Is the ElectriQ DESD9LW the most stupidest smart device ever?

EDIT : If you have one of these devices and are seeing the same issues, please use the contact form and let me know, thanks!

Living in an oldish house with 3foot (almost 1 metre) stone walls, one problem I have is high indoor humidity levels. I have been trying to keep on top of this by monitoring the indoor and outside humidity levels and opening windows to try and reduce the indoor humidity, but being in a wet climate this is almost impossible for about 6 months of the year! Due to the need to reduce humidity mostly occuring in the winter months, I decided to go for the desiccant type as the heat emitted would have the added benefit of increasing the indoor temperature as well. For this reason I purchased a smart dehumidifier, namely the ElectriQ DESD9LW, as I was led to understand that the device could be controlled via the Tuya cloud app.

Within hours of setting it up I noticed that the device was registering totally different readings for temperature and humidity, than all of my other devices. I basically unpacked the unit, installed the filters and plugged in into the mains socket at the bottom of the stairs. I figured this was the best place to test it given that hot air rises and cooler air would drop from upstairs to be heated up and create a nice circulation of air. I also opened all the doors so that air could move between rooms as well. However, within minutes the unit started to register lower and lower humidity and increased temperature and started to say it was at the low level of humidity (22%) and high temperature (29C), which was impossible! The device also slowed down/stopped extracting water. My other monitors all agreed with it being about 16C with a 77% humidity, so something really strange going on there!

I got in touch with Appliances Direct, and they said the unit was faulty. So I had to pack the entire thing up and send it back to them. They wouldn’t despatch the new unit until the current one was back with them! So almost two weeks later, and DPD delivering it to the wrong place, I finally got a replacement unit. I plugged it in and it does EXACTLY the same thing!

My guess is that the sensors are installed on the exhaust or output air stream when they really should be on the intake side. This issue causes the unit to slow down/stop extracting water and makes it almost useless!

Then there is the smart functionality. The unit doesn’t seem to know the difference from power on or power off. Let me explain, I created a trigger in the app so that when the device reads a humidity above 65%, it turns on, and puts it into maximum dehumidifier mode, then after an hour, turns itself off. The app also pops up a message on my phone to let me know it’s been triggered. But the trigger is often set off two or more times in a row, and the second trigger turns the device off!! So basically the unit doesn’t come on about 80% of the time!! Therefore my original question, is this the stupidest smart device ever?

I have a couple of smart WiFi switches which control my central heating and outdoor security lights and these seem to work fine. The heating comes on when it is cold inside and outside. The outdoor light switches on dusk and off at dawn and I can override it at any time using the app (toggles the power to put the light in constant mode). This feature used to drive me crazy when the electric supply was getting interrupted for a few seconds every day as the light would think is was being put in constantly on mode and the floodlight would be on all day wasting energy for no good reason! The smart switches have a power on default, so by setting this to always off the light stays off until turned on by the smart functionality.

The main reason for posting this on-line is to find out is there anyone out there knows how to hack this device, put some decent open source software on it and hopefully make it properly smart!?!

11 thoughts on “Is the ElectriQ DESD9LW the most stupidest smart device ever?

  1. I’m afraid I don’t know how to hack the device, but just wanted to say that I’m also finding that the sensors on this thing are unreliable. It was giving an implausibly high temp and low humidity while on standby; then it woke up and gave a too-low temp and too-high humidity (compared to common sense and a different sensor). Very disappointing.

    1. Thanks for getting in touch! From talking to the support team they made it feel like it was MY fault for not setting up the device correctly, but gave no instructions on how to do it!! Like talking to a brick wall and made to believe you are the only person to have the issue.

      Another annoying “feature” is that it won’t tell you via the app that the water tank is full! It really is a useless device!

  2. Similar issues, plus after resetting the device it is now impossible to reconnect to the wifi. Holding the mode button no longer seems to trigger the wifi setup. If anyone had any ideas let me know please.

    1. Hi Kevin, did you contact Appliances Direct? According to them, my unit is out of warranty and they refuse to acknowledge the fault (I was told I am the only customer to have contacted them about this!!).
      Under the Sale of Goods Act, I have to prove that the fault existed at the time of sale, so I am trying to get the device to a YouTuber for a tear down of the unit and finally prove to Appliances Direct that this particular unit is unfit for purpose. (ie it is impossible to monitor or control the humidity as the sensors are so inaccurate)

  3. I am so glad I found your review of this device and the issues you’ve had with Appliances Direct. I was thinking about buying the ‘Grade A1’ they are listing but I’ll assume it was the one you returned.
    It’s a real shame as the ElectriQ DESD8LW/DESD9LW specs look great and would have been an ideal fit in my smart home setup.
    Appliances Direct (and the other domains they trade under) is a seller I will definitely avoid.
    Sorry you had to buy a pup but really appreciate you telling everyone your experience.

    1. Yeah, the specs and description are great and just what I was looking for! But the sensors just make the entire unit useless and unfit for purpose. I have been trying to get a famous YouTuber to do a product tear-down to basically have concrete proof that the sensors are fitted in the wrong place as has been suggested to me in private communications via this site.

  4. Interesting that the which review of the DESD9L, a close cousin, also reported a poor quality humidistat. Won’t be buying.

  5. I owned an electriq dehumidifier for years. The refrigerant version was effective at removing moisture but always gave a different humidity reading to other devices. The app functionality was useless, I would set smart mode in the app and it would always switch on to high mode, which meant it would just keep going at high power until I manually intervened.

    Then they killed the app and moved to tuya and I never did get mine working with tuya. Their customer service was useless, they would just fob me off or stop responding.

    I ended up selling it and buying an Ebac unit. The 4000 range is very accurate and the smart control works well as well as the app (also using tuya) , even giving notification of when the bucket is full. More expensive buying direct from them but you get a better warranty so best to weigh up if up front cost is more important than warranty. I bought the 4850 and it uses half the power of the electriq too which is a bonus as like you I need it running a lot.

    Summing it up, electriq are okay but in my experience are not refined, expensive to run and considering they price themselves at the higher end I don’t think they are comparable with the more established brands. If they were priced lower I maybe wouldn’t be so critical

    1. I am also looking into getting an EBAC unit, but I haven’t been able to get any concrete answers on what platform it uses. Are you 100% sure it uses Tuya?

  6. Not only are they unreliable and readings are incorrect but mine is showing E1 code fault and doesn’t work now. Electriq tell me that they cannot /will not repair as it is out of warranty and I should just throw it away. I can find no one to repair it. Is it that it is just rubbish and no repair person will touch it/no parts are availiable/simply not worth repairing it. Don’t touch the products from this crap compny

    1. 100% agree with you regarding Appliances Direct. Electriq is a brand name for Buy It Direct Ltd, who appear to be the parent company. They seem to have several websites including appliancesdirect.co.uk, laptopsdirect.co.uk, dronesdirect.co.uk, betterbathrooms.com, furniture123.co.uk and aircondirect.co.uk

      Basically search for “Company No. 04171412” and you will find all the websites they own and operate!

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