Kasa integration with Amazon Alexa
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Is anyone else experiencing issues between KASA smart devices (plugs and switches) and Amazon Alexa. I had this issue with me WEMO switches where they would get lost in the Amazon Alexa app to where you had to disable the skill and then re-enable for things to work. Now it is happening with my KASA devices. I use voice command in Amazon Alexa and it says the device isn't responding but it I go into the Alexa App I can turn the device on and off. Next layer is when that doesn't work I can go into the Kasa App and turn the device on and off with no problem. Go back to Amazon Alexa App, disable the skill and then re-enable the skill and things work for awhile. I worked in Tech and I understand the problem when two big companies are involved and we go into the finger pointing game. But these two companies have to work it out or people will abandon this technology.
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Unfortunately I do not believe that there is anything that can be change on your configuration or setup to help with this issue. To look for an actual fix to the problem, I think you are better off going through the support channels for Amazon.
The only thing that I can think of that is a workaround for this would be to add a middleman in between your switches and the alexa app.This way the Alexa is just sending the command to another program that will get the rejection.
I do not know if this would necessarily work as Im not too familiar with Alexa Integrations, but if IFTTT actions can be hooked into Alexa, you might be able to set the switch to be turned off by IFTTT, and at the very least your Alexa wont yell at you that i doesn't have connection.
This is a similar setup to what I have at my own house but not with IFTTT, and it basically means that if a switch doesn't have a connection and you command
Google to turn on the switch it just says, "alright turning on four lights" and then does nothing.
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Hi @pman2022,
Allow me to join in this finger pointing game :)
From what I can tell you are having an issue controlling the smart plugs with voice commands after a period of time. However, you can still control the device from both of the applications. The only way to get the Alexa to command the device via voice again is to disable and reenable the skill.
Just curious, after you open an application and control the light through the app, does your Alexa say that the device is responding(controllable) again? I am surprised that controlling them in the app wouldnt put them back online for the Alexa.
As you described the situation, it sounds like the systems that translate alexas voice commands into actual commands for devices is not always working. I will put this on our list to see if this is an issue that we can replicate and fix.
Let me know if you have any more developments or information that could help us diagnose the issue further
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@Riley_S I have 5 devices that are light switches for the back of my house and they are in an Alexa group named "Back". When I say "Alexa turn on Back lights" they normally all come on. There is a mixture of WEMO and KASA switches. Lately, Alexa is saying for the KASA devices that they couldn't be turned on and to check their internet connection. In the Alexa App, I see the KASA devices and they are labelled "Unresponsive". If I tap them on my iPad in the Alexa App they will come on most of the time, but sometimes not. If I go to the KASA App they show up and I can turn them on and off. In the Alexa App, I disable the TP-Link Kasa skill and then re-enable it, that fixes the problem. But after a day or two they may again show as "Unresponsive". I had similar problems with my WEMO switches which seemed to be related to when a firmware update was done. For the WEMO I would have to reset the plug and go through the whole startup procedure to get it back. I was in the process of replacing all my WEMO switches with KASA which have been working for the past year without a problem. The last two weeks I started having this problem with the TP-Link switches so I haven't replaced my WEMO devices with KASA.
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@Riley_S This is a quick follow up since one of my KASA light switches is showing up in Alexa as "Unresponsive" . I tap on it in the Alexa App and it turned it on and the "Device is Unresponsive" went away. If I try to control it with my voice thru Alexa I get the "it's offline check internet connection or power". But if I use the App it works and clears the "Device is Unresponsive". While I was typing this reply and watching my iPad Alexa App I see ALL my devices in the "Back" group (WEMO and KASA) being flagged as "Device is Unresponsive" then 10 seconds later all of them come back except 1 KASA switch. And just as I finished typing that last sentence, the 1 KASA switch came back. Now again all of the devices are showing "Device is Unresponsive". This group "Back" has 6 devices (I said 5 before). Of the 6 devices 5 are WEMO and 1 is KASA. About every minute all 6 devices go ""Device is Unresponsive" then when they come back the 5 WEMO shows as active and the 1 KASA stays "Device is Unresponsive". To me it seems to be an Amazon issue as this is happening to my WEMO and KASA devices. And if I use the WEMO and KASA apps while Amazon Alexa is showing them as "Device is Unresponsive" they look and work fine in the vendor app. The WEMO's come back faster than the 1 KASA so it may be a diffrent retry timeout difference between the WEMO skill and the KASA skill.
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Unfortunately I do not believe that there is anything that can be change on your configuration or setup to help with this issue. To look for an actual fix to the problem, I think you are better off going through the support channels for Amazon.
The only thing that I can think of that is a workaround for this would be to add a middleman in between your switches and the alexa app.This way the Alexa is just sending the command to another program that will get the rejection.
I do not know if this would necessarily work as Im not too familiar with Alexa Integrations, but if IFTTT actions can be hooked into Alexa, you might be able to set the switch to be turned off by IFTTT, and at the very least your Alexa wont yell at you that i doesn't have connection.
This is a similar setup to what I have at my own house but not with IFTTT, and it basically means that if a switch doesn't have a connection and you command
Google to turn on the switch it just says, "alright turning on four lights" and then does nothing.
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