My kitchen (the one you might remember from when I converted a cabinet into a pull out trash can / recycle bin receptacle) has recessed can lighting that can be operated by 2 rocker switches, each at opposite ends of the kitchen. I wanted to be able to control these lights remotely, so in come TP-Link’s Kasa 3 Way Switch (official website).
I actually ordered this in February 2022 when I had the idea. But as I had never worked on electrical before, I never worked up the courage to attempt the switch (haha) until November 2022. And even then I only got halfway through, chickening out before the step where I had to separate the old switch from the wires, so I shoved everything back into their place, only to revisit the job again in August 2023 because I was tired of the product box laying around. And guess what: I am the new proud owner of smart switches!
I’m here to tell you that while I am not an electrician (if you haven’t gathered that from “I had never worked on electrical before” above), but if you are scared and you’re like me and researching every single resource out there for this project: don’t worry, be… uh, less scared!
Alternatively: if you are here because you diligently followed the instructions and one switch isn’t working, keep reading!! I had the exact same issue.
In my case, I was worried about wiring the switches wrong and then breaking the entire system. Luckily, it is indeed possible to wire things wrong but also fix them. How do I know this? Well, funny you should ask…
Existing Setup
My setup at each switch is below. 2 black wires (traveler), 1 copper (ground — I unhooked this one before I thought to take a photo), and 1 red (common):
First Attempt
I followed the provided instructions and ended up with this:
The Problem
The main thing here was that I got the impression that the two traveler wires were interchangeable so I just put them in any old way, put everything back, turned on the breaker, and to my dismay, one of the switches (Switch 2) wouldn’t work unless the other switch (Switch 1) was on. Another tell that something was off was that Switch 2 would blink orange and red.
I had to wait another week until I had the time to revisit it (oh, the inconvenience!!! At least the app worked). I scoured the internet and this blog post saved the day: https://automatedhome.party/2020/08/24/replacing-a-single-3-way-switch-with-a-tp-link-hs-210-3-way-smart-switch/
The Solution
The two traveler wires are NOT interchangeable. I wasted time by swapping them — that didn’t help. There is one traveler wire that is closer to your load/common wire, looking like those two come out of the same place — that is the one that should go on top, with your common wire. The other traveler wire goes on the side. But I guess once you figure out which traveler wire should be paired with the common wire, either wire can be in either brass screw. Since the space is so tight and there’s plaster/paint on the wires, it’s kind of hard to see, so I’ve crudely marked up some photos to hopefully show this:
Once I got confidence to safely work in this capacity, completing the task was super quick. I hooked everything up I turned on the breaker switch to test it and everything was working as it should! Success!
Last Tip
I hope this post helps!! The blog post linked above solved it for me so I wanted to pay it forward and help someone else. One last tip that I’m so glad I did because I had to take everything apart and put back together multiple times trying different things: the face plate that is provided with the product is hard as heck to snap off. I just kept my original face plates that screw into the switch.
Also, not a tip or anything, just something to expect: it looks like a rocker switch (and fits like a rocker switch) but the whole thing is just a button to be pushed from the bottom.
Final Results
Overall, I’m annoyed with the process but happy with the product! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to turn dumb switches into smart switches. Best of luck, let me know how it goes!
