensor entity, an MQTT plug with a power topic, a REST plug with a power path, or any Tasmota device. It is approximate on purpose, since asking every plug for a live reading would slow down every card: a Home Assistant plug with no power sensor may still report a figure from the switch entity's own attributes, and a Tasmota device without energy metering is counted as though it had it. It only ever breaks a tie between plugs that are equal on everything above.

The plug in the Power row is not repeated in the Home Assistant button row below it. A printer whose only entities are scripts is the exception: it falls back to showing one of them in the Power row, and that script keeps its one-click button in the row underneath.

Auto Power On¶

Automatically turn on printer before prints:

1. Enable Auto Power On for the plug
2. When a queued print is ready:
3. Bambuddy turns on the plug
4. Waits for printer to boot
5. Starts the print

This works for a job pinned to one printer and for a job queued against a printer class (Any X1C, a Slicer Pipeline whose target type is Printer class). For a class job, Bambuddy first looks for a printer of that class that is already on and free; only if there is none does it switch one on.

Which printer it picks:

• Printers that are waiting for a plate-clear acknowledgment are passed over. Switching one on would only leave it idling behind the plate-clear gate. If every candidate is waiting on that, nothing is switched on and the job's waiting reason says the printers are offline. The acknowledgment does not need the printer switched on — clear the plate from the printer card while it is still powered down and the next queue check can wake it.
• Printers whose file is not compatible with the class are never switched on.
• Printers whose loaded filament cannot print the job are passed over. A printer keeps its last reported AMS and external-spool trays after the power goes, so Bambuddy can tell that the machine at the other end of the farm is the one holding the colour the job asks for, and switches on only that one. A printer it has never heard from -- one that has been off since Bambuddy last started -- is still switched on, because no reading is not the same as no filament.
• One printer per queue check. With several class jobs queued and several printers off, they come up one per check rather than all at once.

A printer with no enabled Auto Power On plug is never switched on. When that is why a job is waiting, its waiting reason says so explicitly -- Offline, no Auto On smart plug: X1C-2 -- rather than the plain Offline: used for printers Bambuddy can bring back itself.

Auto Power Off¶

Automatically turn off after prints:

1. On the smart plug card, open Automation Settings and enable Auto Off
2. Pick a Turn Off Delay Mode:
   • Time: turn off Delay (minutes) after the print completes (1–60, default 5)
   • Temp: turn off once the printer has cooled down. Wait for picks what has to cool:
     • Nozzle: the nozzle below Nozzle threshold (°C) (30–100, default 70). On a dual-nozzle H2, both nozzles.
     • Bed: the bed below Bed threshold (°C) (20–100, default 35)
3. After the print completes, Bambuddy waits as set and turns off the plug. If a print starts in the meantime, the plug stays on.

The nozzle cools in a few minutes, the bed much later. Pick Bed when the printer should stay powered until the print can come off a cool bed.

By default, auto-off is one-shot — it disables itself after each print and must be re-enabled manually. To keep auto-off active between prints, enable the Keep Enabled toggle under the Auto Off settings. This is useful for accessories like chamber filters (e.g., BentoBox on a Home Assistant switch) that should always power off when a print completes.

Auto Off After AMS Drying¶

Cut power automatically after an AMS filament drying cycle (immediate, scheduled, or automatic) completes. Independent of the print-finish Auto Off above — drying-finish has its own toggle and its own delay because the AMS chamber stays warm longer than the hotend after a dry cycle.

1. On the smart plug card, enable Auto Off After Drying
2. Set Drying delay (minutes) — the default is 10 minutes to give the AMS time to cool off before power is cut
3. After any AMS attached to the linked printer finishes drying:
   • Wait the configured number of minutes
   • Turn off the plug

Bambuddy detects drying completion at the MQTT layer by watching for the AMS dry_time field falling from a positive value to 0, so the toggle fires for:

• Queue-triggered auto-drying
• Ambient (humidity-threshold) auto-drying
• Manually-started drying from the printer card

Safety Checks¶

Auto power-off includes safety checks:

• Only triggers after successful prints
• Waits for cooldown
• Checks for queued prints
• Verifies printer is idle

Energy Monitoring¶

Track power consumption:

Real-time Data¶

Per-Print Tracking¶

Enable energy tracking to record:

• Energy per print
• Electricity costs
• Efficiency comparisons

Energy Tracking

Power Alerts¶

Get a notification when a plug's power draw leaves a range, for example a printer drawing far more than usual, or one that stopped drawing power in the middle of a job. Set it in the plug's Edit dialog under Power Alerts:

Leave a field empty to switch that direction off.

• Checked in the background, about once a minute, whether or not Bambuddy is open in a browser.
• One alert per crossing: you're told when the power leaves the range, and again only after it has been back inside it. A printer idling below the low value is reported once, not every few minutes. Two alerts from the same plug are at least 5 minutes apart.
• The low value only counts while the plug reports itself switched on, so turning a printer off (by hand or with Auto Power Off) doesn't report "power low". A plug that can't report whether it is on (a REST plug without a status URL, an MQTT plug with only a power topic) gets no low alerts; the high value works for every plug.
• An unreachable plug is tried again after 10 minutes rather than every minute. MQTT plugs are checked every minute regardless, since their values arrive on their own.
• Sent as the Printer Error event, titled "Printer Error: Power High" or "Power Low", to every notification provider with Printer Error turned on. If the plug is linked to a printer, a provider limited to other printers doesn't get it.
• After a restart, a plug that is still outside its range is reported once more.

Power Dashboard¶

View power statistics:

• Current power draw
• Energy over time
• Cost calculations
• Peak usage

Tasmota Commands (Technical Reference)¶

Bambuddy uses these Tasmota HTTP commands for direct Tasmota integration:

Testing Manually¶

# Turn on
curl "http://192.168.1.100/cm?cmnd=Power%20On"

# Get status
curl "http://192.168.1.100/cm?cmnd=Status%200"

Safety Considerations¶

Don't Cut Power Mid-Print¶

Auto power-off is safe because:

• Only triggers after print completion
• Waits for cooldown
• Checks printer state

Never manually power off during printing!

Surge Protection¶

Consider adding surge protection:

• Protects printer electronics
• Protects smart plug
• Especially important for unstable power

Fire Safety¶

Smart plugs have current limits:

• Most handle 10-15A
• 3D printers typically draw 3-8A
• Check your plug's rating

Troubleshooting¶

Tasmota: Plug Not Responding¶

1. Check plug is powered
2. Verify IP address is correct
3. Ensure plug is on same network
4. Check if Tasmota web interface loads
5. Verify no firewall blocking

Home Assistant: Plug Shows Offline¶

1. Check HA connection in Settings > Network
2. Click Test Connection to verify
3. Ensure the access token hasn't expired
4. Verify HA is reachable from Bambuddy's network
5. Check if entity exists in HA

Home Assistant: Entities Not Loading¶

1. Verify HA URL is correct (include port if needed)
2. Check access token has correct permissions
3. Try regenerating the access token
4. Ensure HA integration is enabled

REST/Webhook: Plug Not Responding¶

1. Test the URL directly with curl:

   curl -X POST "http://your-device:8080/api/endpoint" -d "ON"
   

2. Verify the URL is reachable from Bambuddy's network
3. Check that headers are valid JSON (if configured)
4. Ensure the HTTP method matches what the target API expects
5. Check the target service's logs for errors

REST/Webhook: Status Not Updating¶

1. Verify the Status URL returns valid JSON
2. Test the JSON path against the actual response:

   curl "http://your-device:8080/api/status"
   

3. Ensure the ON Value matches exactly what the API returns (case-sensitive)
4. Check that the State JSON Path correctly navigates to the state field

Auto Power-Off Not Working¶

1. Check feature is enabled
2. Check the Turn Off Delay Mode: with Temp, the plug stays on if the nozzle or bed is still above its threshold an hour after the print
3. Ensure print completed successfully
4. Check for queued prints (won't power off if more queued)

Power Data Incorrect¶

1. Not all plugs have power monitoring
2. For Tasmota: Calibrate in Configuration > Configure Other
3. For HA: Check if entity has power attributes or configure separate energy sensors
4. Check plug specifications

Home Assistant: No Energy Data¶

Many HA plugs expose energy data as separate sensor entities, not as switch attributes:

1. When adding/editing the plug, expand Energy Monitoring (Optional)
2. Select the appropriate power sensor (W)
3. Select energy today and total sensors (kWh) if available
4. The sensors should appear in the dropdown if they have power/energy units

Tips¶