How to use SmartThings to get the most out of your Kasa Smart Home products

TP-Link smart products once configured, have the ability to integrate with other smart home platforms such as Samsung’s SmartThings. This is just one avenue available to you as you also have Google Home, Alexa, and IFTTT to explore other ways of enhancing your Smart Home experience.

We have previously posted an article that points out a useful feature that aims to solve an issue some users have faced in that their light bulbs will turn on when power is restored: https://community.tp-link.com/us/smart-home/stories/detail/1704

Remember before making any of the configurations below you need to have the product configured via the Kasa app (link) and Kasa integrated with SmartThings (link).

Setting a timer

The Kasa app allows you to set a timer from 1 to 120 minutes. However, you may want to set the device to turn off after 5 hours or 23 hours. You can use SmartThings to do this.

On SmartThings” main screen you will see your TP-Link devices. Tap on the device you want to set the timer for. In this example, we will use our HS105. 

 

On the next screen will be a list of actions you can do on the product through SmartThings. For this example, we want to choose the timer feature.

 

To set a custom time choose “Custom” from the list of available options. Then using the number wheelset your custom timer limit.

 

After completing the below timer, you will see what time the product will turn on/off. In my case, the current time was 1:43 p.m. and I choose 5 hours so it will display the action will trigger at 6:43 p.m.

 

Using an “If-Then” to send a notification

Another feature you can take advantage of is the If-Then function. This allows you to activate an action depending on a condition that is met. For this example, I may want to know if my light bulb has stayed off for longer than a minute.

 

To start, open the side menu, and then select “Automations”, then “Add Automation.”

 

 

Next, you will set the condition and triggers for the automation.

 

The “If” screen has five options to choose from. For this example, we will select “Time”, then choose “off”, and select the “Stays this status” to indicate how long the “off” state needs to be before triggering. For this example, we chose one minute.

    

 

Now we will work on the “Then” screen. It has four choices, we will choose “Notify someone”, and then choose “Send text message” and finally type the message we want to appear on our smartphone.

    

 

Once we are done with configuring; we will want to tap on saving to save the automation that we created. From here and it will show on the “Automations” screen where we can enable or disable it.

 

 

When enabled if the bulb is manually switched off for longer than 1 minute a notification is sent to the smartphone.

 

Here is another example of using the “If-Then” function to have our smart devices turn on according to the weather.

We will choose “Weather” and then select “Rainy”

    

 

For “Then” we are going to choose “Control devices” and choose two of our smart home products and select “Next”

 

 

Then we will choose what those two smart devices will do. Were going to tap on each device and select the “Turn on” option.

    

 

You can add time restrictions to the action by tapping on the “+”, then choosing the desired time restriction. For this example, we have chosen “Period of time”, set it for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and repeat every day, and then tapped on “Save”.

    

 

There are several other triggers that can be chosen, such as motion detectors, smart locks, and more.

 

While these may not all be a common application, you can see how easy it is to add flexibility and value to your Kasa smart devices. We are constantly looking at ways to make our devices more user-friendly and more useful for everyday life.

If you have a unique setup or solution that you would like to share, please share it with the rest of us in our community.