Kasa Smart 3 Way Dimmer Switch KIT, Dimmable Light Switch Compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and SmartThings, Neutral Wire Needed, 2.4GHz, ETL Certified, No Hub Required, White (KS230 KIT v2)

Update, Oct 2024:The motion sensor is still very sensitive but it turned out the problem with the timer was my error. I'd set up a rule to turn the light off after 10 minutes but elsewhere in the app I'd set it to turn off if it didn't detect motion for 1 minute. So after 1 minute of me being out of sight of the motion detector it turned itself off, as I'd instructed it to. So a good slap of my own forehead here, a very loud "D'oh!" in my best Homer Simpson voice, and I'm restoring the fifth star to the product.Update, Aug 2024:The motion sensor is very sensitive. I've got mine set to the lowest setting and it activates when I'm 10 feet away in an adjacent room. It would be nice to be able to set it to be much less sensitive, so it activates if I walk past it but not if I walk somewhere in the general vicinity. It's as if the angle of view is fairly narrow, so that if I'm walking along the wall where it's located it doesn't respond until I walk right in front of it, but if I'm in the next room it will activate with me a clear 10 feet or more away. That's tedious, because it means if I stand at my bench to mend something the pantry light keeps turning on.There's also an issue that might be with the switch and might be with the Kasa app (I suspect the app, but the two go together). Because I'm prone to forget to turn off the pantry light (and sometimes it's hard to turn it off if I've got both hands full) I set up a rule in the software that activates when the light is turned on, and turns it off 10 minutes later. 10 minutes is plenty of time to find what I need in the pantry and leave, except that it actually turns off after more like 2-3 minutes.These aren't major issues but are irritating enough to knock off a star. There's not much point having time-based options if what happens bears so little resemblance to what I programmed, and it's been known for years that motion sensors that activate whenever anything happens remotely near them are of limited use.I still plan to install the other one in the attic, I'll just leave it to a standard rule to turn it off.Original review:I fitted a motion sensor switch to the room in my basement where I keep the chest freezer. When I take stuff down to the chest freezer I need to figure how to turn the light on, which can be tricky when I've got both hands full with stuff to go in the chest freezer. I can flick a switch with an elbow but it's a bit of a drag. And sometimes when I leave the room I forget to turn the light off, and find it still turned on a couple of days later when I'm next down there.A switch like this solves all these problems at once. The motion sensor means all I have to do is walk past it and the lights come on. And being a smart switch it means I can set up a rule that turns the light off again after 15 minutes. As a fallback I have a "scene" set up in the Kasa app that turns all the automated lights off at midnight regardless, so if the rule doesn't work as expected it will still shut off at midnight.Be aware these switches are quite deep. I had to replace the back box to fit it, because the previous switch I had was the smallest switch available. The metal back box that was in place was deep enough to hold the Kasa switch but didn't have enough free space to handle the cables in and out and the wire nuts behind the switch. But now I have a deeper back box and a switch that works very nicely.Installing the switch is about as easy as it gets. It has four wire tails - a white one to connect to neutral, a green one to connect to earth, and two black ones to connect to line/load. All you have to do is figure which wire is which, use the supplied wire nuts to join the wires together, and configure the switch. If you can't figure out electrics as simple as this, pay an electrician to do it for you.The default level of sensitivity had the light triggering if I went anywhere near it, so I turned it to the lowest sensitivity (this is done in the Kasa app) and now I have to walk right up to it before it activates. That's perfect for my needs, I don't want it turning on unless I actually go into the room where it is installed.As a smart switch it can be configured to activate only when ambient light is low, it has different levels of sensitivity for the motion sensor, and it can be controlled remotely and programmed to turn on and off at particular times. That sort of thing has obvious uses if you're going to be away for a few days, you can set up timers so it's not so obvious you're not home. You can also do all sorts of weird and wonderful things if you're so inclined, so if it takes your fancy you can set it up so that if you walk into the room where the switch is installed it will some totally unrelated device on or off. Why you'd want to turn the attic power strip off when you walk into a room in the basement is another matter, but you can if you want to.I have two of these, and I'm thinking a motion switch to turn the attic light on might be a handy thing to have, for similar reasons.

We've used a variety of 'smart devices' throughout our house including smart bulbs. By far, the most reliable method of controlling lights are with these Kasa switches. They're easy to set up, easy to manage, work with Google or Alexa voice commands, operate nicely when using them manually, and are easy to install as long as you have a neutral wire which they require. Our house is older and needed to have neutral wires run to the switches which required we have an electrician assist. Despite the additional cost, it was well worth it. We will have more of these installed shortly so that we can set schedules for when lights should come on when we're out of the house or on vacation, easily dim lights to any desired brightness, and control everything from our phone or tablet from thousands of miles away.

Just make sure you do what other reviewers warn, and be sure yo do have that neutral wire installed. And hope the guy who did the prior wiring did it right. Because replacing three way dumb switches with a smart one is a lot easier if the person who put the dumb switch in wasn't like the switch. And I have had good success with TP Link switches. They work well and not had a dud yet. Thought I did once, but turned out to be the wiring from the guy before me.

If you look into the KS230 KIT V2 product reviews and help forums, you will find that the internet has decided these are incompatible with 4-way switch setups. I was able to get this to work. Additionally, I found that you DO NOT need two satellite switches to make it work. I believe the point of confusion is where the controller switch must go in each configuration (even Kasa customer service led me down the wrong path here).It starts by understanding the difference between where power comes into the loop in a 3-way vs a 4-way switch configuration.3-way:Power -> 3-way Switch -> Satellite Switch4-way:Power -> Satellite Switch -> 4-way Switch -> Satellite SwitchIf you are like me, you will naturally try to install the Kasa Controller Switch in the 4-way switch position. This is even what Kasa support asked me to try when I asked them if this was possible. That's wrong because the controller switch needs to receive power directly from the breaker to work.So, to get this to work, you need to set up your switches like this:Power -> Kasa 3-way dimmer controller -> Kasa Satellite -> Dummy Switch or Kasa SatelliteTo figure this out, you will need a non-touch voltage tester. I got one for $20 at the blue hardware store. I have attached an accompanying diagram and just hope I remembered correctly what I actually did.The process:1. Turn off breaker.2. Mark the black wire that is connected to the black screw on your current satellites. My favorite way to do this is with a short piece of green/blue shrink wrap and a heat gun.3. Remove ALL switches and separate wires. The box with the most wires in it is your 4-way switch the position where your Kasa satellite must go for this to function.4. Turn breaker back on and test the marked black wires for the two satellite switches. The one that is hot is the position your Kasa controller switch will go. This is your LINE wire.5. Turn the breaker off.6. Install the NORMAL satellite switch back into the first position.7. Turn breaker on.8. Test the black wires on the 4-way switch location to figure out which one is hot. If none of them are, hit the switch you reinstalled and test again. Test them again and mark the hot wire. This is your black TRAVELER wire for the Kasa Satellite.9. Turn the breaker off.10. Uninstall the old satellite switch and install the Kasa controller switch in its place, wiring it as indicated in the instruction manual.11. Install the Kasa satellite where the original 4-way switch was. The black wire you indicated was hot in the above test goes to the TRAVELER terminal furthest away from the ground and load wires. The two red wires are connected to the TRAVELER terminal closest to the ground and load. The load is the remaining black wire in this box. Ground goes to ground.12. For the third terminal, you can either reinstall the original switch as it was before OR install a second Kasa satellite (you will have to buy a second full kit). This time the marked wire that was on the black screw will be your LOAD wire for this third switch. NOTE: Some reviewers indicate that they have had to use a satellite from a V1 kit. This was not the case for me. I could put a V2 satellite or a regular switch here and it all worked. I ended up using the original dummy switch so that I could return the second kit I purchased.13. Turn the breaker on. If you don't immediately have flashing orange and green or you have tried to install this already and failed, press restart and press and hold reset until you get the faster flashing orange and green.14. Set up in the app as normal. I recommend doing this step before closing everything back up.15. Turn the breaker off.16. Mount switches and plates.17. Turn the breaker on.NOTE: Even though I got the controller to work, the power delivery was a little wonky. At 100% the lights flickered. The app auto-tune also did not correctly identify the low point. I let it do its thing and changed that manually after the fact. It had to be a little higher than where the typical LED goes (this might be because this is controlling 4 interconnected higher-wattage light bulbs). Then I went in to set the max setting to about 98%, which was the highest it would go without the flicker. I also had to adjust the intermittent dimmer levels because it wasn't quite right. Not a big deal.Give a thumbs up/comment if this works for you. I am interested to know if this works for everyone or if I just got lucky.Now for the actual product review:Good: Super happy I got this to work in 4-way. I really like the Kasa ecosystem and app. I have a TP-link router that has been awesome. I love that I was able to customize the dimmer settings to make it work in my use case. I love the scene options in the app.Okay: I want the app or an addon product to have a voice command option so I don't have to use "the big two" to make this happen.Bad:1. Kasa... please update your documentation. I understand that maybe this is an "unofficial" use of the product, but this info should be easily found on support pages with maybe some caveats about how you don't officially support this configuration.2. The mounting screws included require a Phillips head. Basically, all electrical is done with a flathead. Making me switch back and forth is annoying.3. The bezel on these switches are so bulky that they conflicted with my faceplates. Kasa doesn't sell face plates for two or three gang switch boxes. So, I am forced to dremel down the offending faceplate screw support or buy a third-party screwless faceplate. Kasa could easily make the center part of the switch bezel lower/thinner and wider to be compatible with both the original mounting screws and faceplates to solve both of the above problems.I am giving this 4 stars because of the obstacles I had to overcome to get this far and the minor bad points above. That said, I love the fact that this worked and would absolutely purchase it again. Highly recommended.

TP-Link / Kasa has one of the best Apps on the market. Simple to install and just works. I like that I can hear the relay click if it's quiet in the room when it turns on.