Warning: That $30 wifi module from Amazon was a total waste of money

I tried to save some cash on a job last week by using a cheap wifi module I bought off Amazon for like 30 bucks. Thought I was being smart since the name brand ones from the supply house run around 80. Hooked it up to this new panel I was installing in a house out in the suburbs and it paired fine at first. But after about 2 hours the thing kept dropping connection and the customer's app kept showing offline errors. I spent a whole afternoon troubleshooting, resetting the router, checking the signal strength, all that junk. Finally swapped it out for the brand name module I shouldve bought from the start and it worked perfect right away. So yeah I wasted 30 bucks and half a day because I tried to cut corners. Anyone else get burned by those cheap knockoff modules?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.mason3d ago

My last job in a 3-story townhouse I used the cheaper module from Alibaba and it held up for about 4 months before the same dropouts started. I bit the bullet and got a Honeywell module from the supply house and it never had a single hiccup after that. You really DO get what you pay for with these things, the internal components just aren't the same.

gavin9283d ago

You get what you pay for" really hit home. I used to think the same way, but not anymore after reading this.