Saw something weird at a job site in Portland last week

I was doing a panel swap in this old house built in the 1920s, and the homeowner had one of those new smart breaker panels installed by someone else a few years back. Thing was a mess, wires all over the place, no labeling on any of the circuits. I get that those panels have their own app and all, but what happens when the WiFi goes down or the phone dies? Felt like overkill for a basic house. Anyone else run into these smart panels and think they're more trouble than they're worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_hayes9d ago

Read something the other day about how these smart panels are basically a subscription trap in disguise. Company goes under or stops supporting the app and you're stuck with a dead piece of hardware that can't even trip breakers right. Had a buddy who installed one of those Leviton smart panels in his new build last year and the WiFi module died twice already. Meanwhile I've got a 40 year old Square D panel in my own house that still works perfect. Just seems like adding more points of failure for no real benefit.

iris_jones899d ago

Why would anyone pay for problems they don't have yet?