Three smart home hubs, from two different companies. All supporting both 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and proprietary 900 MHz wireless links. How do they differ, and are similar? Let’s find out.
Last month, I told you about TP-Link’s Tapo Hubs and their functional similarity to Blink’s Sync Modules. And last week, I took apart Blink’s second-generation hub, comparing it to its premiere predecessor which’d gone “under the knife” nearly a decade earlier. Today, I’ll be dissecting the entry-level Tapo H100 hub I conceptually covered in late March.
How comparable (or not) is its design to those of its Blink competitors? Let’s dive in and see.
Smart hub brothers from different mothers?
I shared a full set of outer box shots last month; so to avoid redundancy, this time I’ll show only the perspective that’s different, since last month’s device remains in ongoing use while this one (with a different serial number) is intended (initially, at least) solely for dissection.
As usual, it’s accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for size comparison purposes. Also note that, per the common “US/1.26” notation on the sticker found on the bottom of both boxes, this device and last month’s H100 are presumably based on the same hardware version.
Opening up the packaging, you’ll find a sliver of literature inside, with our patient below it.
The only constant is change
On the product support page I initially referenced earlier, you’ll also discover that there have been four hardware versions to date: v1.0, v1.2, my v1.26, and the subsequent (I’m assuming) v1.8. Attempts to mix-and-match divergent hardware, as I’ve noted before, can be problematic. That said, most households will contain only a single hub device (versus multiple sensors and other “smart” peripherals), minimizing the potential-problem set size in this particular case.
Before continuing, let’s revisit the backside of the device, this time zooming on the markings.
Notice what looks like a label stuck on top of part of the original info? That’s exactly what it is.
As it turns out, the FCC ID found on the backside markings (2AXJ4H100) was also later updated; it’s now 2BH7FH100. Are the two changes related? Dunno.
Time to dive inside, a task that, compared to TP-Link smart switches of (recent) past, was thankfully fairly straightforward this time around.
Inside the front half of the enclosure, you’ll find a speaker (used, for example, to implement the sound emitted when the hub is paired with, and activated by, a “smart” doorbell).
And the mechanical assembly for the pairing-and-reset switch is shown on one side, as seen earlier.
Categorizing the guts
Here, however, is the view that most of you are most interested in, I guess.
The bottom half of the PCB disconnected itself from the back half of the enclosure while I was prying apart the two halves.
Further bending back the PCB reveals how the AC “prongs” connect to it.
As well as the PCB backside itself.
The small five-lead IC in the middle, PCB-labeled U4, is marked:
TACeY1
Its identity is unknown to me (readers?). Below it, in a larger seven-lead package, is On-Bright Electronics’ OB2512NJP offline primary-side-regulation (PSR) power switch. Below that is a M7 high voltage rectifier diode. And to its left is another (bridge and three-lead, this time) rectifier, Galaxy Microelectronics’ MBF10M.
Back to the PCB front side, after “un-popping” the PCB (putting it back in its normal place within the enclosure, which is upside down in both the prior-version and the following photo versus its normal orientation).
Note first the two antennae, one embedded and along the lower edge, the other discrete and along the right side. I assume one’s for 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi while the other supports TP-Link’s proprietary 900 MHz ISM band “ultra-low power wireless protocol”. Reader suggestions as to which is what are greatly appreciated in the comments.
In the upper right (again, lower left in normal operating orientation) is the status LED, which ends up shining out the device front cover. The pairing-and-reset switch is along the left side. The top half of the PCB, perhaps obviously given the sizeable transformer, houses the AC/DC conversion circuitry (the fact that the AC prongs are directly behind it at the rear of the device is another functional tipoff).
And, last but not least, the various ICs. In the lower right corner of the transformer is an Eon Silicon Solution EN56Q64-104HIP 64 Mbit serial flash memory, which we’ve seen before in both higher and lower capacities. I assume it houses the code for Realtek’s RTL8710CM SoC below and to its left, also found in the first two of the three TP-Link smart switches I’ve dissected so far. At the bottom, in the middle, is WayTronic’s WT588F02B audio DSP with an integrated DAC, which “can directly drive 8R 0.5W speakers”, an unsurprising function given the speaker connection directly to the left of it. Above and to the right of the audio DSP is another IC I can’t ID:
35UT
53C1
And above and to the left of the mono speaker connector is one final mystery:
300A
S992
515
Reader insights into any of the chips I was unable to identify, as well as broader thoughts on anything I’ve discussed here, are always welcome in the comments.
Brian Dipert is the associate editor, as well as a contributing editor, at EDN.
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