KP115 Smart Plug suddenly constant clicking on and off see video inside
Hi all I currently own a dozen or more KP115 smart plugs dotted all around the house no issues for around 18 months until Tuesday this week when out of nowhere I could hear a clicking sound upon inspection it was coming from one of the smart plugs, unplugged it and tested it in another socket same issue tried hard reset / factory reset nothing helped, anyways on to today and again another clicking sound and you guessed it upon inspection yet another KP115 smart plug just clicking away so had to remove it.
Scary thing is the fact that they are turning on and off over and over at a very fast rate this could potentially damage whatever you have plugged in or maybe even be a fire hazzard.
What I would like to know is has anyone else had this issue what was done to fix it, did you RMA or just throw it away?
At this moment I am worried about continuing to use the other plugs I have around the house just in case this happens again and I am not around to unplug it.
Here is a link to a video I made showing the issue https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sGoLpy_sod8
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@disgruntledat It doesn't help that JB is an absolute disgrace when it comes to honouring faults covered by Australian Consumer Law as soon as a product falls out of the manufacturer's own usually pitiful warranty. Several of mine are also from JB and I never bothered to take them back for replacement/repair because of this.
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@vjbutt thank you so much! the fix wotks perfect on ep25p4, after i just finish the fix i just found they have 2 year warranty!!!
the most dificult for me was opening, and then removing the soldering of the ac, then change it with 470uf 16 volts and al least it now works, lets see for how much time
thank you!!!
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just got home from holidays and found 2 clicking away and obviously broken. This make the total for me to be 4 now.
I am getting worried and was wondering if anyone has found a suitable replacement yet? I use mine mainly for monitoring only and controlling standby power when I am away sometimes.
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@MSIMaker I've replaced the ones that have failed with Meross smart plugs. Unfortunately the Meross ones are much bulkier and can obstruct the outlets beside it, unlike these TPLink ones, but I'd rather that than ones that fail in 1-3 years.
The Meross ones have been great so far (same can be said of TPLink's older, bulkier Kasa smart plugs which are still going strong, and I suppose these ones prior to them failing), but the caveat is I've only been using them for about 6 months so I can't make much judgment on their longevity quite yet.
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@thewatcher so far had only one of 6 fail with just this problem. As noted by some one earlier it is a capacitor failing on the dc low voltage power supply of the plug circuit. I have opened up all the kp115 and kp105s I have to check this capacitor out - only the faulty one was showing the bulge on top and this was beginning to eject the aluminium case from the capacitor!
It is indeed a flaw in either design or manufacturing. The capacitor is being stressed and either it is too cheap or incorrectly specified for its operation.
To open the UK version I have found that the bottom case junction (nearest the live/neutral pins) of the unit has only one tab locking it in place. A knife inserted into this and twisted can make the front cover bulge and click out from its lock. careful use of a thin blade screw driver and the knife can then be moved round the case un-clipping it from its location (2 down each long side and 2 on the top. NOTE THAT IF ANY OF THE TABS OR SLOTS GET DAMAGED THE THE CASE MAY NOT SECURELY LOCATE WHEN REPLACED. glue may be used to prevent safety problems.
If there is a capacitor failure it can be replace ensuring polarity is correct. the original cap can be removed without un-soldering by pushing hard and rocking the case back forwards until it breaks the leads. A new cap can then be soldered to the pads on the circuit board. Note that this will not give good shock resistance!
There seems to be 3+ different version of this circuit. I have changed this cap in only 2 of them. ! seems a very different circuit.
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!! 240V IS PRESENT ON ALL PARTS OF THE CIRCUIT INCLUDING THE LOW VOLTAGE SIDE
As people have said this failure could be disastrous - some things should not be continuously power cycled and for example heaters could be powered momentarily (50% of the time?) when not expected. It is dangerous that tp-link have not recalled these.
three types of unit kp115/105
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Another one done. 5 lost now
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I found that at least one of my plugs was running warm and heat was accumulating around the area of the cap. That can cause failure over time so I opened the device and drilled some small 2.5mm ventilation holes in the base of the cover and in the area around the cap on the top of the cover. This should help to keep it cool and the cooler electrolytics operate, the longer they last.
Interestingly, several others that are not plugged in vertically but horizontally instead show no signs of getting warm at all. having them plugged in 90 degrees anticlockwise from upright seems to help.
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@cbc001 I have also had the same failures on 2 out of 5 of my Kasa KP105 smart plugs. I changed the failed units out with Tapo P100's but after reading this forum I am concerned that the Tapo's have the same design flaw. 4 of my 5 plugs are used to supply critical smart home infrastructure so I am very concerned with the failure mode of these devices causing expensive component damage to my equipment. TP-Link refused to replace one of my devices when it was just 3 days past its warranty period so I am very unhappy with the TP-Link brand and have totally lost trust in them. I think my safe bet is to bite the bullet and throw all my Kasa/Tapo smart plugs in the bin. Thinking of replacing them with Meross smart plugs as I have had good experience with the Meross devices I have used thus far.
Can anyone confirm that the Tapo smart plugs have the same design flaw and failure rate as the Kasa plugs?
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I too am losing faith in these devices. I am using them now just for Christmas lighting, those lights flash on and off anyway so a failure wont harm them but for critical stuff like my HASS server, my Office Server and my Pond system, I am replacing them. I just cannot risk using something that can fail and take down expensive equipment in the process.
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Helpful: 13
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Replies: 52