Light stays on after turning switch off

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Light stays on after turning switch off

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Light stays on after turning switch off
Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-11 17:48:13

Hello.

 

I have 46 Kasa devices (44 switches + 2 plugs) in my house. The issue below happens randomly across the 44 dimmers (not yet noticed on the 2 plugs).

 

Sometimes after using a scene to turn off devices (ex. House Off scene or 1st Floor off scene, etc.) I notice that one of the lights remains on. Looking at the switch in question, I can see the led circle lit (off indicator) but the lights powered by the switch are on.

 

Few debug/investigative bullet points below:

 

  • Happens randomly, approximately every 2-3 days.
  • Not isolated to any particular switch per se. (although there are a few switches that this happens to semi-regularly).
  • toggling the physical switch from off to on keeps the light on and then a second physical toggle turns it back off as expected.
  • toggling the switch from the app from off to on keeps the light on and then toggling to off from the app clears the issue.
  • turning off the switch from the app (the switch thinks it is already off) does not not turn off the light.
  • all switches/dimmers are updated to the latest FW.
  • After a physical/app toggle to clear the issue, the next time the scene runs the switch behaves as expected.

 

As a result this issue I periodically run a special scene that turns all 46 devices on for 10 secs and then off. Typically do this when no one is home to help ensure that any devices that randomly do this get "cleared" out of the bad conditions.

 

I really do love Kasa products so my intention is not to complain or be negative. Just hoping that I am not the only person reporting this and that the devs are aware of the situation.

 

Anyone ?

Hello.

 

I have 46 Kasa devices (44 switches + 2 plugs) in my house. The issue below happens randomly across the 44 dimmers (not yet noticed on the 2 plugs).

 

Sometimes after using a scene to turn off devices (ex. House Off scene or 1st Floor off scene, etc.) I notice that one of the lights remains on. Looking at the switch in question, I can see the led circle lit (off indicator) but the lights powered by the switch are on.

 

Few debug/investigative bullet points below:

 

  • Happens randomly, approximately every 2-3 days.
  • Not isolated to any particular switch per se. (although there are a few switches that this happens to semi-regularly).
  • toggling the physical switch from off to on keeps the light on and then a second physical toggle turns it back off as expected.
  • toggling the switch from the app from off to on keeps the light on and then toggling to off from the app clears the issue.
  • turning off the switch from the app (the switch thinks it is already off) does not not turn off the light.
  • all switches/dimmers are updated to the latest FW.
  • After a physical/app toggle to clear the issue, the next time the scene runs the switch behaves as expected.

 

As a result of this issue I periodically run a special scene that turns all 46 devices on for 10 secs and then off. Typically do this when no one is home to help ensure that any devices that randomly behave this way, get "cleared" out of the bad conditions.

 

I really do love Kasa products so my intention is not to complain or be negative. Just hoping that I am not the only person reporting this and that the devs are aware of the situation.

 

Anyone ?

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#1
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19 Reply
Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-11 22:43:50

  @Chancleta 

 

Yes, I've seen it too, and am similarly sized.   FWIW, these switches are 802.11N and so unable to do MU-MIMO.   As a matter of technology then, they can't concurrently communicate effectively  CSMA/CA should minimize this conflict but outlying/weaker signal devices may still cause problems.  If so, they'll do it for all devices.

 

I've broken my routines down into three sub-groups of 12-15 each.  I call the routines vis Alexa and implement a 2 second (1 would have been fine) delay between each routine firing.  Having done that I no longer experience random lights being left on.

 

Of course using a good wireless router and/or access point helps as well.  If you're using something your ISP gave you, well...

 

Having the right number  of quality AX routers on unique channels using the same SSID, properly configured to "roam" devices above say 70db, would be a best practice.

 

Conversely, making many concurrent calls over to 802.11N devices via a single entry level router/AP would not be "best practice".

 

I don't know the TP-link router family well, but I consider an RT-AX68U the entry level for smart homes.   An AC version, if already owned one, would effective too. 

 

Luck to you,

 

-d

 

 

 

 

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#2
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-14 01:58:00

  @dafish 

thanks. Hoping tech support has some insights as well. 

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#3
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-15 17:41:58

Does anyone from tech support or dev team have any thoughts/comments? Please.

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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-15 21:05:13

 

@Riley_S 

 

 

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#5
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-16 00:42:22

  @Chancleta,

We are currently looking into this behavior and trying to come up with ideas on what could be causing this. 

What dimmers are you using that will exhibit this behavior? It is strange to see the same problem across different models and products.

 

On the other thread regarding the scenes disappearing, a link to the beta application was provided; if you are not already using the app, you can update to the beta version and send your log files for this behavior to our team.

 

If you can reproduce the behavior while using the beta app, you can create a log file and send that to our support email: ussupportteam@tp-link.com

Please attempt to include in your email both the MAC address of the affected device, and the time at which it occurred.

 

Here are the steps to collect the log:

1. Open the app and try to reproduce the problem.

2. After the problem is reproduced, click About, and hold the Kasa icon for about 5 seconds, the log will be imported to the mobile phone directory-TPLINK folder.

3. Open the mobile phone file manager to find the folder, and send all the files in the folder to ussupportteam@tp-link.com.

 

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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-11-17 17:29:15

  @Riley_S 

 

For the first question, I believe it happens mainly on dimmers but also on non-dimming switches. Below are the details of one dimmer which has shown the issue many times. However, it is sporadic and happens randomly across devices.

 

Device Info

Model: HS220

Hardware Version: 2.0

Firmware Version: 1.0.8

 

 

You also mentioned the Beta version of the app for the scenes disappearing issue. That probably magically went away so I will wait for the released version to deployed before updating.

 

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#7
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-12-15 14:17:31

@Riley_S 

 

The issue continues to occur.

 

Since my post, I have paid better attention to what devices it seems to happen with. It *may* be that I need to walk back the statement that it happens with switches. Every occurrence since the original post has been with dimmers only.

 

Thinking about this further, I believe this is also a SAFETY Concern and potentially very dangerous.

 

Imagine a scenario where a dimmer controls a light bulb and the bulb is burned out or removed. The only visual indication would be the LED at the switch. In this scenario the LED indicator shows that the dimmer is off (open, meaning no current to the load). In reality it would be live. This is very dangerous. Another possible scenario, with other implications could be with a device tied to an outlet.

 

Obviously in the above scenario, the statement can be made that people should trip the breaker and/or test with a multimeter, etc. That said, how many people ever do this when changing a bulb. Basically nobody. 

 

So beyond being a nuisance and "bug" in the dimmer functionality, there is the real possibility of someone using the LED indicator on the switch as the "test of current at the load." This could hurt someone.

 

Is there a way I can pull logs, etc. for the development team the next time this happens? I am very happy to be support the debug of this situation.

 

 

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#8
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2022-12-22 19:05:13

@Riley_S 

 

Anything from the dev team?

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#9
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2023-01-03 17:35:20 - last edited 2023-01-03 17:37:06

@Riley_S  

 

Hello. Over Christmas I observed the issue a few times again, all with dimmers. I even saw an instance of the opposite behavior... the switch showed "on" but the light was off. After toggling the light came back on properly.

 

Uninitialized varibale or some type of race condition in FW? Or perhaps there is something mechanically wrong with the design of these dimmers that has this issue pop-up periodically.

 

I am the only person reporting this behavior?

 

I am up to 4 different dimmers which have shown this behavior. Maybe more but did not keep track for a while.

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#10
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Re:Light stays on after turning switch off
2023-01-04 00:25:12

  @Chancleta,

Not yet, as most of us were either taking a holiday or preparing for CES.

 

I did respond to one other user that had a complaint that may be attributed to the same thing.

 

When you are using the devices, are you sending the commands via a Group or to each Device Individually? The other user believes that it is being caused by commanding a group of devices. You said that you have the automation set up as a scene, it may be worth either creating a group or setting individual actions for the dimmers. You may try also using the set lighting command for the dimmers, as I have personally found this to be more consistent.

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#11
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