Can't add TP-Link KP125M Smart Plugs

Hardware
1

Hi,
I’m trying to add TP-Link KP125M to Home Assistant and it only works as Matter device (no energy monitoring via Matter).
I can’t add it via TP-Link Kasa Smart integration and use its energy monitor.
I have many TP-Link devices on the network and all of them are working fine, except the KP125M I recently bought.
The error I’m getting when trying to add by IP: “Failed to connect”
I’m I doing something wrong or it is time to return these plugs? Kind of tired of TP-link messing with Home Assistant users…

Thank you awesome HA community!

1 Like
2

I’ve only used the Tapo P100 plugs (Tp link), I had to set them up from their app first then add them on HA and promptly fire wall them. I did need to allow them to access a NTP server and a DNS server to function though.

All the energy monitoring features work etc.

I added them using the P100 integration under HACS. Their might be something specific to the KP’s there also, Worth having a look.

3

Just came here to echo this, bought 2x KP125M and was hoping to add them the same way as the existing KP115 plugs I have a dozen of. I am completely unable to add them via the Kasa integration. Discovery fails to find them, and entering the IP fails to connect. They work fine in the Kasa app, not that that does me any good.
Matter allows me to add them, but no energy monitoring available through that.
Hope this gets added soon!

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4

I opened up a Github issue, as I’m seeing the same problems: KP125M Smart Plug - Cannot be discovered or added with IP address · Issue #94947 · home-assistant/core · GitHub

I may end up returning it. I’m hopeful Matter will support energy monitoring in the future, but don’t want to bank on that.

1 Like
5

Thanks for creating the issue… I can’t return mine, what’s worse is that it means that future firmware updates to our existing TP-Link switches can kill the switches that we’re already using with Home Assistant :confused:

6

FWIW I was struggling to add these plugs via Matter, but eventually this is what worked for me (might help others):

  • Run Matter server in docker container
  • Added Matter integration in HA
  • Plug in KP125M (factory reset if needed)
  • Switch iPhone to 2.4Ghz network
  • Add Matter device via HA app, scan QR code, plug should be added fairly quickly
  • Plug automatically recognized in Kasa app (for other features)

I have multicast DNS still enabled with a Unifi network. No energy monitoring in HA of course, but should be enabled in the future whenever Matter spec is updated.

2 Likes
7

My plugs came with Matter QR stickers instead of being printed directly on the plastic. Makes me worried that the wrong stickers were placed on my devices. When I first opened the box some of the edges of the stickers weren’t pressed down fully. Out of the 4 plugs I received only one was successfully added to home assistant

8

This solved it for me. I had my phone on the 5g network and needed to be on the 2.4 to communicate with the plugs. Thanks for outlining your steps PalmTree!

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9

I can also add these via Matter, but I can’t get the power readings. I can only turn it on or off.

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10

@Phobos-7 The current Matter spec does not yet support energy monitoring. Not sure if I’ll keep my plugs integrated with Matter. I think the Kasa / TP-Link integration has support for this.

11

How can the TP-Link app communicate to these plugs when HA cannot? Does the integration need to be updated to support them?

I’m looking buy a couple of energy monitoring smart plugs, and these seem like a good choice but only if they can be integrated into HA.

Or are there better smart plugs out there?

12

If you have a SmartThings account, adding these plugs to HA is straightforward - add them into the Kasa app, link your Kasa account to SmartThings, and link your SmartThings account to Home Assistant using the SmartThings integration. This means the plug controls depend on the web, but at least you can see them in Home Assistant. Note that you do not need a SmartThings hub to do this.

13

Does this method expose the energy monitoring values to Home Assistant?

14

I hate it when I buy things and forget to check home assistant integration compatibility. All of my other Kasa plug setup fine, but this new matter one is different. When I plugged it in My Android phone it immediately recognized I had a matter device. What is the consensus on the best way to set this up? Can I or should I set it up with my Google home through matter? If so does the Kasa app work with it for energy monitoring? I have a sky connect if that helps the situation at all. Because some of my Christmas lights are on these It would be so much better to control through home assistant. I can live without energy monitoring in home assistant as long as I can still do it with the Kasa app.

15

Yeah I fought with it for hours as well to finally figure out solution. I first added it to Kasa app, and I think that screwed me from adding matter device after.

So what I did was in Kasa app is remove device, what this does is factory reset it. All the other ways to reset it unplugging it, holding down a button till blinks different colors did not work. So I didn’t make same mistake again, I immediately added it to google home as a matter device before adding to Kasa app, and bingo it works.

Afterwards to add it to HA, you have to go into google home app and generate a new code for HA because only 1 device is allowed to use a matter code at a time.
I just copied code and plugged it into HA and bingo.

Here are docs how to generate a new code:

So to sum it all up:
If matter not working:

  1. Remove device from Kasa app to factory reset it
  2. Add matter device to your google home, iphone whatever
  3. Add to Kasa app
  4. Generate Code for HA using following guides:
    Matter Setup Guides for Alexa, Google and Apple | TP-Link

Good to go.

1 Like
16

Well, it seems the K125M was a terrible choice for my very first Matter device. It’s actually listed as compatible in the HA documentation for Kasa with a caveat that energy monitoring does not integrate. In trying to debug why it wasn’t connecting to my HA over Thread+Matter I think I broke multiprotocol and ZHA on my Yellow…
image

At any rate, I’ve been able to integrate the K125Ms to the Kasa Android app by pressing ‘Back’ as soon as it starts to add it as a Matter device. It will come to a point where it says the device has been configured and that it needs to check firmtware. At that point I force-close the app. It then pops up in Kasa and HA.

17

This sucks as I just got 2 of these for a appliance power consumption comparison. I’ll send an email to them about lack of Home Assistant support and how that will prevent me from buying anymore in the future and that I’ll stick to the Aqara Smart Plugs since they work with Home Assistant and have power monitoring. Time for the Home Assistant market to start flexing some market muscle to get these vendors onboard.

18

This method (using SmartThings) does set up all of the energy sensors (DeltaEnergy/Energy/Energy Meter/EnergySaved/Power/Power Meter/PowerEnergy) in Home Assistant, but they are all permanently in the state “Unknown”. They do have actual values in the Kasa app, so I think that the values are not propagated by SmartThings.

19

Thanks for confirming @philpo.

I still want to know why / how the Kasa app can get the energy values but HA cannot.

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20

I find it peculiar that we are unable to integrate the KP125M through the standard Kasa integration. I have a number of Matter-supported devices that I’ve added to Home Assistant through the native manufacturer interrogations, not via Matter or the Matter Server. I hope there will be an update soon to support these devices.