I have our TV and Xbox hooked up to this. This is how things used to go in my house:
Me: pause the game and put your laundry away
Child: let me just finish this level
Me: no. I need you to do it now.
Child: but mom....
And this continues until I'm ready rip my hair out.
This is how things go now
Me: pause the game and put your laundry away
Child: but mom...
Me: I'm opening the Kasa app...
Child: OK! OK! I'm going
I also have a schedule set so it doesn't even turn in the morning when people should be getting ready for school. After school, it's scheduled to be off, and once everyone has homework done, we turn it on. The kids know that if I power stuff off from the app, they won't have a chance to save their game. This is a huge motivator.
Keep in mind, if your outlet easily accessible, you can bypass the app by pushing the button on the plug, luckily our outlet is behind the entertainment center and no one can reach it.
I also use this if anyone starts fighting over a game. I never knew Minecraft could cause so much fighting between siblings. Now, as soon as I hear fighting, I turn the outlet off. I often hear my kids reminding each othe. "Dude, stop or mom is gonna turn it off!"
I have regained control of my household, and it feels great!!!
After researching automated light switches and outlets to control my lights, I picked TP-Link because they do not require a separate hub to work. Out of the box, install or plug-in, load the Kasa app and create an account, discover using the Kasa app (connect the device to your WiFi at home) and you're ready to go.
I absolutely LOVE the light switches and the outlet plugs. The online TP-LINK installation videos are awesome; short and concise with clear instructions. These Smart devices work perfectly every time using the Kasa app, Alexa and now the Google Assistant. When the power went out once, the devices automatically reconnected and worked flawlessly. BEST PURCHASE EVER!!!
I bought the Amazon Echo Dot - 4 times - and controlled my lights from anywhere in the house simply by speaking to Alexa.
Then, as of 3/25/17, Google Assistant got in the action. So now I can also tell my phone "Ok Goggle, turn on the Basement" and the two Smart Plugs (one mini and one original-sized) turn on together since I made a "basement" group to include them both.
If you're buying these Smart Plugs or Smart Switches for the first time, the below info will be helpful to know to avoid asking yourself "why is it not working for me the way people say they do?"
1. You need to install the Kasa app and create a user account to operate your devices using your phone/tablet. The Smart devices must be able to connect via the WiFi in your house to be operated remotely (by you not manually touching the device). Although you can still operate the devices manually, you bought these to operate them remotely. The Kasa app let's you name each Smart device (IMPORTANT: NAME EACH DEVICE AND GROUP AS YOU WANT TO CALL IT OUT USING ALEXA OR GOOGLE ASSISTANT) and create "Scenes" to group multiple Smart devices to turn on/off at the same time. Tapping on the device name in the Kasa app opens the options to set schedules, timers and more.
2. Got an Amazon Echo? Install the Alexa app on your phone/tablet, add the Kasa Skill, link the Kasa Skill to your Kasa account (from point #1 above), discover devices, then create Groups - similar to the Scenes in Kasa - and select which devices to include in the group for Alexa to know what you meant to turn on/off at the same time. If you DON'T create groups in the Alexa Skill: A) Simply ask Alexa to turn on/off the individual Smart device name, and... B) Alexa will NOT know which multiple Smart devices to turn on/off at the same time - even though you created a Scene (group) in the Kasa app, key phrase here... "in the Kasa app". After you create a group name and include Smart devices in the Alexa Skill, you'll feel like one of The Jetsons, a Star Trek crew member or a millionaire, with the power to command lights on and off using you voice: "Alexa, turn on the Living Room".
3. Got an Android smartphone/tablet with Android version 6.0 or higher? Google began sending upgrades to those devices to install the Android Assistant - the same Artificial Intelligence (AI) used with the Google Home device (the device that competes with Amazon Echo). Here's the deal, similar to the Alexa Skill, you NEED to enable and setup the Android Assistant using the similar steps I described in topic #2 above: Link it to your Kasa account, create Group names and add Smart devices to the group, etc. To set up your Android Assistant to operate your TP-LINK Smart devices, start by saying "Ok Google, turn on my LIGHTS" - the AI is smart and will prompt you with a bubble for you to setup Google Home interfaces. It's da bomb!
Hopefully this will help you enjoy your TP-LINK Smart devices as much as I do.
If you're thinking "I'm still not sure if I should get these or another brand..." GET THESE!!! You will not regret it. They work great! Also, when I had questions, their customer support was very responsive. The love is definitely there.
My goal is to get my entire house upgraded to use only TP-LINK light switches. In time, as the budget allows, it will happen.
This is the first "smart plug" device I have purchased. We have several switches on timers and an older automated lighting system in the house, but I wanted to control some string lights in the porch and since there wasn't an outlet there we looked for alternatives. Initially we had tried one of those inexpensive remote control outlets. It worked OK for a while, but at times the remote would be unresponsive. At other times the lights would come on or shut off by themselves. We started wondering if perhaps a neighbor had the same type of switch and our signals were interfering.
Enter the TP-Link Smart Plug. This is ideal because it only covers one of the receptacles which allows us to continue using the other one. We utilize a few of the Amazon Echo devices in the house so integrating with Alexa was a must. I have a few other TP-Link devices in my home and have been pleased with them, so I figured I'd give this a shot and I've been very happy.
Setup was easy. I downloaded the Kasa app on my phone, walked through the simple instructions, linked it to Alexa via the Echo app... and done. Setup took maybe three minutes and it worked perfectly the first time and every time since. There are no batteries needed, and no other devices (hubs or other hardware) so all you need is the one Smart Plug, a smartphone or tablet, and wifi. In fact even if you didn't have wifi you could still control this from a smartphone but you would have to connect to the wifi in the plug itself.
Now we can simply ask Alexa to turn the lights on or off and the response time is practically instantaneous. I thought there might be a lag of a second or two when using Alexa but that hasn't been the case. I can also use my phone to turn the lights on or off (or any device where you have the app installed), or I can set different timers or various scenes if I really want to. However, for our purposes a simple on or off is all we need.
Also, the unit does have a button on the side so you can turn the lights on or off manually - but we have the plug buried behind a cabinet so we won't be using that feature. This is really about as simple as automated lighting can get. I'm very happy and eventually I can see installing some of the hard wired switches in various rooms to allow us even more control over lighting and the ability to ask Alexa to shut off the lights downstairs since asking the kids doesn't seem to work nearly as well.
Based upon my experience I'll most likely continue going back to TP-Link for our other smart devices since the app is so easy to use and having multiple devices together in one app allows custom scenes and things like vacation mode etc.
The only minor (and I do mean minor) negative I can think of is that as of now I do not believe there is a way to dim the lights controlled by the switch. I somewhat understand that since TP-Link has no idea what kind of devices people might plug into it and therefore they wouldn't want people dimming power to devices that could be harmed by this. However there might be times when having the lights on at only half power would be nice, so just be aware that as of today this is a strictly on or off plug. They could change this down the road with a firmware update perhaps, but I'm not expecting that to happen. If you want to dim your lights, you'll likely need to invest in one of the hard wired switches that offers that functionality.
Bought two of these for my living room lights that are plugged into switch controlled outlets. Great because I don't turn off my phone charging station every time I turn off one of the lights. I'm using them with my echo and was very easy to set up voice commands to turn on/off either switch or both at the same time.
I did have some issues when I was first setting them up and it took my about 30 min to find the problem. These will only use the 2.4Ghz signal from your WiFi network. When you use the app to set them up, your phone will connect directly to the plug for setup, then switch back to your home WiFi network. My phone was using the 5GHz network so I'd set up the plugs, then the app couldn't find them. Once changed my phone to the 2.4GHz network all worked very well.
Also keep in mind you may be tempted to turn the lights off and on while your away, but knowing your wife is watching TV in the living room. While you can do this, and it will never EVER get old to you, it will quickly get old for your wife/husband/SO.
I bought these because a lot of things can be automated, even if it doesn't seem obvious. I have about 5 or 6 of these in my house. I have my bedroom fan set to turn on at 9pm and off at 6am every day. My lights also come on at 6am so I'm not stumbling through the house in the morning. It's also really nice to see if you left the light on or anything else when you're driving away from home to go on vacation. Most people assume these are only necessary if you're lazy, but there's a lot more to it. Just a heads up, this will not work on digital things, like TV's or things with buttons, only switches like fans, lights, and maybe humidifiers/air conditioners. The only complaint I have is that when you lose power, the plug seems to forget the schedule that you have set until you manually unplug it and plug it back in. I live in the country where the power seems to go out about once or twice a month so this is a regular thing for me but I blame my town more than I blame TP-Link
Feature Product
- Control from anywhere - turn Electronics on or off from anywhere with your smartphone using the kasa app (compatible with Android & iOS)
- Voice control - works with Alexa, Google assistant and Microsoft Cortana supported devices for a hands-free experience
- Compact design - won't block the other wall outlet allowing two smart plugs to be installed side-by-side
- Scheduling - schedule the smart Plug to automatically power electronics on and off as needed, like setting lights to come on at dusk or turn off at sunrise
Description
TP-LINK HS105P3 Kasa Smart Plug Mini, Wi-Fi Enabled (3-Pack) Control Your Devices from Anywhere, No Hub Required, Compact Design, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant, White
*** UPDATE 12/2017 ***
The iOS app now finds and applies firmware updates for all devices. Updating review to 5-stars!
*** UPDATE 5-24-2017 ***
Firmware 1.2.1 appears to have solved the problem of dropping wifi connection. Prior to 1.2.1, the longest my HS105's would stay connected to wifi was 8 hours before they dropped/reconnected. With 1.2.1, my HS105's have now been continually connected for over 96 hours.
I am leaving my 3-star rating for now, because... The KASA app doesn't detect/upgrade the new firmware. To update to 1.2.1, you need a Windows PC and should search the web for "tp-link faq-949". That will give you a page where you can download a firmware update utility. The utility is very crude, and always says "update failed!" even though it successfully updates the HS105.
If tp-link gets the KASA app fixed so that it can update HS105 to 1.2.1, or starts shipping with 1.2.1 installed, I will bring this rating up to 5 stars.
*** ORIGINAL REVIEW ***
I had a hard time deciding how to rate this...
Functionally, it has worked perfectly -- I am using it with both the iOS app and Alexa, and it has never failed to operate as it should, turning on/off as commanded. So from a purely functional standpoint, in my particular environment, it rates 5 stars.
But there is "something wrong" with the device firmware; it randomly drops and reconnects from wifi. At least with my particular router, this doesn't present a problem, and in fact the only way I know it is disconnecting/reconnecting is by looking at the router statistics. The connection may last for an hour, two hours, even eight hours -- then it disconnects. With my router, it reconnects and continues just fine -- but from a lot of the bad reviews here, I suspect the reconnect doesn't work with all routers. Signal strength is excellent, so it isn't a signal problem.
In fact, I have a tp-link HS200 (wall switch), and it stays connected indefinitely. This is in the same location, with the same signal strength. The HS200 stays connected forever, but the HS105's (I have three of them) all disconnect/reconnect randomly after 0-8 hours of operation.
I have updated the HS105 to the latest firmware, 1.1.3, but this makes no difference.
So from a functional standpoint, with my router (Asus AC88U), I'd give this 4-5 stars. Easy to set up, works well with the TP-Link iOS app and with Alexa. But there is something wrong.... And depending on your router, the frequent disconnect/reconnect may be invisible to you (as it is to me), or it may require manual intervention.
Hopefully this is something TP-Link will fix with a future firmware release.
I have tried other brand smartplugs and think Kasa is the best (won't mention their names but you can see my other reviews). Both the mini and the regular smart plug install easy on any network I've tried, and the app can monitor devices at multiple locations and multiple networks, which the others do not. These interact with both Alexa and Google Home, so I have voice control on each. Some I use for lights (can program modes or manually control), but some I use for other wifi devices like my raspberry pi media server, which occasionally locks up and needs a reboot. This lets me remotely restart and get my media back up and running. Overall very happy with these. I will say the full sie smart plug seems a little more reliable than the mini, probably just signal availability (better antenna) but for compact sites that have good wifi signal the minis are great.
I already had the oval shaped one. This one rocks! It only takes up 1 space on your outlet. I have my outdoor Christmas lights hooked up to this! (I have an outdoor electrical box that keeps it weather-proof). We have a large living room lamp, 2 different bedroom lamps, an Air Filter, decorative lights around a privacy screen, and our Christmas Star all on a schedule to come on and go off every day! So lovely! I just bought 2 of these new ones at a great price (less than $16) and will probably buy more! The HS105 is the more heavy duty one if you are trying to turn on something that uses more power. PS - If you have an outdoor outlet that comes with a cover it will fit perfectly inside. I have my Christmas lights hooked up with mine and controlled by Alexa.
UPDATE: I got a hold of a great support person who asked some really good questions, and then sent me beta firmware that mostly fixed the problem. I'm told a new version will be released to the public in Jan '19. Now, once connected, they all stay online. I have had the experience where sometimes they don't come back online correctly and immediately after I reboot my router, but I gave that feedback to them and I'm sure they will take note. Overall though, I'm 98% on track with these, and it's a massive improvement. They operate how I want now! Thanks for the great support.
PREVIOUS: I have quite a few of these (including the older HS100). Those stay connected all the time as they should, but the HS105 plugs that I have constantly drop off / disconnect from the network and give the orange light. I've tried DHCP reservations for them, and the firmware on my plugs AND my router are all up to date. I thought these would have improved so I bought a bunch more this holiday season, but I was mistaken. It's frustrating that the old ones work perfectly, but they are much larger physically so I wanted the smaller mini ones. I thought perhaps the current "V2" hardware would have improved connection, but, no. Doing a quick search on the Internet shows that this has been a consistent problem for a long time, and others that also have updated firmware have the same issue. Note this is NOT an app problem (which is also up to date) as the plugs physically have the orange disconnected light come on. I need to be able to rely on things like this, so it's a major letdown.
These plugs are amazing for hard to reach outlets. So far we are up to 3 of the mini plugs and one of the original full-sized plugs. They are super easy to set up - I was able to set up the original one before I even had a full cup of coffee. It occasionally loses the wifi signal, but all it takes to fix it is unplugging it and plugging it back in. Our current set up is 2 lamps on an extension cord (6 outlets) for the living room lights, my wax warmer, and one plug in the living room and one in the dining room linked in a group called "Christmas lights". That group was set up through the Alexa app rather than the Kasa app since Alexa doesn't support groups named through other apps. The original reason I started using these plugs was because our living room does not have ceiling lights, only lamps. After a while, having to walk across a dark room at night got frustrating, especially with two dogs that constantly get underpaw. Now, all we have to do is tell Alexa to turn the lights off when we are in our room. No more tripping over dogs in the dark.