If this had been a simple fault it would probably have been an easy repair unless the power supply had failed with sooty track carnage. My first thought was that it would have been the usual drying of the secondary side smoothing capacitor, as they are put under a lot of stress by the high frequency of the power supply.
In reality it looks like the fault is with the brains of the unit, a classic WiFi enabled processor module. If it's not ESD damage or natural failure, then it could be that the software has been corrupted or that it has been accidentally bricked. Apparently the current draw was acceptable for a running processor, so the possibility of memory corruption is viable.
The only way to fix the device would be to use a new ESP module loaded with suitable software. It only seems to use three I/O (Input/Output) lines - the button input, green (?) LED and the transistor for switching the red LED and relay. You could either configure the I/O like for like, or use a loose module with flying wires for I/O and power.
For ESP geeks that would be an easy fix, and a golden opportunity to customise the socket with their chosen firmware and features.
I thought the issue with LED lamp glow might have been due to a snubber network leaking current across the relay contacts, but it's more likely that it was a polarity issue where neutral was being switched instead of live, and the glow was possibly current capacitively coupling through a grounded LED array with aluminium core PCB.
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In reality it looks like the fault is with the brains of the unit, a classic WiFi enabled processor module. If it's not ESD damage or natural failure, then it could be that the software has been corrupted or that it has been accidentally bricked. Apparently the current draw was acceptable for a running processor, so the possibility of memory corruption is viable.
The only way to fix the device would be to use a new ESP module loaded with suitable software. It only seems to use three I/O (Input/Output) lines - the button input, green (?) LED and the transistor for switching the red LED and relay. You could either configure the I/O like for like, or use a loose module with flying wires for I/O and power.
For ESP geeks that would be an easy fix, and a golden opportunity to customise the socket with their chosen firmware and features.
I thought the issue with LED lamp glow might have been due to a snubber network leaking current across the relay contacts, but it's more likely that it was a polarity issue where neutral was being switched instead of live, and the glow was possibly current capacitively coupling through a grounded LED array with aluminium core PCB.
Supporting the channel with a dollar or two on Patreon helps keep it independent of YouTube's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
Looks like an esp12F module. They can pull about 140mA and get a bit warm when the wifi is running. They are very cheap, and you can flash them with ESPHome or Tasmota to restore working (and probably better) firmware for smart switches.
These have a tendency to attempt OTA updates when first connecting to WiFi and its unresponsive, seems like the setup has failed, so you start over and unplug it during the update and bingo you've successfully cremated the firmware. Otherwise there are naturally lots of reasons why forced OTA updates are just a bad idea and yeah smart plugs and bulbs are great at doing that and failing on you. As mentioned below Tasmota firmware may do the job.
hm, if the button is gpio0 and has failed short …
Hm… you've been away in Scotland for quite a while, right?
I assumed those smart sockets used some proprietary chip and hearing you read out "esp8266" has now got me taking mine apart, and can not believe these smart devices are running a simple off the shelf ESP chip that can be re-flashed, re-programmed got me interested into taking mine apart now and might even order few ESP's for building my own smart devices, lol.
I know this might seem horribly mundane but what is the package of those little LEDs called? Good video, Clive, you can't save them all.
I think 99% that it's in the bootloop.
ESP modules often got their firmware corrupted because of bad quality power supply and just trying to boot with a failure. 32 C is nothing to that module, totally normal temperature. My ESP32 can get literally hot while work with WIFI.
I have 2 different dead ones of these laying around. Unfortunately much smaller cases, but you just triggered my โletโs repair themโ nerve. At least I have some of the ESP12E modules already in stock.
ESP8266 are quite fun chips!
Tasmota and a new esp8266 board will do the trick. A ten minute repair
Does it have that warm leaky electricity smell?
put a small switch on the case to operate the relay
and remove the defective esp