GE Link Glitch

I have one GE Link acting differently than the rest. It won't show status updates of on or off. If I re-add it to the hub with a full reset of the bulb, it works for a short while then stops.

The On/Off commands still work, but since status won't update, automations leave it stuck on, or off. Motion Lighting doesn't seem to just send the command, it's checks status first.

Can this be disabled, or are there any steps I can take to fix the issue?

I've joined each GE Link and Cree bulb that I have with the new driver, one at a time right next to the hub, with all others powered down, so none should be using a repeater.

@patrick @mike.maxwell

Sounds like it just isnā€™t pairing properly or potentially malfunctioning. Did this bulb pair and work correctly on anything else before Hubitat? If so, was it removed from that system fully?

The odd thing about the Ge Link and Cree bulbs is they are ZLL first and ZHA second (we use ZHA). ZLL allows a much different creation of a ā€œmeshā€ than how ZHA coordinates the mesh.

If you paired it with Hue Bridge or ST, it could still have itā€™s ZLL configuration. Reseting the bulb isnā€™t going to clear out those associations with the other hubs/bridgesā€¦

Not saying this is the issue, but could be a contributing factor.

How many repeaters might this be going through to get to the Hubitat hub (I know, I wish we had better tools to answer this :slight_smile: )? Is it close enough to connect directly? Any difference if you move it to a different location?

Iā€™ve had a GE Link bulb go bad, just started flashingā€¦ A couple of my Creeā€™s did the same thingā€¦ In the interest of full disclosure, I personally have all my bulbs on Hue Bridges (hopefully weā€™ll get the Hue integration released soon!)ā€¦

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Itā€™s literally the closest zigbee device to the hub. :slight_smile: About 5 feet line of site, through a single pane wood door where my Hubitat and ST hub are located.

I was joined to ST before, and I didnā€™t remove any of these lights from ST. I just reset them and joined them to Hubitat. If I rejoin to ST and properly remove, will it clear the possible ZLL config?

Itā€™s right next to an identical bulb thatā€™s working fine, but who knows, maybe itā€™s repeating through that.

Does RM have a feature to force the commands? I know that was in CoRE but canā€™t recall if Iā€™d ever seen it in RM. If I can just force it to send the command regardless of state, that would solve this issue.

This issue sounds the same/similar as this

Simple and easy test. Just unplug ST and remove batteries for a about 20 minutes and see if the bulb acts any different. Just want to rule out the ZLL config getting the messages and not Hubitat.

Also, just to eliminate a routing issue with the bulb next to it. Try unscrewing that working bulb and see if things change.

Is the Rule Machine Rule using a trigger? Triggers behave a bit differently and I donā€™t think require a status update.

Not ruling out something on our end, but with other bulbs working, its got to be a routing or device issue at this point or worst case a bad or incomplete join (probably due to routing).

Thanks for trying to sort this out with us. It can be very frustrating when these things should ā€œjust workā€ā€¦ I had a bank of 5 smart bulbs over a vanity when they first came outā€¦ 9 times out of 10, one of the bulbs wouldnā€™t turn onā€¦ Turns out these things do not like to be clustered close togetherā€¦ Wenā€™t back to dumb ledā€™s and a wall dimmer and moved those smart bulbs to other fixtures, never had a problemā€¦

:pray:

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Iā€™ll give that a shot, I want to say that already happened a few weeks back but canā€™t recall clearly.

I am planning on eventually replacing the bulbs with dimmers, but right now I canā€™t bring myself to dump more money into the few issues I have with them.

Once I see $20 dimmerā€™s maybeā€¦ :slight_smile:

I certainly donā€™t believe itā€™s an issue with your end, I was just thinking maybe with the driver and that specific bulb.

Stupid question, the on/off for debug logging, which is on? The lights show log entries when off is displayed, but to me, the non grayed out black ON would be the onā€¦

Black is onā€¦ No stupid questionsā€¦ :slight_smile: If the bulb is doing something different then the rest, we might be able to address it in the driver, but have to figure out how to get another bulb to do it (or not) and see what we could then address in the driver.

Ahhh, $20 dimmersā€¦ One can dream :slight_smile:

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I had a somewhat similar issue with 2 Sylvania zigbee bulbs. With the Generic Zigbee Bulb Driver, it started out updating status fine, but then each command would have to be sent twice for it to update the state, or a refresh called after each command. Theyā€™re probably both on repeaters since thereā€™s a few Zigbee devices in-between. Your case is different though where itā€™s not reporting status at all. I initially tried porting a DTH from SmartThings but had some issues with setLevel and fade. I tried out the ZigBee White Color Temperature Bulb driver and itā€™s worked perfectly since. I only use on, off and set level. I havenā€™t tried any of the unsupported commands though for fear of burning a hole in my ceiling :grin:

I just tested one of my GE Link Bulbs and noticed it was no longer updating its status either. I changed the driver to the ā€˜Virtual Dimmerā€™ to make sure that would change the switch state correctly. Of course, that worked. So I then changed it back to the ā€˜Generic Zigbee Bulbā€™ driver, and now it is updating its status correctly again. It could be a coincidenceā€¦so having another use test it would be helpful. Tagging @mike.maxwell to see if he has any ideas?

I donā€™t have any ideas, All I can do is pair up the pile of dev bulbs in my drawer, and let them sit for a few days and see whatā€™s happeningā€¦

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Yeah, my bad, found and fixedā€¦
At lease i didnā€™t have to wait a few days.

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Thanks Mike!

I went ahead and tried this, ST was down for 40 minutes. Neither that or removing the next door bulb made any difference.

I pulled my RM rules, which were conditional, not triggers, and tested back with Motion Lighting. Iā€™ll re-try with trigger rules next.

I think @mike.maxwell found an issue with the Generic Zigbee Bulb driver and has fixed it in the next software update.

Sorry for your troubles. Hopefully the fix Mike made will solve the issue.

I thought that might be, but still figured it was best to test all scenarios. Iā€™m patiently waiting the next update, thanks guys!

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Appreciate the trial and error (been there, done thatā€¦) Gotta break some eggs to make a cake.

I still have a strange problem with GE Links.

if I sequentially switch them (via Mqtt), their status does not always get updated. However, if the switching is done through a virtual dimmer (either via mqtt or Simple Lighting app), the status is always correct.

Any ideas?

what driver?

Generic ZigBee Bulb.

I updated the hub firmware to the latest 1.0.3.704 version yesterday; donā€™t know if I can say that Iā€™ve noticed improvements from the previous versions

Meanwhile, I added 100ms pauses after each sequence step. Itā€™s working better now; but I am not sure the problem is completely solved.