I have an electric patio heater that I sometimes forget to turn off after using. In addition to a fire hazard, it costs a lot of money to keep it running overnight if I forget. However, it also doesn’t turn on when you power the outlet on. You have to hit the button on the heater to turn it on, so a normal smart plug won’t be able to automate turning it on and off. Is there any kind of device that could be programmed to sense when current starts flowing through the plug and start a timer to automatically turn it off in 1 hour?
You have to hit the button on the heater to turn it on
Properly programmed Fingerbot/Switchbot will press this button according to a schedule.
If you want to complicate it, you can add a presence sensor to control the bot. The sensor will detect whether someone is in a given area and if not, tell the bot to turn off the device.