I made the jump to a “Smart Home” a little over a month ago after Alexa joined our family. After talking to some friends, doing some research and assesing my needs I settled on TP-Link because of the variety of Smart products they offered, no requirements for a Hub, the lower cost and the ability to control everything from one simple app on my Smart phone and Amazon”s Alexa. I have not been disappointed. After a very short learning curve, I surprisingly found the installation and set-up of all the TP-Link Smart devices extremely easy and intuitive. I have installed several different Smart devices including three different bulbs (LB-100, 120 & 130) depending on the area, as well as, Smart Switches (HB-200) and Smart Plugs. All of it has installed, programed and worked with few problems. The only criticism I have is the Kasa App. I have found it to be a bit bugy at times, but since I use it primarily for programming and setting up new devices and scenes, rather than operationally, it has not been an issue since Alexa handels most of that work. So far, in the six weeks my Smart Home has been in operation I have only had one problem where Alexa and the Kasa app lost communication with most of (but not all) of my TP-Link devices. But after a bit of head scratching I was able to restore communication. So here’s a tip to remember: I first tried rebooting the devices by cycling the power breaker, but that didn’t work. Probably due to multiple devices signaling simultaneously and overloading Kasa. But, powering each device down for a few seconds then back up, and testing it before moving on ro the next one worked without a problem. I also recommend using a different control application. I only have experience with Amazon Alexa, but it also interfaces with Google Home among others. I have found that controlling scenes from Kasa not to be reluable for some reason, while issuing the scene commands to Alexa works 90% of the time, with repeating the command becoming necessary about 10% of the time. But even with an occasional repeated command being necessary, TP-Link devices respond extremely well through Alexa’s control. Plus Alexa is able to easily “group” multiple devices so you can control areas with a single command, or program macro activities that Alexa can perform with a single command. Capabilities Kasa does not have. This is another deficiency of the Kasa app. Without the ability to group devices or run macro routines, it relies on programmed scenes which are very limiting for operational control. So another controlling app like Alexa or Home is essential to the TP-Link Smart Home system. For me, because I have Alexa for operational control, both at home and away, these short comings in the Kasa app are non-issues. But if I didnt have this capability I think I would look to a different Hub controlled platform for my Smart Home lighting and device control.HS-200 Smart Switch: I am a retired electrician, so I found the installation easy. Most DIY homeowners with a basic knowledge of electricity and components should also have few problems with the installation. I found this Smart Switch easy to control and the installation is about the same as replacing a standard light switch. But, a big drawback is not have a dimming capability. To me this should be a no-brainer and i cant understand why this featire is lacking. Because that would makevthis a 5 star product. So before you procede there are a couple of precautions that should be noted. First, you must three wires plus the ground (usually bare or green), and one must be the neutral (usually white) third wire, or the switch simply will not work. This can be an issue in some older homes (and even in some newer ones too). The neutral wire is the “common” wire that runs throughout the house and is common to all circuits. It completes the loop in the circuit from the electrical box to the receptacle. The “hot” (or “line”) wire (usually black) carries the electrical load for that circuit only (usually 15-20 amps max). And finally, the “load” wire (usually black, red, or it could even be white) completes the hot side of the circuit between the switch and the receptacle. To save time and money some electricians when wiring homes “old school” would complete the light circuit by running the neutral to the light receptacle and then run a 2 conductor (plus ground) to the switch. So even though you may have a white and black wire at the switch, the white wire is not a neutral, but the load wire that that completes the hot circuit when the switch is turned on (closed). So if you don’t have 3 wires, one of them being the white neutral, you are out of luck using a Smart Switch. You can control the light however, by using Smart bulbs and then grouping them in the controling app (like Alexa). Another caution is wire management. Standard light switches don’t take up much room, so the original installing electrician had lots of room in the box to stuff extra wire. This is a luxury you don’t have since the Smart Switch is much deeper and takes up most of the box. The new switch also uses leads that are wire nutted to the circuit wires and not terminated on the switch itself. Because of this, it may be necessay to shorten the wires to make room in the box for the extra electronics and wire nuts. My advice is to open your intended switch boxes to survey your electrical wiring BEFORE you order the switches, so there are no surprises when it comes time to install. One last safety precaution. Be sure to turn off the circuit at the electrical panel (breaker box). Also don’t assume that all switches in a multi-switch box are on the same circuit. It is often the case that multiple circuits are in the box. This is especially true when a switch is controling a plug. So check all wires in the box with a meter to insure nothing is hot. Finally, when wire nutting multiple wires it is VERY EASY to leave a wire loose. This can be very dangerous, as loose wires can work themselves free and cause arking and sparking that can damage connected equipment, and worse, start a fire. This is a common cause of electrical fires, and you might not know there is a problem until it’s too late. So to ensure all wire nut connections are tight and secure, tug on each wire at the nut with needle nose pliers. If you can’t pull it loose it should be good to go. Also make sure there are no bare wires poking out of the nuts. The switches use stranded wire so it’s easy to have some stray strands loose outside the nut. So that’s about it. The install is pretty easy most of the time, but if you don’t think you’re experienced enough to do the job safely, put this phase of the job in the hands of a professional. It should be an easy job for any professional electrician, and should not be terribly expensive. Consider it cheep insurance!

I have several Kasa smart switches installed. They work fine with Alexa as well as with the Kasa App. I’ve read some of the not favorable reviews and almost all are related to not reading the instructions. There was 1 firmware update a few months ago that broke the Alexa-Kasa skill (not the actual devices). The fix was pretty simple. There is a small reset hole/switch on the bottom of the devices that you needed to press to reset the unit and re-link the devices to the skill. That was stated on the firmware update pop-up that apparently many people didn’t read. Apart from that one instance, all my devices have been working flawlessly for 2+ years. I just added a new one today to my home.

Just like Kasa smart plugs this was a breeze to get working. The only problem I had was having to connect it to the neutral wire in the electrical box as somewhere along the line someone cut it VERY short. Otherwise this was a breeze to get working. Really impressed with Kasa!

I have had my TP-Link Switches and Plugs installed (depending on the device) since 2016 to 2018. Alexa integration. Easy to turn on and off remote switches (in a detached garage or the patio lights, for example.) I can control them individually, set them on schedule, all the typical good stuff you expect from a Smart Home. Last week, my dining room light switch suddenly did not want to connect with the internet. I tried the typical restart, resynch routine needed with most electronic devices. I poked around various menus, pressed the obvious buttons, etc. No Joy. I contacted customer support. A couple of emails later, problem solved. Not just good (AKA useful and robust) products, but great product support. And yes, the fix was easy. As with many electronic devices, the solution is easy, you just have to know where to look. Once you find that location or solution, a facepalm is often in order.

These are fantastic switches if you just need a basic on/off switch. The switch will not work if you have 2 or more switches controlling the same light (3-way switching).I’ve installed tons of switches, lights, electrical boxes and plugs and I found these to be exactly as easy as any other switch to install. A nice touch is that the pre-attached wires on the back of the box are already exposed and the ends are soldered so there’s a nice surface to attach to the existing home wires. You need to verify that the box you’re planning to install the switch in is of standard depth and now shallow before ordering because these switches are very deep. You also need to make sure there’s a common wire in the switch box you’re updating. This is usually a white wire that is capped to another white wire in the box and not connected to the current switch. Regular light switches don’t use this wire, it just by-passes in the box. You will usually have this wire if there are two sets of wire coming into the box at the switch. Some switches are at the end of the line on a circuit and they will have both the white and black wire already connected to the switch. In that case, when the white wire is connected to the switch, the white wire is NOT A COMMON WIRE. It’s only a common wire if it’s NOT CONNECTED to a traditional switch. I hope that helps with some of the confusion I’ve seen in other comments. As for the other important things about electrical work like turning off the breaker, please make sure you have some type of voltage meter or power line detector. Just because the light goes out doesn’t always mean that there are not live wires in the box. Some boxes have more than one circuit running thru them.Pros:1. Install took me about 5 minutes per switch and I installed 3 of them and got them added to Kasa in under an hour.2. The quality of the touch and feel of the switch is really nice.3. The lights on the switch are small and dim and not too noticeable from across the room, but are useful when setting up4. The time between turning the light on/off in the app and when the switch completes the task is under a second – Very fast5. The switch makes a slightly audible “click” when you touch it and if you turn it on/off with the app. That’s a really nice touch.6. These are white switches with white covers and the cover is of very high quality7. As with all the TP-Link Smart home stuff, you can take a picture to use as a label in the app – this helps when you have 17 devices like I have in the home8. Works with Alexa and so far has been flawless9. Easy to mix with the TP-Link bulbs (though pointless on the same light) and plugs so that you can control everything from one app and alexa.10. Scheduled on/off times that can be linked to Sunrise and Sunset. This is PERFECT for my porch light that I leave on all night for security sake.Cons:1. Does not do 3-way switching – If you want to do a more advanced setup, there is a way to wire the current 3-way switch so that one switch is always on or bypassed. This will effectively make the TP-Link switch the only working switch on the circuit, but I don’t love that solution.2. Does not Dim – when in a group of dimmable lights under alexa the switch will turn off if you select any amount of dimming when you ask alexa to turn it on. For example: “Alexa, turn on Dining Room at 100%” will cause the dimmable light bulbs to turn on, but these switches will not. If the light is already on when you give this command it will actually turn off. I’d prefer that the switch just turn on regardless of what dimming percentage you use.3. The switch is deep and with pre-attached wires it can take up a lot of room in a crowded electrical box.4. The tabs on the top and bottom of the switch that allow you to screw it to the box and a cover to it are thicker than a normal plugs. This means that if you use a different switch cover (like one for 2 or more switches side-by-side) this switch will sometimes push the cover forward causing there to be a slight gap between the cover and wall. Not enough for me to be disappointed by it, but enough that my OCD is a little tweeked.I would recommend these to anyone. They’re perfect for my porch lights, and for any HID or other special over-head light that you have that can’t be dimmed. If you’re looking for a solution that can be dimmed these are not for you. I ordered one extra on accident and I’m installing it at a friend’s house this weekend to try and also get him hooked on this stuff :)Welcome to the future!