A smart plug allows you to bring old school electric devices into the 21st century. However, they’re nothing more than a power adapter if you can’t get them connected to your favorite smart home app.
You can keep your Kasa smart plug connected to Alexa by first ensuring that the Wi-Fi network is on 2.4 GHz and strong enough to reach all devices. You should also go through the usual factory resets and reinstalling apps to make sure everything is working properly. The last thing to check is the power outlet itself for any intermittent power failures that could be bringing down your connection.
Let’s make sure your Kasa smart plug gets to show off just how smart it can make things by fixing some connection problems with Alexa.
The Versatile Kasa Smart Plug
Smart plugs give you a new kind of versatility when it comes to putting together your smart home. They let you give basic smart features to just about any device. If you’re looking to hang on to that vintage lamp, but still want smart features, a Kasa smart plug is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
The Kasa brand comes from a much more well-known and easy to recognize company: TP-link. TP-link built up their fame by designing routers and other connectivity technology, but they’ve recently jumped into the world of smart tech with their Kasa line.
Kasa provides budget-friendly alternatives to the big names like Ring and Philips Hue. However, there also seems to be slightly more connection problems than usual with this brand.
How Does Alexa Connect to Third-Party Smart Devices?
Alexa is very friendly when it comes to working with third-party technology. It’s not just other Amazon devices that work with Alexa, but a wide range of other smart devices.
Alexa connects with other smart devices through two primary methods: native features and integrations (provided by Amazon), and also third-party skills. You can think about these skills as apps inside of the Alexa eco system.
All you need to do is install the skill from the brand of smart devices that you’re using. The TP-link Kasa skill might have an uneasy 2.8 star rating, but it’s exactly what you need if you’re looking to get your Kasa devices working with Alexa.
You’ll need to follow the installation guide inside of Alexa. Let’s walk through a quick device pairing using Kasa as an example.
How to Pair Your Kasa Smart Plug to Alexa
Whether you’re pairing your Kasa devices to Alexa for the first time or you’re looking to do some troubleshooting, here’s everything you need to know for connecting Kasa to Alexa.
- Make sure you have the TP-Link app installed
- Open the Alexa app
- Tap the Home icon
- Click the + in the upper right corner
- Tap “Add Device”
- Select the Kasa logo
- Tap Continue
- Tap “Enable to Use”
- Enter your Kasa login details as required (e.g. your username and password)
- Tap “Authorize”
- Tap “Done”
- Tap “Discover Devices” or say “Alexa, discover devices”
- Set up your Kasa devices
This should make them appear under the “Smart Plugs” section under “Devices”, and clicking on it will show that it’s powered by TP-Link (remember that Kasa is just a brand from TP-Link):
How to Fix a Disconnecting Kasa Smart Plug
There have been a lot of users that have been looking for answers when their Kasa devices keep disconnecting from Alexa. You’ll know that there’s an issue if the device isn’t working when you speak to your Echo device (and you can’t control your Kasa smart plug), or if the Alexa app says the device is “unreachable”:
Whether using an Amazon Echo or the Alexa app on your phone, using the steps you should take to make sure that your Kasa devices stay connected to your Alexa app. Let’s start with some easy fixes and work our way up.
Check Your Wi-Fi
Kasa devices connect over Wi-Fi. Likewise, your Amazon Echo and your Alexa app also use your Wi-Fi connection to stay in control of your devices. Your first stop is going to be checking on your Wi-Fi network to make sure that everything is working.
The first thing we’re going to note is that Kasa devices only connect to 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks. If your Wi-Fi network only has a 5 GHz option, you’ll need to get a 2.4 GHz router or access point in order to stay connected to Kasa devices.
You also want to make sure that your Amazon Echo device(s), and your Kasa smart plug, are all within range of your Wi-Fi network. If you have general Wi-Fi issues, adding some Wi-Fi range extender throughout your home could dramatically improve your experience.
The last thing to check is Wi-Fi bandwidth. Your Wi-Fi can only handle a limited amount of data at a time. Gaming, streaming movies, downloading large files, and too many smart devices can all bog down your network. One of the most common signs of an overloaded Wi-Fi bandwidth Is frequent disconnection of your devices.
You can fix problems with your Wi-Fi bandwidth by purchasing non-WiFi smart products (such as ones that use other communications protocols like Z-Wave or ZigBee), adding a dedicated Wi-Fi network just for your smart devices, or by getting a more robust internet plan.
Check the TP-Link Server Status
If the TP-link servers go down, your Kasa devices won’t be able to function properly. They require a steady connection to the internet in order to maintain all of their smart features. You can head to this website to check the status of the TP-link servers.
If the servers are down, you’re likely going to need to wait until they come back up – no amounting of debugging or factory resets your side will fix it.
Check the Alexa Server Status
You should also check the Alexa server status page. Your Kasa devices won’t be able to work with Alexa if these Amazon servers stop working.
Whilst Amazon has fairly good reliability, I’ve seen glitches and bugs in some of their integrations (and also their own features, such as music streaming) ever month or so – so this is always a possibility of Kasa-Alexa glitches.
Reset Your Kasa Smart Plug
Sometimes even the best devices get software bugs. You can do a soft reset to help your Kasa device get back in working order, or a full factory reset to roll back the hands of time can get the software working like when it was brand new:
- Soft reset: simply press and hold the reset button for five seconds, until the LED light blinks amber and green. This clears out some internal data, and syncs up with the Kasa cloud servers again, but doesn’t require you to set the device up again.
- Full factory reset: Press and hold the reset button for ten seconds, until the LED light is amber. This should remove the device from the Kasa app, allowing you to go through the setup process again.
Re-pair Your Kasa Smart Plug
There’s also a good chance that your Kasa device is no longer listed in your Alexa app. In this case, you can delete the Kasa device from your Alexa app, and then pair it again to refresh the app and get the device working.
All you need to do is follow the steps that we listed earlier to get your device reconnected to your Alexa app, although the gist is that you need to go into your Alexa app, click “Devices” and then press the “+” (plus) icon to re-add your Kasa device, then click on “kasa” and follow the on-screen instructions:
Check Amazon Echo for Updates
If you’re trying to control your Kasa smart devices through Amazon Echo or another Amazon device, you might need to update that Amazon product in order to get it working properly. You can follow these quick steps to check the current software version for your Amazon Echo and see if it needs updating.
- Open the Alexa app
- Tap “Devices”
- Tap Echo & Alexa
- Select your device
- Tap “About” to see if it needs an update
The Echo Show also allows you to check the software version (and whether any updates are required) by going to Settings:
Update Alexa on Your Phone
Your Alexa app itself might also be the source of this problem. It’s pretty common for these complicated apps to get some bugs especially during updates.
Whether you got your Alexa app on an Android device or on a new iPhone, you should head to your app store and search for the Alexa app. You’ll be able to see if there are any pending updates for your Alexa app and manually initiate the update in the app store.
Uninstall/Reinstall Alexa
If your problem persists through all of these solutions, it’s time to uninstall and reinstall Alexa. You can do this like you would any other app. This will clear the local data stored on your phone which could be the source of your connectivity problems.
After reinstalling the app, you’ll be able to use your Kasa smart plug just like everything came out of the box.
Check For Power Failures
A more complicated problem has to do with the power outlet itself. Your smart plug is only going to be as reliable as the outlet you’ve connected it into. If your power outlet experiences frequent flickering power outages, your Kasa plug is not going to behave reliably.
You can test this by moving your Kasa plug to a different power outlet. You can also plug in something that has easy to detect power failures like string lights or a hairdryer into the suspect power outlet.
If you find out that your power outlet isn’t working properly, the best thing you can do is to call an electrician. Working with power outlets can be dangerous and the only thing you want to be shocked by it is how easy it is to control old-fashion devices with a smart plug
Kasa or Amazon Hardware Problems
The last thing they could be causing your Kasa smart plug to disconnect from Alexa is a hardware problem in the smart plug or your Alexa device.
If this is the case, the best thing you can do is to consult the warranty or return policy on your device. While smart devices tend to be pretty reliable, there’s always a few that come out of the factory with a few defects. We recommend keeping all of your packaging and documentation through the warranty period to make sure that these returns or exchanges are easy and hassle-free.
