Have a weird issue that has been happening for quite a while now. I have a couple bulbs that cannot be controlled (dim, on/off toggle, etc.) individually (ex.Bar Light 1). They will only work if they are being sent commands as part of a group (ex.Bar Lights).
I cannot send them commands through the device commands, dashboard tile, and Google Home app.
Looking in the logs, it seems the commands are never being made. I see other bulb commands and the group command, just not the bulb(s) I am having issues with. I'm not sure why this would be, but it can be quite frustrating when attempting to turn lights on and off with your voice as I have each bulb individually setup within Google Home so I can still control them individually when needed.
I’m not sure why this happens, but I believe that they have changed their zigbee address. I have had this issue before and sometimes cutting the power off and back on and hitting configure will fix it, other times I have had to reset the light and rediscover it. I have also noticed that after rejoining I have to open the group app it is in and hit done for it to work with the group messaging.
Thanks for the advice Ken. I tried turning them off and on, hitting configure, and all that seems to happen is it just sits there with the logsOff scheduled. I guess I just don't understand how the group seems to be able to control it, but individually they are unresponsive.
I’ve had this happen a couple times and can’t say I understand it either. You could reset the lights by cutting the power to them (individually or as a group) for 5 seconds, then on for 3 seconds and repeat this 5 times. At that time they should be ready to rediscover. The hub will remember them and say something like it discovered a previously joined device. Then just make sure to open the group app they were in and hit done. You won’t lose your automations this way.
I have continued to have issues with my Osram A19 (RGB & tunable white) bulbs losing connection. I would consider purchasing something new, except I really don't think the issue is with the bulbs but with the Hubitat itself. When I was on a Wink hub 2 I never had any issues with the bulbs not working.
Another reason I think this is a Hubitat issue is that when the bulbs are put in groups, they continue to work as long as the action is called to the group. Attempt to turn off an individual bulb, nothing. Same action to the group, works like it is supposed to.
It has become very frustrating that I have to reset at least one bulb once a week because it stops working. There has to be something that can be done to fix this.
I have updated all of my bulbs to the latest firmware 2 weeks ago.
I used to have this happen on SmartThings as well. For a while I was having to reset a bulb somewhere in the house every day. It is definitely from weak zigbee mesh. You can add more bulbs (I can recommend the Sylvania rt5/6 rgbw lights if you have any recessed lighting. They go for $9-12 each on Amazon. You may be able to pick up some GE plugs or switches/dimmers at Lowes for $5-10 a piece if you’re lucky. I’ve been finding them around at different Lowe’s close to home and bought 7 more for that price. You have to look online because they don’t mark the price down in store. Alternatively you can buy a couple of the newer Samsung zigbee plugs. Mine seem to repeat for at least 8 devices each and they are reliable. You can move the hub to the center of the house. Mine is hanging on the wall near the ceiling by a 3M command picture hanger. I currently have 2 HE hubs. One is just 60 Sylvania rgbw lights and 4 GE zigbee dimmers. The other has all of the Samsung and Sylvania plugs and all end devices. I still have 5 GE switches to install in place of some zwave and I’ve not had a device drop since I changed to this configuration.
Thanks for the suggestion Ken. I guess the point of me posting that was because I don't feel I should have to spend another $100 (second HE hub or replace light bulbs) just to get something that was working just fine on a previous platform to work. I currently have peanut plugs in every room (including 2 in the room with most of the bulbs) and that still hasn't seemed to work.
I went through and reset every single bulb when I purchased the plugs, since that was what others suggested.
I guess my point is that I feel there is an issue with the hub, not my setup. Why do the bulbs work just fine in groups, but not individually? It seems like a programming issue and not an issue with anything I have done. Since there are multiple reports of this, I know it isn't just me. Instead of suggesting to buy more hubs or different bulbs, why don't they just figure out what the issue is and fix it?
I didn't mention this, but one of the other benefits of the "only bulbs" Hub is that I have rid myself of the Peanut menace. It got to the point where the Peanuts were the things I was having to keep pairing back to the hub and I figured, maybe it's the peanut plugs causing this. I had them with the bulbs initially, but removed them a couple at a time.
No, they were on the shipping firmware still. I first had them on SmartThings to try to help with reliability and never saw any improvement. I was up to six of them when I started buying Samsung plugs (they were on clearance at Lowe's a year ago) to see if they would help. After adding 2 Samsung plugs I saw a big difference in automation and device reliability.
Another big difference came from slowly switching out my Osram branded bulbs to Sylvania Smart+, big difference.
My mesh was already fairly strong when I added my peanut plugs for some automations. I moved my bulbs to their own hub as soon as I realized the sylvania in the us are zha instead of zhl. I have not had the peanut plugs ever drop. In fact I haven't had a device drop since I built a strong mesh within the first month of switching to HE.
The Peanuts are the only devices I have had trouble with since switching to HE. When I first broke the devices up into two hubs I had 9 Lightify 4-button switches, 6 contact sensors, 6 motion sensors, and 4 or 5 Sylvania 2-button dimmers on the new HE prior to adding the Samsung and Sylvania plugs as repeaters so I could add the rest of the end devices. No issues with anything loosing connection.
Please be clear about the protocol (Zigbee, Zwave) and devices being used.
Do you have more that one hub controlling devices in your environment?
Perhaps others understand how a device using a particular protocol deals with multiple hubs (controllers) {Does a device only talk with one controller over time? Does it randomly connect to one of the controllers? Does it talk to all controllers? etc.}
I'm not sure exactly what the purpose of your message was, but what @Ken_Fraleigh described is relatively self-explanatory.
In any event, Peanut plugs are ZHA 1.2. A zigbee network can have only a single coordinator. Devices paired to one coordinator should not switch to another coordinator unless they are reset and then paired to the alternate coordinator.
As an aside, many of us have multiple HEs. One of my HEs has 5 or 6 Peanuts paired to it. I haven't experienced what @Ken_Fraleigh describes, but my Peanuts have a newer firmware.
@huskerluke13. You are talking about the bulbs that have Sylvania Smart+ on the bulb, correct? I had happen what you described with bulbs working in a group but not individually several months back. I believe what fixed it for me was downloading a backup of the hub, then doing a soft reset, followed by a restore of the backup. This can rule out corruption issues causing your problems and you won’t lose anything trying it. You may have a bulb or two that need reset after if that was the problem.
