[BUG] - All five kp115 smart plugs went offline according to Sense but are still really on

Glad the Wemo is working for you. Really wish we understood why the Kasa plugs are going offline for you.

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@Offthewall, do you have WPA3 enabled in your network?

He mentioned previously that he has PMF turned off. WPA3 requires PMF.

Edit: I think it was dannyterhaar that confirmed he had it turned off so Iā€™m not sure if Offthewall does as well. But I know there was discussion about making sure it was off.

A PMF setting would not be quite the same thing. A PMF setting would only apply to WPA2. WPA3 requires PMF so it shouldnā€™t show up as a setting.

The reason I asked, is I experimented with WPA3 on my device network yesterday. My KP115 plugs all went offline after a period of time. Interesting, my HS300 units remained functional.

No, WPA2-Personal.

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That was exactly my point. If itā€™s off (and thereā€™s a setting to turn it off) then WPA3 wouldnā€™t be on.

Because WPA3 requires PMF the client devices must have wifi chips capable of PMF. This is probably why some of your devices dropped off the network after enabling it while others with capable chips remained on.

Thatā€™s not quite right. You can have PMF optional for WPA2 and required for WPA3 on the same network. At least that what Cisco configuration allows. The PMF setting would only apply to WPA2.

In my case, itā€™s unclear what took out the KP115s. Both WPA2 and WPA3 were enabled. PMF was (and still is) optional for WPA2. It could be a protocol defect with the KP115s or it could be something entirely different. Insufficient information to speculate.

I think thereā€™s some miscommunication here.

  • If PMF is off, then WPA3 CANNOT be enabled if that option exists.
  • If PMF is on then it can be on for WPA2 or as required by WPA3
  • If thereā€™s an option for PMF then it CANNOT be using WPA3 because itā€™s required and cannot be disabled (excludes transition mode).
  • You cannot have WPA2 and WPA3 both enabled on the same network at the same time outside of transition mode.

Hmmā€¦ not sure where you are coming from there, but I donā€™t believe it to be correct. At least for Cisco, that you can have both WPA2 and WPA3 separately enabled on the same network at the same time is clearly laid out in both the GUI and in the wlc (cli) config file. That PMF is a separate option for WPA2 is also clearly defined in the config.

For any configuration of WPAs, plural, we call that transition mode. If you have the option for a transition mode, which only some devices do, the PMF would be optional and NOT required. In transition mode youā€™re generally considered vulnerable to the exploits present in the lower WPA. By default PMF is disabled on most devices for transition mode as it would likely break the WPA2 device connections. And technically in transition mode with PMF disabled there should be no affect to any WPA2 devices.

Either way. Heā€™s not using WPA3 or PMF with either, so thatā€™s not the issue.

Sigh.

Not sure what else can be said.

It seems redundant but hereā€™s another 5 day update. I currently have three Wemo plugs and two Kasa 115ā€™s running. Again, the two remaining Kasa 115s went NA at the 5 day mark. The three WEMOs stayed running perfectly.

The only reason I was holding out hope for the last two is that they are on non-critical appliances (Washer and Dryer) and due to space constraints, two WEMO plugs are not possible in this location. (The WEMOs are too big to fit two in a single duplex outlet).

Iā€™m currently rethinking what I can do in this location.

How about a 6" extension to get it away from the wall

[UL Listed] Miady Short Power Extension Cord Outlet Saver, 16AWG/13A, 3 Prong (10 Pack, Black, 8 Inch) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H9MCTGL/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_38D1T48M01D94933CQWR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I use these all the time to get wall warts off of power strips.

Yeah, something like that. I tend to overthink these things. LOL.

Slightly off topic but a design glitch I just noticed with using the Wemo plugs instead of the Kasa plugs. After a power failure, the Wemo plugs come back defaulted to OFF. Not great if you are using them for energy monitoring of devices you want to be always on. The Kasa plugs remember their last state when they come back from a power failure.

I did manage to create an automation in home assistant that checks the state of the Wemos on HA startup and sets them back to ON. I just had to move my Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant to a non battery backup, non-WEMO controlled outlet so that it goes off and on with any power outages.

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You might want to consider doing something a little different than that so that you can keep the RPi on battery. A suggestion would be to monitor Sense and if sensor.l1_voltage and sensor.l2_voltage = 0 (or offline) as a trigger while having >0 as a condition then the action - wait xx seconds for boot, wifi to return etc - turn on the plugs.

You might need to change the condition to a wait in the action, Iā€™m not sure. Sometimes I have to tinker with these automations to get them the way I want.

Something like this:

alias: Turn on plugs after power failure
description: ''
mode: single
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.l1_voltage
    to: '0'
    for: '2'
  - platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.l2_voltage
    to: '0'
    for: '2'
condition:
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.l1_voltage
    above: '10'
action:
  - wait_template: ''
    timeout: '60'
  - type: turn_on
    device_id: 8e6de3b9c4106afadf41c47a8774e3ab
    entity_id: switch.washing_machine_plug
    domain: switch
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Ah, great idea! thx. Iā€™ll give that a shot.

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Just as a closing statement. Two more 5 day cycles went by with the remaining two Kasa plugs going NA right on schedule. I removed the last two this evening and replaced them with a single WEMO plug. I now have four WEMO and zero Kasa plugs in the system. I expect this issue may be over for me. Until the unknown Wemo/Sense issue crops up. :slight_smile:

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Donā€™t jinx us!

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FYI - I have discovered that I can tickle my ā€œofflineā€ HS110s back into action by going into the Kasa app, and requesting the power for the devices / smart plugs that are offline for Sense. Very convenient since one of the troublemakers is in my attic.

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