My plan for my smart home was to stick to zigbee and zwave devices, but alas I recently came across a fantastic deal on some kasa switches. I see hubitat now has official built-in integration, though they are wifi devices.
I live in a townhome so a bunch of wifi signal “nearby”, but also live alone so not like a family of 4 each concurrently using various wifi devices.
What do you guys think? Given the cheaper price is it a good idea to add some of these cheaper switches to less-important locations or is it simply maybe not worth it - and they’re cheaper for a reason?
Yes. I personally do not have more than one WiFi switch, and it's a HomeKit only iDevices switch I got for free. I wouldn't invest in them. It's not just the switch cost, it's either the cost of an electrician, or if you do it yourself, it's the time and effort cost.
WiFi is connected to your router and thus connected to the internet unless you take extra steps to isolate it. So you then have an attack point (or multiple) on your network, and you have a device that critically needs to be kept up to date to keep your home network safe.
This isn't the case for devices that connect via Zigbee or Z-Wave, or via another radio technology through a different hub (as is the case with my Insteon switches), or Lutron Caséta or RA2 dimmers.
Problem with the Kasa devices if they have to be polled, so you do not get instant status updates. Works fine for plugs because usually you do not turn those on manually.
If you would want to be able to trigger any other actions from the switch being turned on, that will be a challenge due to the polling delay. Like turning on the main light also turns on a smart plug in the same room, there would be a delay.
If you just want to be able to see the status and maybe have the lights turn on and off automatically from other triggers that would work Ok.
i use them as backups for my equipment like cameras , routers switches etc.. i dont care about instant reporting but i need to be able to reboot the devices remotely.. i have an att access pt with some kasa switchs on it.. as a backup internet so i can reboot the main one when things go awry.. both my hubs are on kasa switches on a ups .
Good call... so if you have a C8, and the devices are Matter capable then you could use them through the Matter support for instant updates just like Z-Wave and Zigbee devices, either in beta or wait for it to be released officially.
I bought some Kasa 125M switches and cannot get them to work with my C5. The documentation is pretty confusing.
It seems that the C8 directly supports them but perhaps something like an Amazon Echo might translate?? I set one up using the Apple Kasa app and bluetooth - this works well.
Will the C5 Kasa app will eventually support communication with Matter devices via discovery? If so I will probably just wait.
If it will never work via discovery, does it work via Alexa?
The C-5 is not Matter compatible at this point of time, and there are no announced plans to support Matter on older Hubitat models (C-3, C-4, C-5, and C-7).
THERE IS AN SOLUTION: If you use the current Hubitat version, the following is at the top of the installation page:
The 125M is not supported by the built-in integration (different API and comms protocol). HOWEVER, my community "Tapo" integration supports the KP125M (as well as other new protocol Kasa products that use the same API/comms protocol as the TAPO bulbs, pligs, and switches). See link at bottom.
While doing discovery, assure you have selected the install kasa devices (to true):
I am also finalizing a version of the built-in Kasa integration that will add these new devices to the mix. However, I have to get the Hubitat Team to agree to add to their baseline.
Thanks for the info. I guess I saw that Habitat was proudly supporting Matter and just assumed it would be all current hubs - mainly out of ignorance and the belief it is a protocol that could be hosted on any of the versions.
Also, thanks for your work on integrating Kasa stuff. I installed it a few years ago and it worked great. Eventually the built-in app took over but I still have your apps installed - maybe I should delete them?
I installed your Tapo app via the packet manager. I do not have the Tapo app (and logon info) and since I like the Kasa app I might wait until the Kasa built-in app supports it someday.
I recall setting DHCP to a fixed IP for all my Kasa wifi switches per your app instructions a few years ago ... but I do not believe I have when adding Kasa switches to the built-in app. It seemed to work and I assumed it was using MAC addresses. I noticed you say it needs to be fixed for Tapo. Am I just lucky it worked and will be flaky with out assigned IP addresses with DHCP?
Yes, lucky, most consumer routers will give a 24hr lease for DHCP so for a constantly connected device the IP is unlikely to change. Before the lease ends the device will request the same IP to renew it. If the router goes down for a while or the device is offline when the lease expires though, the IP could change, then you may lose connection to it from HE without manual intervention.
I did exactly this, have a double sided switched outlet for my Vera and router so I could reboot either remotely if hub became unresponsive.
Migrated to HE a few years back and I've never had to use it for Hubitat go figure
