Smart actions more than 3 active

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Smart actions more than 3 active

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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-08 15:48:18

@boniam I know this isn't the desired answer especially after buying 35 switches but you can purchase a TP-Link Deco M9 with a smart home hub built in.  Within the DECO app you can see all you switches and then set up all the aumotation functions you would like.   This is how I got around the 3 smart actions limitations in the Kasa app.

 

Ryan

 

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#43
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-09 01:46:50

Other than not being able to link the second (or third, or fourth) account to Alexa/Google Home/SmartThings/etc., is there any reason why one couldn't create a separate Kasa account for each three devices and have three smart actions for each account?  It would seem to solve the problem for things like bathroom fans where you won't likely be needing voice control (or at least I don't have an Alexa in my bathroom).

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#44
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-18 22:11:32
This is ridiculous. I have had 2 of these switches for a while now and just bought 3 more. And now after installing another I find out there is a limit of 3 smart actions. So I can't use the auto off on all my rooms, only 3. These aren't smart home devices with this limitation. I guess i will return these since they don't do what they claim. Total BS.
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#45
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-20 23:27:59

@Psujims 

 

As I said it was not an orginal feature or even an advertised one. Now that it is released of course it is advertised but the advertisement does not state the limitations only that it is an available feature.   Also as I have tried to point out it's still a fairly new feature and one that it taking time to enhance.  When the enhancements are made available we will post an annoucement here on the community.  But until then there is nothing we in support can do other than send up the requests, which we are doing.

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#47
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-20 23:46:34

@RyanEverhart789 

 

Thank you for that excellent suggestion.  I did have a plain Jane Deco M9 three pack with wired backhaul before but I swapped it out for a Netgear system due to wider/more stable coverage.  If I had realized the capabilities you have brought up back then, I may have reconsidered.  I swapped out every light switch in my house with TP-Link units because my wife kept leaving some lights on.  Now that she is secure in the knowledge that the lights are all wireless, she leaves EVERY SINGLE LIGHT ON...haha...

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#48
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-22 18:46:11

@Fortify9 I have been in search of a solution for a long time regarding this.  I have found one and I hope that all of you on this forum will pass along to others because this has been one of the biggest drawbacks I have ever seen in a smart home system.  My initial thoughts - why in the heck would you create a smart home device to make your home smarter, but only allow 3 actions to be active at the same time?  Really?  Yes, it's stupid.

 

Everywhere I turned was a dead end through the Kasa app.  I thought I had it solved one day when all I wanted to do was to turn on the lights around the outside of my home if a camera detects motion.  I thought, hey, I will group all of the lights together in one scene, then use the camera as the trigger to initiate the scene upon motion added with an auto off delay.  Oh wait, you can only control 1, yes 1 device with a camera motion.  You cannot use the camera trigger to run a scene.  So I through my hands up with the app and go smarter.  

 

Here is my solution:

 

1.  Use Samsung Smarthings.  All devices work with smarthings except for the cameras.  Link your Kasa account to Smarthings by adding a device by brand.  Once its linked, it will take some time for all of the devices to start appearing.

2.  Add rooms to ST (Smarthings) and assign your devices to the rooms.

3.  Once you have everthing organized, you can start creating your smarthome automations.

4.  To give you an example of how I solved my problems with the camera motion, I became smarter than the Kasa app.  Since we are limited to 3 smart actions active at the same time, I used the Kasa app to only automate the 3 outside cameras that I have detection motion.  Any more than 3 outside cameras and I am out of luck.  But since the only device that ST won't work with is the cameras, I used ST to automate everything else but that.  So I set up the back door camera to turn on the light (since you can only have one device) when it detects motion between the hours of 8:00pm and 7:00 am, and I left the auto timer off.  After that, I went into the ST app, and added an automation for the exact same period of time, and the trigger device in ST because the corresponding device in Kasa.  So the result was, when the back porch left light came on, then it turned on all the other lights.  I set it for an auto off of all lights including the light that triggered the automation for 5 mintues.  I set this same function up in my other 2 cameras, and that is the only thing I use the Kasa app for.  I use ST for all other automations.  See screenshots below.

5.  Examples I have set up.

  • If bathroom switch turns on, then turn on bathroom fan.
  • Landscape lights on from sunset to sunrise.
  • If front hallway swtich turns on, then turn on master hallway switch.
  • This list goes on, and I have about 30 different automations that all run, not just 3.

6.  I will also speak up here for ST too.  I purchased a Samsung smarthub and some smart buttons and smart sensors.  Door and Window SensorMotion SensorHub, and Button.  I don't get paid from Amazon but these are all the devices I bought at Amazon.  They are inexpensive to get into and provide great trigger functions.

7.  A great example of using the button is that I mounted it by the door I walk out of everyday.  I set up the "one button press" to turn off all lights in the house.  You can also have a "double button press" and a "push and hold" function.  There are really six functions that you can do here because if you set up the automation in ST correctly, instead of a trigger turning on or turning off a switch, it can be a trigger turns on/off a switch.  This gives you the ability to press it once for on, and once again for off.

 

Reach out if you need help.  I searched for a year before coming upon this idea myself.  It has worked wonders and I am not limited to 3 smart actions.

 

 

 

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#49
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-22 19:04:10

@Inlandcross See my response above.

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#50
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-22 19:04:32

@jayveesea See my response above.

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#51
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-22 19:23:15

@Psujims See my response above.

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#52
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Re:Smart actions more than 3 active
2020-10-22 22:42:00 - last edited 2020-10-22 22:42:55

@KasaUser005 thanks for the info.  i think the disapoointment is in needing additional hardware.  one of the selling points of the kasa stuff is not needing extra hubs.  That being said, I'm also using a simlar approach but with homeassistant (which for some reason I cannot link too).  thx.

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#53
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