Kasa App Smart actions
Kasa App Smart actions
Here is the issue I have:
I have many smart plugs and smart switches setup. If I setup a schedule on each device, they seem to work flawlessly.
I created 2 scenes one called "Xmas On' and the other called "Xmas Off'.
The scene behavior has numerous switches included that are either in the on state or the off state.
If I run each scene, it works as expected, all the devices will either turn on or off.
I then created 2 smart actions, one called 'Christmas On' and the other called "Christmas Off'.
In each action I have the scene name as "Xmas On' or 'Xmas Off' accordingly with a set time for each action to run.
Most of the time the scene actions work at the time they are set for but sometimes they do not run, usually the "Off" action moreso than the "On action.
Remember, as I mentioned in the first ine, when the device had the schedule attached directly to it, I never had an issue.
In trying to troubleshoot this, I go to the 'Activity' tab expecting to see an entry when the actions are actually fired off but I have never seen any entries in the activity, every single day says 'No events today' so I am not sure what is supposed to be in the Activity tab but I would suspect it should show when actions are triggered etc.
So, without any logging, how can I see what the issue is with the actions not running when they should?
I will mention again that if I run the scene manually it fires the action every time, its the scheduled action that does not always run. Please fix the logging (Activity) as well.
If you have any idea as to what I can try as I have the latest app, I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling it many times already. The issue is intermittent as it sometimes will run for days without an issue, then all of a sudden, one day, one of the actions will not run (or that is the assumption without logs).
Update: I just saw in the kasa apps help that for smart actions to work you need a tp link smart router? If that's true then I can deal with it but I do not have a smart router and the smart actions still work most of the time anyway, why would that be?
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The fix for the smart actions was done in the back end recently, completley seperate from the app release.
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@billshk13 I just started creating smart actions last week, long after this issue was supposedly fixed. But only one of my three actions works reliably. Each one is pretty much the same - Kasa spot camera sees motion and turns on a different Smart Plug Lite. But only the first action works reliably. The second one rarely works and the last never does. P.S. I have three actions because in a smart action I can't select a scene or group, only an individual device. This is the Kasa smart app for iPhone.
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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 Sensor, Motion Sensor, Hub, 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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I am still having this problem.
I have tried this solution as well as deleting the smart plug and adding it back again. This works for a short time and then my smart actions end up failing again.
Is there an updated solution?
Thanks
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Replies: 14