I'm certainly no expert, but it seems like you've tried most of the normal major things to try to fix the problem. It seems like the way that you describe it, the problem may have something to do with addressing between the Kasa Devices and your router. But what is puzzling is why. You really have no settings in the Kasa devices that affect that, and you said that you've factory reset the router. Factory resetting the router should have brought it to a point that all settings are good for normal use of the router. You didn't mention if this setup ever did work properly in the past.

I think that if it were me, I'd try going into the router settings."ADVANCED -SETUP-LAN SETUP" MENU" and select "Use router as DHCP server" and reserve the current IP addresses for say..... 10 of those KASA devices that have connected an have been assigned an IP address by the router and are properly WIFI connected to your LAN (see the router's "attached device" list) for their currently assigned IP addresses). Then, see if they remain properly connected to your router after those addresses have been reserved for them, and you reboot the router several times.

That being said, you shouldn't have to reserve IP addresses in the first place under normal circumstances for these things. They should just get them assigned when the router is rebooted and the devices would follow along and not lose the wireless connection to the router. But this is just something to try.

 

 

 

elhajj33 wrote

I have 38 Kasa devices that include switches, 3-way switches, Smart Plugs, and dimmers on my network.  My router is a netgear Orbi (RBRv2) and a satellite.  Everything works fine unless I reboot my router.  When this happens the switches reboot, but blink fast green and are no longer controllable in the Kasa app or via Alexa.

 

I've been able at times to turn off the breaker to my home and wait about 15 minutes but this doesn't consistently resolve the issue.  

 

Things I've tried: 

  -Network scanning and ensuring I'm using an open 2.4GHZ channel

  -Factory Resetting my Router

  -Disabling the DHCP server on my Router and Re-enabling

  -Changing Wireless security from WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] to WPA2-PSK [AES]

  

If i keep rebooting my router some of the devices will start working.  But then a reoobt will cause some of the working devices to stop working while allowing others to start working.  It just doesn't make ANY sense.  It's also NOT reasonable to have to reset 38 devices whenever I do a router reboot.

 

Reading the forums, this is a common issue.  Considering the cost of these devices, TP-Link really needs to look into this issue and offer a resolution...

 

@elhajj33 

@flipflop49 I figured out that the issue was and how to fix it. 
 

I started by running a packet sniffer (wire shark)  and found that the switches were executing dhcp discover requests whenever they lose Internet access (for example when the router reboots)

the problem is they do this at a very high rate.  My orbi, I think, was seeing the high number of requests and was shutting down the dhcp service. 
 

By turning the dhcp sever in orbi on and off over and over, the orbi was assigning a few IPs before shutting down due to the high request rate. 
 

As more and more switches got IPs, the dhcp request rate went down and the router was able to recover and remain stable. 
 

I forwarded my wireshark log to tp-link eningeering and plan to do the same with Netgear. 
 

In my email to tp-link, I suggested they lower the dhcp request rate.  Basically, I think the dhcp requests are designed to be made in rapid succession for setup (they want the switches to get on the network ASAP). This is great for a single device, but not for a large network with a lot of devices. 

My suggestion was to make a few requests for a short burst then lower the request rate to one every 15-30 seconds.  
 

Anyhow, that was pretty long winded, but I hope it helps someone else out there!  
 

finally, I have screenshots and logs for anyone interested

@elhajj33 So what are you going to do to deal with the problem until TP-Link gets around to addressing it? If they ever do.

@AGOrbi I logged into the routher's web inteface at 192.168.1.1 then went to Advanced->Lan Setup.  You'll see a checkbox there for "Use Router as DHCP Server".  I had to turn it on and off a BUNCH of times.

Recommendation (this is how I ultimately solved the problem):  create a dhcp reservation for every switch.  It didn't take too long, but it resolved the problem.  I also submitted a ticket to tp-link with network logs showing what the problem is.  I do believe it's a TP-Link issue..

@elhajj33 I also have an Orbi router, 2 satellites, and a bunch of Kasa switches and dimmers on the LAN. I enabled the DHCP server on the router and made ip reservervations for just about every wireless device on my LAN a couple of weeks ago. Everything has calmed down significantly. The Kasa devices dropping off was the major issue. There are still very occasional cases where I still will lose connnectivity with a Kasa switch, but they always seem to recover on there own and thankfully it is now pretty rare. The interesting thing about this problem is that I used to have several Leviton smart switches and dimmers and they acted almost same way as these TPlink devices. So it seems pretty likely that is an issue with the router. I also tried  several different routers and the problem persisted. Very hard to pinpoint the problem exactly. However, using the router as a DHCP server and reserving the IP addresses for the devices has certainly seems to have been the best solution so far!

p.s Just for fun I just rebooted my Orbi router and every one of the Kasa switches reconnected just fine!

flipflop49 wrote

 So it seems pretty likely that is an issue with the router. I also tried  several different routers and the problem persisted. Very hard to pinpoint the problem exactly.

@flipflop49 

I think what is happening is the switches are not properly replying to DHCP messages.  I ran Wireshark on my network and saw a ton of DHCP offers that are not followed up by DHCPRequests from the switches.

I can't say 100%, but I suspect what is happening is the router reboots and receives requests.  It makes offers that are not responded and it is not aware of what IPs are assigned.    It then assigns an IP and there are conflicts, but the switches do not respond when queries to see who has what IP.   The DHCP reservations on the other hand prevent IP conflicts.  I opened a ticket with TP-Link, but never heard anything back...

@elhajj33 It sounds like my setup and problem is very similar.  I have about 40 tplink switches, plugs, dimmers and cameras.  I few switches consistently come online with my intervention.  From what I gather, these are my newer switches with newer hardware.

Another thing can't seem to figure out is why all of these switches and other devices connect to Orbi guest network with no issue