KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch

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KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-08-08 12:07:13
Model: Kasa KL125  
Hardware Version: V3
Firmware Version: 1.0.12

I have a three-way circuit that controls three identical light fixtures. The switches are a Kasa HS210 on one side and a regular "dumb" Leviton switch on the other side. The HS210 is not a dimmer obviously, nor is the "dumb" Leviton switch. These are BOTH "always on, full power" switches.

 

Using regular (not Kasa-smart) light bulbs, this setup has worked perfectly for several years now.

 

Yesterday I installed three brand new KL125 bulbs in these fixtures and they're exhibiting some really strange behavior when dimmed:

 

1. At one point I went into the Kasa app and witnessed the HS210 switch cycle between on/off on its own. I'm not doing anything or touching anything else...I just have the lights turned on and dimmed to like 50%, and in the app it shows like the light switch is turning on and off repeatedly, even though it's still sending power to the bulbs. I don't see this behavior happen when the lights are at 100%.

 

2. Last night I walked out to where these lights are and found one of them on, two of them off. I turned the switch off and then on again, and the lights all powered up again.

 

 

Being that the HS210 has been in place for years and has worked perfectly, I'm inclined to think this is a "bulb" problem. Can I have more than one dimmable bulb on a circuit or, does that simply not work? Do I just need to leave these at 100% and be ok with not using the dimming feature or something? What else can I look at to troubleshoot this or, are these bulbs just super problematic at this point? I've tested other Manufacturer's dimmable bulbs in the past and don't recall having problems like this.

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-08-17 18:32:49

  @mgudites,

I apologize for the late response; I had thought that this behavior was also very strange so I immediately sent your thread over to our engineering team. They requested to have more information regarding the problem, such as the steps to reproduce the strange behavior and if it is possible a video of the devices/app operating in the way you described. This will allow them to try and reproduce the issue in the lab and to see if they can identify any patterns in the behavior that could help them discover the root cause of the problem.

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-08-17 18:43:07

  @Riley_S 

Unfortunately I don't think I have any more info to provide. In addition to this post I also contacted support, and the person who responded seemed to be pretty clueless (he didn't even realize the KL125 was capable of dimming), so I just sent the bulbs back to Amazon and went with Cync instead. I'd love to return them and use the Kasa bulbs because as far as functionality goes I like the Kasa bulbs much better, but after several days of fooling around with them I couldn't get them to work consistently enough.

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-09-12 13:56:17

 At one point I went into the Kasa app and witnessed the HS210 switch cycle between on/off on its own. I'm not doing anything or touching anything

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-09-12 13:58:07

  @danielsv Yep, this is exactly what mine does, and I found it does it when I use ANY brand of dimmer bulbs. It seems like it's something about the bulbs not being at full power; it's like the switch can't tell whether things are working properly or not if the light isn't drawing 100% power or something?!

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-09-12 20:28:16

  @mgudites @danielsv,

 

So I think that the problem here is that the word dimmable is being used in two different scenarios. If you look at the product page in the technical specifications for Dimmable, it says "Yes (App and Cloud Only)"

 

This would mean that the bulb always has to be fully powered and the dimness setting can only be changed via the App/Cloud Connection to another device; not by changing the amount of power given to the bulb. From my research, this is a technical impossibility as long as the bulb directly receives its power via the switch.

 

For this reason, its recommended to choose one method of control for a device or light. Furthermore, shutting off the switch will also mean that the bulb will disconnect from the network and have to reconnect each time the light is turned off.

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Re:KL125 bulbs exhibiting odd behavior combined with HS210 switch
2022-09-12 20:45:43

  @Riley_S Right, and to clarify, my switches are NOT dimmers, so they are always sending full power. The fact remains though, when I dim them via the app (regardless of whether they're Kasa brand or other), the HS210 freaks out. The indicator light starts blinking both on the switch itself, as well as in the app. It's like it can't tell it's fully there since the power it's using isn't 100% of what a bulb would normally use (I have no idea if that's related, it just seems like that's what might be happening).

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