GE/Quirky Outlink outlets

[hitechgeek]

Hello, I added a GE/Quirky Outlink outlets to the hub, but it seems the type is listed as device, and the template does not work for the tiles.
I'm aware this is not the best device in the world but wanted to get it working/semi working with Hubitat.
Can anyone tell me what I need to do to get it working? I have read other forum posts where the user said they have it working.
Any input?

Thanks in advance

[aaiyar]

Please do not use these with Hubitat. They make horrible zigbee repeaters and genuinely mess up the zigbee network.

How do I know? I brought five of these over from Wink when I migrated to Hubitat. And pitched them after less than a week of bulbs and sensors going offline every day.

Found my post from a year ago:

Zigbee Network Issues

I don't have any Iris devices, but I used to have ~10 Lightify bulbs, 5 line-powered outlets (Quirky outlink), one GE zigbee dimmer, and three Samsung plugs. Things didn't go so well. On the recommendation of several people here, I got rid of the Quirky outlinks, and added 3 Securifi Peanuts and 4 Ikea Tradfri plugs. My zigbee mesh has been rock solid ever since. My suspicion is a) that some devices behave better as repeaters than others; b) everyone who says that light bulbs are bad zigbee rep…

Second edit:
To add to this - Tradfri outlets are $10/ea. They make good zigbee repeaters (and provide a controlled outlet).

[aaiyar]

Please also see this post by @cuboy29 on the Quirky Outlinks:

Zigbee mesh problem?

Finally received the Digi USB stick. mapped my zigbee mesh finally and found 8 unresponsive device (routers) . All 8 are GE OUTLINK OUTLET. To the garbage they go I guess. It's so nice having the tool to map both zigbee and zwave mesh. Finally figured out which devices problematic.

[csteele]

geeze... 9 min response time, problem to result. Amazing

I imagine the result is disheartening.. but it might save a week of dissatisfaction, just knowing. @hitechgeek might be the ONE guy to make them work, but if not, at least there's the consolation of not being the only one

[hitechgeek]

Yeah, I dont want to put too much effort into it...back in the day I'm sure I would have found a way....Now, I'm too old, and have way to much to do to fight with it. lol

[JasonJoel]

@hitechgeek

back in the day I'm sure I would have found a way

Don't be too sure... Since you can't change/modify the firmware on the device, there isn't much you can do. Some older zigbee routing devices were just ■■■■.

The zigbee cert process does not adequately cover repeating in volume / edge cases, and when they puke/die - there isn't crap you can do about it.

[dfroula]

The Outlinks have a flaw in that they will not transmit their status immediately after they are switched on or off either in the Dashboard or by physical switch. This results in the Dashboard "hanging" for any Outlink device after trying to switch it on or off. They only respond to a polled status update.

The workaround is to set up a custom Rule Machine rule to periodically get the status from all Outlink devices. I have a rule set up to update the status of all my Outlinks every 5 seconds. This seems like a very frequent rate, but anything greater and Amazon Alexa will report an error when controlling an Outlink, even though the control was successful.

The periodic refresh must be set up as a "Custom" action.

All 6 of mine are working just fine with this workaround.

I turned off both logging types for each Outlink device to keep from overwhelming the logs with the status update messages.

Best regards,

Don

[dfroula]

After adding the Outlinks, you must change the device type to "Generic Zigbee Outlet". I also change the device name to "GE Outlink", but that does not seem to be strictly necessary.

Then set up the periodic polling rule. It mimics what the Wink hub does behind the scenes.

Don

[dfroula]

After setting up the Outlink with a Device Type as "Generic Zigbee Outlet" and the polling rule, you should add the Dashboard tile with a type of "switch".

Don

[hitechgeek]

Wow awesome! Thank you so much!!

[dfroula]

After pairing your Outlinks and setting the Device Type for each manually to "Generic Zigbee Outlet", you should set up the refresh rule before trying to do anything else. Without the rule running, the Outlinks will not work correctly in the Dashboard.

• Start by going to the Rules Machine and create a new rule called "Refresh Outlinks"
• Click on "Select trigger events" and add a "Periodic schedule" trigger for 5 seconds.
• Save and complete the trigger setup section.
• Click on "Select actions to run".
• Select "Set Mode or Variables, Run Custom Action" and "Run custom action"
• Set "Select capability of action device" to "Switch".
• Select all of your Outlinks in the drop down by checking them off.
• Under "Select custom command" select "Refresh" in the drop down.
• Do NOT set "Parameter type"
• Click "Done with this action" and "Done with actions".
• Click "Done" to activate rule

The Dashboard should now update the status of each outlink within 5 seconds of turning an Outlink on or off. Amazon Alexa will not give a "not responding" warning after switching an Outlink on or off..

I also turned off both debug and text logging for each Outlink device in the Device area to avoid clogging up the logs with refresh messages every 5 seconds.

It worked for me! I updated the firmware on all my Outlinks by connecting them to the Wink hub before moving them to the HE. I've had no obvious Zigbee repeater issues that I can attribute to the Outlinks,

Regards,

Don

[dfroula]

You should wait until the Dashboard updates the status after turning an Outlink on before attempting to turn it off, or vice versa. Otherwise the HE will not issue the correct Zigbee command and/or will get confused about the Outlink's status.

D.

[dfroula]

I disabled the status update rule on my GE Outlinks, then went to each device and hit the "Configure" button in the "Devices" area. All Outlinks now report their status correctly!!!! They even report local control changes via the button correctly.

The response is instantaneous, much faster than the 5-second polling routine.

Apparently, the "Configure" button sends setup data to the device. Hopefully, the functionality survives a power failure.

[marvyn]

wow!!! much love that you got these to work! i have 2 (and 6 more in unopened boxes ) and have always hated them but if i can get them to work a little bit maybe worth doing.

going to give this a try.

[guitarlesson]

Thank you so much for this workaround! I just ordered 2 for $20 each wondering why they were so cheap. I knew nothing about them and JUST decided to research them now. They are on their way so I will try this in a few days and report my luck with it.

[dfroula]

Mine have been extremely stable and have not messed up my Zigbee network. Once one outlet stopped responding. A quick flip of the circuit breaker for the outlet from off to on restored normal operation.

I picked up a bunch of these outlets from Home Depot for USD $6.00 years ago on clearance. I still have a few spares.

[Navat604]

@dfroula

A quick flip of the circuit breaker for the outlet from off to on restored normal operation.

How often do you have to do this?

[dfroula]

Only once in 8 months.