Energy usage monitoring with TP-Link smart sockets and InfluxDB

Source

• Type: webpage
• Origin: https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/capturing-energy-usage-info-with-tapo-kasa-and-influxdb.html
• Imported: 2026-05-08

Content

Context: monitoring electricity usage with smart sockets; author previously used TP-Link Kasa KP115 plugs. TP-Link moved focus to Tapo (separate app). Data collection was done with ad-hoc scripts; this post consolidates polling Kasa and Tapo devices and writing metrics to InfluxDB.

Approach

Run a small Docker image periodically to poll devices and write stats to InfluxDB:

• Docker Hub: bentasker12/tplink_to_influxdb
• Source / non-Docker run: https://github.com/bentasker/tplink_to_influxdb

Configuration (YAML)

Three top-level sections:

1. kasa — list Kasa devices (IP/hostname + friendly name used in Influx).
2. tapo — Tapo devices plus Tapo cloud credentials (user, passw); auth hits Tapo cloud to obtain a cookie for local access.
3. influxdb — one or more InfluxDB v2 write API targets (works with InfluxDB Cloud, OSS ≥ 1.8.0 with v2 write API).

InfluxDB notes:

• Multiple outputs supported (e.g. cloud + local).
• Optional: write via Telegraf using the influxdb_v2_listener input.
• OSS ≥ 2.2: can use Edge Data Replication instead of dual-write in the tool.

Kasa example:

kasa:
  devices:
    - name: "desk-plug"
      ip: 192.168.3.150
    - name: "tumble-dryer"
      ip: 192.168.3.151

Note: Kasa “local only” behavior has been broken/removed in the past (TP-Link forum discussions).

Tapo example:

tapo:
  user: "me@mymail.com"
  passw: "mysecretpass"
  devices:
    - name: "washing-machine"
      ip: 192.168.3.152
    - name: "big-fridge"
      ip: 192.168.3.153

Tapo reliance on cloud auth means less resilient for purely local monitoring than Kasa.

Full combined example (influx + kasa + tapo): see original post; save as e.g. config.yml.

Run container

docker run \
  --rm \
  --name="tplink_to_influxdb" \
  --net=host \
  -v $PWD/config.yml:/config.yml \
  bentasker12/tplink_to_influxdb:latest

• --rm — remove container after exit.
• --net=host — optional; allows reaching 127.0.0.1 on host for local InfluxDB.

Example stdout:

Plug: desk-plug using 58.992W, today: 0.629 kWh

On write failure: Failed to send point to <influx name>.

Scheduling (cron)

Example (every minute); adjust config path:

* * * * * docker run --rm --name="tplink_to_influxdb" -v /home/ben/docker_files/readings_collect/config.yml:/config.yml --net=host bentasker12/tplink_to_influxdb:latest

InfluxDB schema / Flux

• Measurement: power_watts
• Tag: host — set to the configured plug name
• Fields:
  • consumption — current power (W)
  • watts_today — reported usage today (Wh)

Example Flux (current consumption for one device; replace ${device}):

from(bucket: "Systemstats")
  |> range(start: v.timeRangeStart, stop: v.timeRangeStop)
  |> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == "power_watts" and r._field == "consumption")
  |> filter(fn: (r) => r.host == "${device}")
  |> group()
  |> aggregateWindow(every: v.windowPeriod, fn: last)
  |> map(fn: (r) => ({_value: r._value}))

Author joins plug usage with meter unit_cost from host power-meter to estimate cost (see post for full join example).

Dashboards

Examples in repo:

• Grafana: https://github.com/bentasker/tplink_to_influxdb/blob/master/example/grafana_dashboard.json
• Chronograf: https://github.com/bentasker/tplink_to_influxdb/blob/master/example/chronograf_dashboard.json

Related links (from article)

• Earlier electricity monitoring post: https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/739-monitoring-our-electricity-usage-with-influxdb.html
• Kasa discontinued discussion: https://old.reddit.com/r/TPLinkKasa/comments/scfmy6/what_does_kasa_being_discontinued_mean_going/
• Tapo P110 example: https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/how-much-more-energy-efficient-is-eco-mode-on-a-dish-washer.html
• Improvements milestone: https://projects.bentasker.co.uk/gils_projects/milestone/utilities/tp-link-to-influxdb/33.html

Key Takeaways

• Docker-first workflow: bentasker12/tplink_to_influxdb + YAML for Kasa, Tapo, and Influx outputs.
• Tapo needs cloud credentials and is weaker for offline/local-only setups than Kasa.
• Influx: measurement power_watts, tag host = plug name, fields consumption (W) and watts_today (Wh).
• Ops: use --net=host if Influx listens on localhost; schedule with cron; example Grafana/Chronograf JSON in the GitHub repo.