Hey y'all,
I currently have a group of 3 bulbs in my kitchen. One Yeelight RGBW and two ikea tradfris being controlled by a hue bridge.
Last night all 3 bulbs were on, but in the space of 5 minutes the 2 tradfri bulbs "blinked" maybe 6 times. I told the mrs to let me know if they kept doing it but after that 5 minutes I dont think they blinked again.
Is there anything that could be causing this blink ?
Also - because these are zigbee bulbs, should I be using the "zigbee group messaging" for them in the group/scene?
You have the Trådfri connected to Hue bridge, so group messaging is done on their bridge automatically, not via HE. It may or may not work with IKEA bulbs.
The blinking is weird. Are those bulbs getting power cut to them? Maybe something caused them to think they were entering pairing mode. Did they still work after that? I've got two IKEA bulbs on my Hue Bridge as well, but I've never experienced this issue. I did have one recently lose connection with a Lutron Connected bulb remote of all things. That was super strange, because it didn't lose connection to the bridge, just the remote which has never happened with any of my 6 Lutron Connected Bulb Remotes until recently. Same day my two Hue bathroom lights also lost connection to the LCBR, but still were connected to the bridge. No other lights or remotes were affected.
Sometimes odd stuff happens with the radio controlled devices! Insteon is the only think in my house that never loses connection to the hub and never has a communication problem because of the dual mesh.
nah, no power cut.
the switch is on 24/7 - ive even taped the outlet so no one can touch it.
Yeah they still work 100%, can turn them on and off and they are listed as connected in the app.
I will try and film it happening.
It's still happening? That's worth redoing the pairing on those bulbs then. And if that doesn't resolve it, maybe you just lucked out with two bad bulbs. I've never seen or heard of that happening with the Trådfri bulbs on a Hue bridge or HE.
I was trying to find on the forum, I saw someone post an issue with a bulb. The video had a staircase on the left. But the 2 bulbs just blink and stay on. Its really weird.
like I said last night, say I turned them on at 7pm. at 745, for say 5 minutes, they blinked every now and then, 6 times or so. Then had them on til 11 and they didnt do it again.
From memory I did turn them off and one bulb stayed on. But I opened the cloud dashboard and toggled the switch and it went off after I toggled them again.
Will set the wife to monitor mode and she what she can report when I get home from work 
Are they far from the bridge? Maybe they're not repeating through the Hue bulbs, the way the Hue bulbs do for each other. I haven't tried it, but I've read that the Trådfri outlets will pair with the Hue bridge. If they're too far from the bridge, maybe you can add a Trådfri outlet halfway and improve the situation.
Which bulbs are they? If you're having this problem with the regular warm-white bulbs, it almost doesn't seem worth the saving to add a repeater just for the bulbs. The Hue warm white are only $30 for two if you're a California resident? And $28.03 for the rest of the country? Maybe there's some lead or other chemical California banned, and so they have to make a special version?
they are no more than 4 to 5 metres from the hub (2 walls), The hue bulb I have is 4 metres in the other direction to the hub (10m away from the hue bulb).
Tradfri outlets ? - do you mean switches or the zigbee repeaters ?
I have 4 repeaters coming - but I didnt know they would use them, I thought the tradfris would just be straight to the hue hub.
These are the 970 lumen 2400-4000 CTs, I have a 1000 lumen buts its only 2400 temp bulb (I dont really like the yellow colour).
For me the hue bulbs i'd want are $50 Aus, where the tradfri 970's are $19. I can probably get yeelights from china for $12-16 but they are not certified for me.
Im in Australia, so everything has island tax here.
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Ah OK. I forgot you were in Australia and you have to import the repeaters and plug-in outlets. Must be a certification hold up why you don't have them available.
The Zigbee spec will allow any mains powered devices that pair to act as a repeater. Not everything does it well or should repeat though. I applaud Sengled for not acting as repeaters. I don't know if that was intentionally done, but it's good.
so maybe ill wait until my repeaters get here and see if that helps.
Do I need to reset anything when the repeaters come into the system ?
i've avoided adding anything zigbee until the repeaters are here to reduce my frustration lol.
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No, you just pair them. After pairing a repeater to the Hue Bridge, unplug it for 20 minutes and then plug it back in, giving the Zigbee mesh up to 24 hours to stabilize. That's the instruction for HE and ST, so I don't know if it's going to be any different for Hue, but it should be the same I would think. The Zigbee spec is international, so it should behave the same for all Zigbee LL devices, bridges and compatible hubs.
oh, so i pair the repeaters to the hue hub ?
how does that work as I have xiaomi temp sensors and ST door sensors to add.
Do I pair all of them to the hue..
Sorry, im a super-newb
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No worries. Everyone starts somewhere. If you want to solve the Trådfri bulb issue, one of the repeaters paired to the Hue Bridge might solve the problem. Pair the other three repeaters with HE. Place them strategically in your concrete fortress. I've heard how Australian homes block all signals by nature. 
Pair the Xiaomi temp sensors and ST door sensors with HE as well.
The Hue and HE are operating independent Zigbee networks, and that's good. Keeps the lights, which typically DO repeat just beautifully amongst themselves, but often do not want to consistently repeat Zigbee signals when other devices are mixed in, on their own and happy. However, there are some people that have certain combinations, and say it works. Best and easiest, in my opinion is to just separate them. It's possible to do it well, and it works reliably. If you haven't installed it yet, you'll want to be using the Hubitat Hue Bridge Integration app.
I have a Xiaomi Aqara temp sensor. It works fantastic, but I do have a Trådfri outlet acting as a repeater 3 feet from it, so that needs to be considered. I have Xiaomi door sensors, and they work great with the Trådfri outlet downstairs, which is only 3 meters from the hub. I now have one additional repeater, also close to the hub. But, I don't have the barriers that you do with the house construction down there. The ST 2018 sensor I tried worked well, but I don't own any ST contact sensors, so I don't have personal experience. I've heard nothing bad about them with HE.
In regard to general health of the Zigbee network, you'll want the hub as central as possible. That can be unfeasible if the construction simply doesn't allow it. @Cobra in the UK uses a long USB extension to get the Z-Wave and Zigbee dongles just where he needs them. Several other users do the same, and perhaps you are doing that already.
The IKEA Trådfri repeaters you bought are these?
They will pair with HE as device. This is correct. You simply use the USB port on them if you want, but they are just devices on the Zigbee network, helping to relay the signal between the devices and the hub.
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Ah, I see re the repeater to the bridge.
Yep - I have the hue bridge integration installed and thats controlling the hue / tradfris bulbs currently.
My hub is smack bang in the middle of my house. The linen closet was there so when we built I had them put in a patch panel there for the router + all rooms have cat5 to them (wanted to reduce the wifi traffic as much as possible).
Yep - bought 4 online, bounced them to a mail forward in the US, then paid to have them shipped over to me (like $120 AUD all up).
Will put one of the repeaters between the bulbs and hub (for the hue) the other 3 I will pair to HE and have them between the ST multi-sensors and the HE.
Really appreciate this explanation, you've helped me heaps. Will report back once they land and have them integrated to see if that kills the blinking.
You lucky duck, as soon as I saw your post I knew you were not in the UST. over here hue connects to exactly, nothing, but hue overpriced gizmos.
That's a $19.07 AUD premium over what they cost here in Toronto.
I do sincerely hope they're all working well when you receive them. IKEA can have quality issues from time to time.
that would, make me sad.. lol
Very. Think positive.
There are some other devices that I'm reading are turning out to be good Zigbee repeaters, and seem to be Xiaomi compatible. This device was posted by @rupert.bowling1 and confirmed by @Cobra to work with HE.
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I appreciate the link, but if I didnt know I could pair a repeater to the hue, I sure as hell dont know how to wire up a repeater without electrocuting myself.. lol
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Understood. If you're not comfortable you shouldn't do it. You only need two wires, The incoming mains power (Line and Neutral) for a device where your only intention is to use it as a repeater.
if I could strip a usb cable (or similar), and have the other end connect to this i'd give it a go.
Would it be something I could buy and take to a local electronics place and they'd give me the right piece to power this?
im thinking somewhere like jaycar for me (https://www.jaycar.com.au/)
