How do I troubleshoot a Matter light bulb issue?

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1

I have a supposedly Matter compatible RGBW light bulb, that I can pair by first commissioning with Alexa and creating a setup code for Hubitat. Entering the setup code in Hubitat, it pairs as a Third Reality Matter Multi-Function Night Light (it's a Tuya device per my router). After pairing, I can send it one command, and that command works.

But after that, the device shows offline status in Matter details. It also becomes uncontrollable by Alexa. I can still ping it from the hub, however.

Should I conclude that this device has a Matter issue, or is there something else I can try troubleshooting?

The device is this one

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKJSSZNC

2

Change the driver to the Matter RGBW (not sure of exact name).
Then power cycle the device and see if it comes online.

Also, looks like you are a beta tester, the newest mobile app and hub platform (in beta) can directly commission Matter devices without Alexa or any other hubs. That might be worth a try also.

3

My Linkind bulbs (the manufacturer is Leedarson) use the Generic Matter RGBW Light driver, might be worth changing the driver to that one to give it a shot.

It's worth noting that they take a while to respond when power is applied/restored. I've seen mine take upwards of 5 minutes to rejoin the network and become responsive. I've found that running the Initialize command speeds up the process, but it still takes a minute or so.

4

Tried all of the above suggestions. Commissioning via the Hubitat app was a lot more convenient, but I don't think any part of adding the new device was failing. In every event, I could add the device and send a command or two successfully, but then it dropped off the fabric. I've also seen several other, previously working, Matter devices go offline with it.

By default, the device adds as Third Reality Matter Multi-Function Night Light. I've tried Generic Matter RGBW Light as well as Matter Advanced RGBW Light. The latter driver did provide possibly interesting information shown below.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'll try them.

State Variables
Driver Version
1.1.1 2024/08/18 9:04 AM (Smart LED Bulb LIGHTINGINSIDE by Launray) (C-7 2.4.1.139)
Health
{"checkCtr3":0}
Last Rx
{"checkInTime":1742408038220}
Last Tx
{"cmdTime":1742408112223}
Matter
{"0x001D":["00","01","02","03","FFF8","FFF9","FFFB","FFFC","FFFD"],"0x0028":["00","01","02","03","04","05","06","07","08","09","0A","0B","0C","0F","12","13","FFF8","FFF9","FFFB","FFFC","FFFD"]}
States
{"cluster":null,"isInfo":false}
Stats
{"rxCtr":32,"txCtr":6}
Tmp
null

5

Have you tried adding it to Alexa only and leave it there for a bit to see if the same problem occurs? Maybe send it some commands and try it out via only Alexa.

Sounds like just junk firmware on the bulbs to me. I have these TAPO bulbs: Amazon.com just in a test setup right now but so far they gave been reliable, stay connected and reconnect any time things are rebooted or switched off.

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6

I did for a short while, but not enough to say it works great with Alexa. I'll give that a lengthy try and report back.

7

You can also try this package - (it works not only for bridge devices but for any other Matter device.

Click on 'Load All Defaults' and then on the 'Discover All' buttons. It will create a child device (not very convenient for a simple RGBW bulb, but this is how the bridge driver works).

The Matter device will be polled every 15 minutes - observe whether the polling timeouts after some time?

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8

It works flawlessly when connected only with Alexa. I left it like that overnight and it was still online and working this morning.

It also seems to be working flawlessly as a child of Advanced Matter Bridge. I'm not seeing any events associated with the polling, however. But an hour later, I can still control the child device, and it stays online. The child was a Generic Component CT.

I will now change to Generic Component RGBW and see what happens. That looks like it works too. I'll leave it like this for a while a see what happens. Well, that did it. As soon as I tried setting color temperature, it not only didn't do it, but the device went offline.

9

I've found that as long as I stick to on / off / set level, the bulb works fine and stays online. As soon as I try to use a command for any RGBW operation, it may or may not actually do that one (e.g., turn blue), but then it goes offline. This is true with any of the drivers I've tried.

I communicated with their support and, although prompt and courteous, they had no interest in pursuing the issue. They did at one point say that Hubitat needed "internal optimization" to support Matter fully. That may or may not be true, but the troubleshooting hadn't reached a point where that could be responsibly said.