I have a somewhat unique situation.
I have two SEPARATE incoming power lines on my property. Power for my shop is totally separate from the power coming into the house. The house and shop aren’t even on the same transformer. They are literally like 2 separate houses.
However, I have the same Wifi network connection for both the house and the shop.
My problem is that because I’m using a KP115 to control a small light in the shop, SENSE is picking up the KP115 on the Wifi network and falsely adding it to my home’s energy usage.
Is there some way to tell Sense to ignore this particular KP115?
If you have enough flexibility on your networking, put that KP115 on a different VLAN/IP range. The Sense cannot selectively connect to compatible Kasa plugs, but it only “searches” the IP range/domain it is on. If you have a simple network with a main network and a guest network, try putting that KP115 on the guest network.
If you don’t have a Guest WiFi network, you could control the shop light using a smart plug that does not provide energy monitoring, such as HS105 instead of KP115.
I do have a Guest Wifi. HOWEVER, I have an access point in the workshop that is connected to the main house via 100’ ethernet cable. So the main router “sees” any wifi devices in the garage as if they are ethernet devices, so it doesn’t separate them out from the main network.
So the sense device also sees that module via the network, even though it really isn’t on the same power line.
The only real solution I see would be instead of an access point, I would need to put a second router in my workshop and double-NAT it with my main router so it could segregate the shop devices to a different network.
Which also isn’t a good solution since it means ALL of my shop devices would now be on a different network even when I DO want most of them to share the same network as the house.
I’d also eventually like to put a second Sense in the workshop to monitor the workshop’s power usage….
Since it’s on a separate power line, but the same IP network, there’s currently NO WAY to monitor the power in the shop.
There are a myriad of solutions once you understand the rules. @jefflayman offers one more solution to your immediate problem - just use a Kasa smart plug that Sense doesn’t recognize (on/off only vs. power measuring) in the shop and you will be OK as well.
More broadly, here are some thoughts and rules about multiple Sense monitors and multiple power measuring smart plugs:
You can have two Sense monitors on the same IP range / domain. I have that today.
The complication comes in when using the Kasa integration - you’ll really only want one “broadcasting” to gather Kasa smart plug data. That’s also how I’m set up today - only one talks to the Kasa plugs, with the Kasa integration off on the other monitor.
If I did want to try to run/measure smart plugs from the other monitor, I would use either WeMo or Wiser plugs, which have separate integrations which can be turned on or off per monitor.
Neither of those smart plug choices is as desirable as Kasa in my mind - the WeMo Insight is pricier and harder to come by, and the Wiser smart plug and smart outlets occasionally produce erroneous hi power spikes. But both would be suitable for a limited application with a s
A better solution, although perhaps not feasible or you (depends on your budget and technical skills, or you have to pay someone):
Keep just the one router, feed it into a (new?) managed switch in your main residence
Configure that switch to to have two separate VLANs, one for main house, one for workshop
Assign the shop VLAN to the port with the long cable
Assign the other port(s) to the main VLAN
Configure the router to run DHCP on both VLANs, but with distinct IP ranges/subnets
Connect WiFi in the main house to main VLAN
Connect WiFi in the shop to other VLAN
If you feel you need both VLANS in the shop, you’ll need a second managed switch so you can “trunk” both VLANS over the one cable, and split them out in the shop.
If you understand these technologies at least somewhat, the above, which is very abbreviated, should give you the idea. If not, but you want to go this route, you will probably need to pay someone.
Software engineer here, so yeah, I can handle setting up VLANs. Unfortunately my router (ASUS ROG RAPTURE GT-AX11000) does not support VLANS.
I do have a few high-end 48 port managed switches just sitting in my workshop in a box, so I could definitely put them in service if it comes down to that…
Just seems like a whole lot of overkill for something that is essentially a simple software change to the Sense programming to just add a checkbox to “ignore” specific KP115’s.
That would allow me to have two Sense units. One in the house, and one in the workshop so I could monitor power consumption in both.
Those suggestions are definitely not solutions but are “workarounds”.
A proper solution would allow me to have two sense systems with one shared IP would be to give Sense the ability to “ignore” the received input from selected KP115’s.
One sense unit could ignore the main house KP115’s and the other could be set to ignore the workshop’s KP115’s.
Alternatively, VLAN’s on managed switches would likely be a viable, albeit not desirable solution.
You are right about SW change for sense. Is not going to happen though. I find SW to be a serious weakness for sense. Quality is not there, responsiveness is poor, support is poor. It appears they have something else to invest there resource in.
Your router can be replaced by something quite capable for $150 or less if you want. Personally I run 4 VLAN to keep things separate and I use OpnSense running on a Protectli unit for hardware.
@lance1 , agree that being able to control which Kasas report and which ones don’t would be a great feature. That said, I’m a Sense user, and a former PM for several software products. I was just sharing ways to make what you want to work, actually work, given what’s available today.
I have the same layout. Dethatched garage with a separate meter, then same network. Im connected with a pair of gigabeams. I currently have 1 kasa plug in my garage connected to my power tools chargers. I see no harm in it reporting to my sense app since it doesn’t effect the overall usage. I actually like having it in the list.
Ways to break your TP-link integration for a plug…
Vlan- install the dd-wrt firmware on your ROG-AX
Guest network. The integration works on mDNS and your ASUS will block that.
Create a 2nd kasa account, add the plug(s) from the garage. Share those plugs from the kasa app- to your original account. You would see all plugs in your original app but not have the sense integration.