KP200 - Possible Scenes bug
Preface
It's likley that I'm a n00b and simply have my wires crossed. Although I'm a tech guy by day, IoT is NOT my specialty, so I could very well be overlooking something.
Background
My son is driving me bananas with his TV usage. IMHO, it's used too frequently and for too long a duration. It frequently distracts him from homework, chores, and other things, and he often uses it at too high a volume. This tends to cause trouble at night and in the mornings. After trying a variety of approaches, the KP200 seemed to hold promise. These devices should allow automated control over the TV through scheduled downtimes for each outlet, and by having the ability to disabling the outlet manually when the volume is too high.
Because I also have fiber-optic internet through my cable provider, the TV, cable set-top box, Blu Ray player, soundbar, and router/modem were all plugged into two adjacent outlets prior to intalling the KP200 devices. This number of devices required the implementation of two KP200 devices. I knew that my son would quickly realize that once an outlet was powered down, he need only plug devices into an adjacent plug which remained powed up. This meant that I needed to power off ALL plugs except for the one to which the modem, set-top box, and wireless router were connected (since these would be required to communicate with the KP200s). |
Installation/Configuration
I installed and configured the decives with no trouble, and had things running smoothly within a few hours. I plugged all the "essential" electronics (the electronics required to power back up the KP200s: cable modem, wireless router, and set-top box) into a power strip with a built-in surge suppressor. The surge suppressor got plugged into the first KP200 power outlet (named "top left" in my Kasa app), and the reminaing electronics (TV, Blu Ray player, soundbar) were plugged the other three outlets ("bottom left", "top right", and "bottom right"). I created two new scenes ("TV Off" and "TV On"), and scheduled them such that the TV turns off at night and turns back on at noon on weekdays and 10AM on weekends. |
Because I have Amazon Echo devices throughout the house, I linked the two services so that my wife could power on or off all the outlets using voice ("Alexa, turn 'TV On'").
Unexpected Behavior
Everything worked like a charm until I needed to change my configuration. My new wireless router's plug was oddly sized, and it needed its own plug. Since I began the project late at night, the scheduled timer activated, cutting power to the plugs during the configuration process. I rebooted the wifi, got the plug connected, and tried to modify the scenes in order to ensure that the "top right" plug did not power off and susbsequently leave my house without wireless. Now, however, the Scenes no longer control individual plugs. Each time a Scene is triggered, both top AND bottom plugs turn on or off, depending on which Scene is triggered. I've deleted and reccreated the scenes, performed factory resets on both KP200s, factory reset all Alexa devices, deleted and re-linked the TP-Link skill in Alexa, and even unisntalled and re-installed the Kasa application on my mobile device.
I can control each plug individually as normal through the "Devices" screen on my mobile app, but BOTH plugs (top and bottom) are triggered anytime a Scene is used. I've been able to create a "Group" for each individual switch (Top Left Group", "Top Right Group", etc.) which works well, but "Smart Actions" do not allow me to schedule these groups using automation, and Alexa does not recognize them.
In the interim, I've been able to use "Schedules" on each of the four independent plugs, but when I'm out of town, my wife can no longer use Alexa to turn the davices on verbally.
Again, each plug (e.g., Top Left, Bottom Left, Top Right, Bottom Right) responds in the Kasa app when using the "Devices" screen, but when I use a Scene to attempt to turn off a particular plug ("Top Left", for example), both "Top Left" and "Bottom Left" turn off at the same time.
This used to work! What am I missing? I reset each plug sequentailly; do both top AND bottom plugs need to be factory reset at the same time? Any ideas?