Feeling like a genius today - Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Outdoor Plug


 

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
Most days I don't feel too smart, but today I do kind of feel that way because I've solved a minor annoyance in my backyard.

We've got a small fountain that runs on an electronic timer, and whenever the power goes out it loses its programming. It's mounted low on the wall next to the patio outlet and it's impossible to read the LCD display.

A few years ago, Mrs. TVWB bought a couple of Kasa Wi-Fi enabled indoor plugs to control some lamps. I don't know why it never dawned on me that Kasa probably makes a weatherproof outdoor Wi-Fi plug. Sure enough, they do. Just $19.99 and now installed and configured, it's programmed via smartphone and since the programming is held in the cloud, we will never have to reset it after a power outage. And it can be programmed to follow sunrise/sunset throughout the year, which I really like.

Mrs. TVWB thinks I'm a hero, at least for today. ;)


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Nice work! Outdoor and indoor WiFi timers also come in handy for seasonal items that require power (Fall, Christmas, Summer deck lighting, etc.).

You've kinda proven your genius status by way of this impossibly perfect site :)
 
We have the same plug for our to-be-built waterfall. And we have assorted Kasa products which run in our home; from led color changing bulbs to Wi-Fi plugs (to control the whole house fan). Very happy with the Kasa suite of smart solutions.
 
Just bought a set of these type things from FEIT Electric at Costco. The FEIT app is pretty easy to set up and I just installed all new WIFI 6 mesh system in the house. So we have good range and speed
 
My entire house is Kasa equipped for full voice activation with Alexa. With 4 Alexa Show units strategically placed throughout the house, my wife jokes that she hasn’t touched a light switch in 2 years now. The scheduling feature within the Kasa app is simple and intuitive, and the ability to set scenes to control multiple lights with a single command is very useful. I especially like the dusk to dawn control for our exterior lights. It adjusts automatically so there is no “chasing” of a timer to know when to tell them to turn on. The part that really sold me on the Kasa line is their outdoor cameras. Picture quality is amazing and I get 72hrs of storage to be able to review things if needed at no cost and with no subscription required.
 
I'm feeling a little bummed today because the timer is not following the sunrise/sunset programming I configured. I've got the time zone set correctly, and there are no other events scheduled. The firmware is up to date. It seems to have come on at sunrise (did not witness it because that was before I got up this morning) but then mysteriously went off at around 9:30am. Turned it back on and it did not go off at sunset or even a hour after that. It does seem to respond when programmed by actual time of day settings. Apparently a support call is on-tap for tomorrow. :(
 

 

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