Having fun with Sense for about 4 months now. A couple weeks ago I installed a KP115 smart plug for my freezer…took about 30 hours before Sense recognized it. A week later I plugged my Samsung TV into a KP125. The TV was recognized pretty much immediately but the KP115 freezer disappeared at the same time even though “Connected devices” indicated 2 smart plugs.Waited a couple days but KP115 freezer never reappeared. Wifi signal is excellent, plug firmware updated…tried rebooting wifi, disabling/enabling smart plugs without success.
Next I removed KP115 from freezer and installed new KP125 …same problem…KP125 TV immediately recognized but nothing on the KP125 freezer in 48+ hours.
“Connected devices” states 1 smart plug recognized since KP115 switched out.
Kasa wattage measurements for all devices have been appropriate.
Any ideas/solutions for me? Thanks.
I would delete the plug from the Kasa app… re-pair it then set the lan IP as static in your router… and static IP for your sense meter. When you integrate sense to Kasa, they use mDNS to communicate with each other (locally). The plugs should show up as soon as you open the sense app after adding it to the Kasa app.
What you describe sounds odd. When something electronic is odd, I try rebooting stuff. In your case, that would look like this:
Open the Kasa app and browse to the Energy screen for each plug. If that looks normal, then force the Sense app closed and reopen it. You could also try to reboot your mobile device. If none of this helps, turn off the breaker briefly where Sense is installed.
I agree with @ccook. I had to use fixed or static IP addresses on my smart plugs to keep communications working. Try making that change and see if it helps.
Try turning your plug on/off multiple times. Being that it’s on a fridge (assumingly always on) it might help speed up the integrated discovery process of the plug.
Are all your plugs working as they should in the Kasa app, including energy monitoring?
Are all your plugs and your Sense monitor connecting to the same network/ssid, same router?
If not I would start looking at your network settings.
One example; Sense on main network, problem plug connecting to guest network. Guest network set to deny guests to access local network, or guests from accessing each other.
It would be EXTREMELY unusual to see this with a Kasa device unless it was an issue on your end.
With that being said its a common issue with Schneider/Square D/Wiser branded plugs. Neither Sense or Schneider can figure it out and do not appear to be willing to work together despite their partnership to do so.
Thanks, all, for your suggestions.
Shutting plugs on/off multiple times, rebooting the router and briefly turning off Sense circuit breaker did not help, although Freezer KP125 showed up on the Sense app for about 2 hours 12 hours after the last manipulation.
All plugs are working (including energy monitoring) in the Kasa app and firmware has been updated.
All plugs and my Sense monitor are on the same Guest network.
I have some learning to do:
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Need to determine that guests (Kasa & Sense) can consistently access each other…although they clearly have, temporarily, at least one plug at a time.
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Need to learn how to set up static IP addresses within my local area network.
I’m off to find some lan/static IP addressing tutorials now…will keep you posted.
Your mention of the network name, Guest, gave me an idea you might explore. At my home, I have one WiFi router machine that creates two networks at the same time: one is designed for me and the other is for guests. I learned that the Guest mode is configured differently than the other one day by accident. It went like this.
My printer has WiFi capability so I enabled that. I gave the guests password to friends who tried to send a document to the printer, but they could not see the printer on the network. We double checked settings and it still didn’t work. A little google searching lead me to the solution: the Guest network puts each guest in its own little world. They can’t see each other even though they are on the same network. This is probably intentional to protect the privacy of one friend from snooping by a different friend.
The solution in my case was to move the printer to my own network. I had to give my friends that access, too, or they would never be able to print wirelessly. In the case of Sense and the Kasa integration, the integration works something like this: Sense broadcasts a code to every device on the network asking it to respond with its energy usage. Kasa plugs are the only one that understands this request, so they each respond with the requested data, which Sense then displays on your app.
If your Guest network is like mine, then the Kasa plugs never get the Sense request to respond with their data simply because the WiFi doesn’t let that signal through. You can see energy usage in the Kasa app because that data is sent to you over the cloud, not over the local network.To get the Kasa integration with Sense working may require moving both your Sense and the Kasa plugs to a non-Guest network.
What kind of networking gear do you have ? I’m not sure if the default Guest networks on Apple or UniFi gear will work correctly with Sense / Kasa integration, because it relies on broadcast messages that are often suppressed by the Guest defaults as @jefflayman suggests.
Look for something similar in your routers settings.
This is from my TP-Link router under Advanced - Guest network.
A tip for those using a guest network for IOT devices is to use a different SSID for 2.4g and 5g or better yet disable 5g guest as I have done. Or disable band steering on the guest network if you have that option.
Most IOT devices are 2.4g only, routers try to steer everything to 5g when allowed. Band steering can cause confusion (in simple terms) resulting in frequent disconnects or inability to re-connect.
Especially when the router is used in a business or public type setting.
I’m having trouble making adjustments to my Netgear router Guest network settings. Perhaps it would be easiest to switch the Sense monitor and smart plugs to my primary network. Thanks to all for your input.
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