C8 hub, current software 2.3.5.152. Inovelli Blue VZM31-SN, driver 2023-07-01, switch pairs without difficulty. It is located about 5' line of sight from the hub. It will control the load from the switch but not from the device page. Setup information appears in the logs but attempts to turn the load on and off do not. Firmware update appears non-responsive. Current firmware info does not appear on the device page. I've tried two different switches. One from an early batch that was reported as good and one that was a replacement for one that was thought to be from a batch of defectives. I'm open to suggestions. Is there a setting I'm overlooking? Or could both of these be defective switches.
Was going to guess the "bad batch" thing until you said you already checked that.
I suppose a related question: might there be any of those still on your network that could be trying to (poorly) repeat/route for one of these?
Otherwise, I might try general hub and network troubleshooting first. For Zigbee, how many total devices do you have, and how many are "repeaters"/routers like this? Do you have any smart bulbs on this network, and if so, what kind? Could your Wi-Fi and Zigbee frequencies/channels (they use different channel numbers so can't be matched that way) overlap, or could there be similar sources of interference? Any problems with other Zigbee devices? You could also try shutting the hub down from Settings, removing power for about 30 seconds, then plugging it back in to restart to see if that helps (more of a Z-Wave trick than Zigbee, but can't hurt...).
Finally, what model of hub do you have? If you're on a C-8, there are some options on the Settings > Zigbee Details page that may help (or not). If you're at relatively high power, for example, some people have found improvements if it gets turned down. I'm not aware of these needing any of the "special" pairing methods the C-8 offers on the Add Device page, but I suppose one of those can't hurt to try just in case as well.
Did you hit Configure after pairing the device?
Subject of post. Configure all and initialize more than once on both switches that I tried. Removed and repaired switch one. Before trying switch two. Because these were very early devices I'm wondering if the firmware is too old to work correctly with the current driver 2023-07-01. Which means it can't be updated by the driver.
I'm not aware of any showstopping changes, but if you suspect a driver issue, you can always view the change history on Inovelli's Github and try something older. (You can't get to these from the "raw" URL but can from the main repository view, most easily when you're viewing this particular file there.)
Thanks for the suggestion. I've got a support request into Inovellli that Eric responded to. I'll post a comment after that plays out to advise the solution in case someone else encounters this issue.
I thought you were talking about the driver, in which case the above applies (there have been firmware updates, though I'm not sure what the current public version is compared to what was released; I remember one was retracted).
I misspoke, turns out for the Blue there are no older driver versions available. I was able to pair the Blue with a mothballed C7 and update the firmware. It seems to work correctly with the C7. When I brought it back to the C8 it behaved as before. Since this is one of the very early devices I'm guessing it is a hardware issue. Although I have no understanding of how it could work with the C-7 and not the C8 on the same Platform version. I did a soft reset on the C8 and a Pkg Mgr repair on the Inovelli Blue driver.
There are, as I described above--there pretty much always is on any version control system like Git/GitHub. Here is a direct link to what I mentioned:
But, again, I'm not aware of any firmware changes that would have made this big of a change.
These two hubs have entirely different Zigbee stacks and hardware, the C-7 sharing the same one that's been with us since the C-3/C-4 and the C-8 having the new Zigbee 3.0 radio. Of course, your hubs are also operating two entirely different Zigbee networks, and some differences between them for that reason alone could be responsible (I also suggested some general network troubleshooting above for this reason). The C-8 does have a couple Zigbee pairing options I also mentioned above, which may (or may not) help; I haven't heard of anyone needing to use them for these devices on the C-8.
Hardware problems on the switches is certainly also a possibility, with these being the first batch, though I thought they had a clear set of affected MAC addresses and should be able to help you if so.
FWIW the current driver works well with the C7. I did not run the C7 and C8 concurrently. The C8 was power down while testing with the C7. No other devices were connected to the C7. I have 54 Zigbee devices. About 45 battery and and 9 powered. Channel 15. No issues with any Zigbee or Z-wave devices. No peanuts, no Zooz 4in1, Cree banished, as well as Sylvania. None of the devices that are typically problematic in various posts. I've done a soft reset, power is at 8. The system just works except for this odd instance. WiFi is Ubiquiti APs, 1, 6, 11. This has been stable since the introduction of the C8 and C7 before that and the C5s before that. The switch I'm currently messing with is a replacement for one in the bad MAC list. There are no other Inovelli Blue switches installed.
For a datapoint if nothing else, I have 4 Blue switches on my production C8 and they've been rock solid for months using their driver with last revision from 12.12.2022 and device firmware version 2.08. My Zigbee is on channel 23 and power level 16.
Thank you @bobbyD and @bertabcd1234. I was able to find the "history" in github. I deleted the current driver (2023-07-01) which is being provided by Pkg Mgr and installed driver 06-02-2023 and it works. For info, it works with most recent firmware 2.15. I'll also try this on my other switch on 2.08.
Driver 06-02-2023
Very strange, I just setup a brand new C-8. Installed package manager, installed the blue driver, and included a 2.15 switch. I'm not seeing any problems with it.
I am new to the C-8, but I did notice this info which seems new. Kind of sounds like what you experienced, but it doesn't make sense that the old driver would fix it.
The C8 and the switch are line of sight about 8' apart. There is a zigbee repeater very close as well. I didn't try disabling it. The switch would quickly pair but when I went to enter the switch name the switch led would quickly flash red twice. Looking at the logs there would be no further communications from the switch from that point. Is it possible that there is a hardware change since I received these switches. The one I just got to work was an early replacement for a first shipment device with possible issues.
Hi Eric - just to confirm please... Is 2.15 still considered beta, or is that now the latest official release for Blue?
Thanks!
It is basically official and most have had positive results with it. The fw should be available on the Hubitat servers. I would still proceed to upgrade one switch at a time and test as you go to make sure there are not any issues. If you have different configurations (like one in 3-way dumb, one with aux, one in smart bulb mode, etc.) then test each configuration type in your setup before going forward with them all.
Sounds good - thanks!
This generally means that the switch pairs, but it fails on some of the key exchange process. You can put the hub in pairing mode again and then triple press the config button to have it try again. It usually works the first attempt, but sometimes it works on the second or third. It may be other coordinators in the area that are interrupting the process, but we did put some prevention methods in firmware 2.15 for this. You don't have to delete the device or anything like that, just first put the hub in pairing mode and then triple press the config button.
Have you tried triple click on the C-8, current software version 2.3.5.152. As I recall there is an OK popup at first click that prevents further clicks. My experience after innumerable attempts
is that with firmware 2.15, driver version 2023-04-11 works as expected and driver 2023-07-01 does not. It does work on the C7.
The triple click I am referring to is on the config button (on the switch itself) to put it into pairing mode. After doing this the blue led will pulse again. So if you are including the device and it pops up and you name it, but then the switch flashes red. You put the hub back into pairing mode and then triple click the config button to try the pairing again.

