KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)

KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)

KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-05-06 15:19:12 - last edited 2024-05-07 15:53:06
Model: KL125  
Hardware Version: V4
Firmware Version: 1.0.5 Build 230613 Rel.151643

Hi,

 

My KL125s have been having intermittant problems. At first I noticed that they were going "unavailable" many times each day according to the Home Assistant Logbook. I started looking into it and noticed some other people having issues where if the Kasa product didn't connect to Kasa servers the device would attempt to reset itself which caused the "unavailable" status. My first attempt at fixing this was to re-provision some of the bulbs locally and outside of the Kasa app. I used kasa-python to do this. That seemed to fix the problem for a couple weeks, however it has started happening again. Many of the periods of unavailability are 5 seconds exactly, however I just had one this morning when shutting off the lights in a room that was 1:06, so it's inconsistant. What's weird is that it works 100% for a couple weeks then has frequent (like 10+ each day) status reports of "unavailable".

 

I reached out to @Wayne-TP after reading https://community.home-assistant.io/t/tplink-devices-constantly-disconnect-reconnect-but-only-when-i-block-them-solved/620727/15 and than https://community.tp-link.com/en/smart-home/forum/topic/638558, before I realized that "fix" reffered to the KP125, not KL125. The issue however seems to be the same in symptoms. Wayne suggested I start a new thread here. Thanks Wayne!

 

My enviroment is this:

Home Assistant Operating System (HAOS) is the primary controller

 

Network:

KL125 on seperate VLAN that has no direct access to internet. HAOS can open connections to the VLAN.

 

KL125 config:

- 2 of these are associated with the Kasa app and when "available" can be controlled either via the Kasa app or HAOS, even though they themselves are blocked from the internet. I assume the Kasa app supports a local connection when available.

- 1 of these is provisioned locally and not associated with the Kasa app.

 

Troubleshooting:

I've tried rolling back to a prior version of HAOS in case a recenty update caused the issue. That made no difference. I've also tried the suggestion to "unbind" within kasa-python that is suggested in the HA Community link above. That did not work:

 

Got error: SmartDeviceException("Error on cnCloud.unbind: {'err_code': -2001, 'err_msg': 'module not support'}")

 

I'm considering routing the servers the bulbs are attempting to a local server as it's my understanding they're just looking for a response, sort of a "ping" to check connectivity, however I'd prefer not to get into that as it seems this something that could be solved more elegantly.

 

Thank you so much!

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#1
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6 Reply
Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-05-07 15:52:33
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#2
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Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-05-17 04:31:25 - last edited 2024-05-17 04:33:50

More info...

 

It's not just within Home Assistant that the bulbs become unavailable every 10 minutes for about a minute, it's within the Kasa app too.

 

I was able to capture this screenshot showing that the app thinks the bulb is available (because it was a moment before). A few seconds after this error the bulb went "offline" within the Kasa app. It came back a minute later and I was able to control the bulb.

 

 

 

Here's a screenshot of the uptime of my 3 bulbs. As you can see, when they're turned "on" they go unavailable for about 50-70 seconds every 9.5-10.5 minutes. The last two devices are other TPLink/Kasa devices (a plug and a power strip) which don't have any connectivity issues, though they're in the same network environment.

 

 

 

This seems like the same issue as this firmware update thread.

 

https://community.tp-link.com/en/smart-home/forum/topic/636288?replyId=1333980

 

In that thread it's acknowledged that those plugs were programmed to reset their network to attempt to "fix" their lack of cloud connectivity. That appears to be the same thing that's happening here.

 

Other than this issue, these bulbs have been great.

 

I'd love your help with this @Wayne-TP if you're able. I'd be glad to assist with any further info that's helpful. Thank you!

 

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#3
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Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-06-20 19:51:25

  @themoz Ever get a fix for this?  I just bought 16 of these.  I'm having the every 10 minute disconnect issue.  Problem is if I try to turn on or off at that moment it stays in the same state.  

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#4
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Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-06-21 14:00:06

  @Shebaaa I have not. I have a hack and a bandaid,  neither of which are really satisfactory. I'd really love if @TPLink would acknowledge this limitation and ideally provide a fix.

 

The band-aid - there's a custom integration in the community store that is for "retrying" service calls. It will retry the call that fails with increasing delays until it goes through. That doesn't solve the unresponsiveness, however if you make a call like "Turn off the light" it will eventually turn off the light even if it takes a minute or so. 

 

The hack - it's kind of complex with DNS masking and firewalling. It doesn't persist between reboots of the light bulb. If You're interested send me a private message. In my opinion it's not really worth it unless we could build a script that would automatically go through the whole process which otherwise probably takes 5 to 10 minutes of work only to be broken by the next power outage, or reboot of the server.

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#5
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Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
2024-06-21 19:18:22

  @themoz Thank you will try the retry service workaround. For the record, adding a little bit from my HA log and the timing matches in KASA app.  Every 10 minutes it drops off then comes back a minute and some seconds later.

 

 

Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
2:08:36 PM - 1 hour ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:59:39 PM - 1 hour ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:58:26 PM - 1 hour ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:49:26 PM - 1 hour ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:48:32 PM - 1 hour ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:39:17 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:38:06 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:29:06 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:28:12 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:18:57 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:18:02 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
1:08:47 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
1:07:53 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
12:58:38 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
12:57:42 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
12:48:27 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
12:47:16 PM - 2 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
12:38:16 PM - 3 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
12:37:21 PM - 3 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 turned on
12:28:05 PM - 3 hours ago
Ceiling fan master bed bulb2 became unavailable
12:27:11 PM - 3 hours ago

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#6
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Re:KL125(US) goes unresponsive periodically (local only)
Yesterday - last edited Yesterday

  @themoz 

Support has created a custom firmware version for the KL125P4 bulbs. This firmware stops the behavior where the bulbs reboot periodically if they cannot connect to the TPLink cloud.  The firmware is: 1.0.6 Build 241115 Rel.172106.  The only way to access this firmware is to open a support case with TP-Link and provide the MAC addresses of your bulbs.  Support can then push that firmware to your bulbs, which needs to be updated via the Kasa app. 

 

I hope this has been helpful.

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#7
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