Inovelli Blue Zigbee switches going offline constantly

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81

Have there been any updates for this issue? Based on prior posts it seemed like there was a trail being followed regarding keepalive events or power reports, but I haven't seen a "yup, this is all fixed now!" type message.

I seem to be having the same issues as described above, so I'll add some more data points to the discussion. I added a bunch of Inovelli light/fan switches to a pre-existing Zigbee network a few months ago. They worked fine for a couple weeks until I made the rookie mistake of saying that my zigbee network was super stable after my dad lamented the issues he was having with his HASS setup. I swear I know better..... When my Inovelli devices are unresponsive, the other zigbee devices on the mesh all seem to function properly and automations continue to work, except for those that depend explicitly on the Inovelli devices.

This network is connected to a Hubitat C5 unit, running various software revisions over the few months since these switches were installed, currently running software version 2.3.8.140. I think I've used the same Inovelli drivers for the wall switches since I set things up, but I did use a few separate driver versions of the canopy fan switch.

28 VZM31-SN 2-in-1 switches
2 VZM35 Fan switches
2 VZM36 Canopy switches
a litany of smartthings/aeotec buttons, contact sensors, motion sensors, and wetness sensors.

My whole house was "power cycled" three nights ago due to a neighborhood wide power outage, so my whole setup was offline for approximately three hours. I've had to do a few bulk resets of switches by tripping the main house breaker since then to get things working. The Hubitat unit is on a UPS, so it's only the switches that are cycling. I haven't noticed any specific cadence/period to when things stop functioning properly.

I can air-gap the wall switches pretty easily, but disconnecting the canopy units in the ceiling fans is less than trivial and would likely require taking apart both fans controlled by them, so I'm not too keen on doing that unless necessary.

I have a C7 unit available without any Zigbee devices connected to it, so it could serve as a good way to isolate devices for testing. I don't have a sniffer but acquiring one shouldn't be a problem.

I'm hoping there have been some improvements/developments since this thread went quiet a few months ago. I currently have copious amounts of free time, so I should be able to lend a fair amount of time to troubleshooting efforts if it is helpful.

Any help would be appreciated!

82

What 2-1 firmware do you have, and what's the date-stamp of your 2-1 driver version?

2.15 is (AFAIK) the official "current" f/w for 2-1s, but 2.18 is available if you update via Hubitat's zigbee updater. I'm not a fan-module user, but my understanding is that f/w 2.16+ is needed for best interoperability with that module.

Driver version "2024-03-21" (I think - going from memory here since I'm at office) is the latest version available via HPM.

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VZM31 (2-1) driver date stamp is 2024-03-21, installed on 2024/03/30.

I see fwVersion 2.15 on a few 2-1 devices, but others are showing no explicit version under state variables. Device Details->Data->softwareBuild shows 2.15 for the 2.15 devices, but softwareBuild shows "0102020F" on devices that aren't showing the explicit version in state variables.

Fan switches are reporting fwVersion 1.04 in their state variables.
Fan switch driver 2024-02-16, installed on 2024/03/25.

Canopy switches aren't reporting fwVersion in state variables, and I seem to have different softwareBuild values for each unit: one shows "1.00" and the other shows " 04010100"
Canopy switch 2024-03-26, installed 2024-03-30.

84

I updated all of my VZM31s via the Hubitat firmware update method this past weekend (about 7 days ago) which landed them all on firmware version 2.18. Since then, I haven't seen any issues with switches going comatose. :+1: Prior to the last few weeks my issues were quite sporadic, so I'm not going to call things totally fixed, but things are looking better now.

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85

So a little bit more information as it issue reoccurred.

About a week ago my hubitat stopped responding. After power cycling The database became corrupted at which time I restored it to a local backup. 3 days later the issue started reoccurring, all blues would stop responding after around 12 hours. Last time the issue occurred was under similar circumstances but it took around 2 weeks for the issue to begin after restoring). Air gaping would temporarily fix. Updating firmware had no effect (excluding trial firmware my fan switches are on that changed the keep alive process). Full home power disconnect for 30 seconds resolved the issue. My hunch is after restoring to a local backup that keep alive between the Hubitat and switches are getting out of sync causing the issue.

86

Are you using the oem power supply? If so I would try a new one to see if it fixes you. The constant issues seem like power fluctuations, especially with the random database corruption. Also switch your zigbee channel to 25

87

Have you tried Soft Resetting the hub? Restoring alone may not unlock the database:

Also, have you tried disabling the power reporting on your Blues?

88

So this just happened to me as well. All 40ish Inovelli Zigbee 2-1 dimmers went down. Other zigbee devices still functional. Hub and mesh network reset not helping. Just air gapped all the switches and they're online again. Previously stable setup for 1 year with no changes (I added an unrelated ikea zigbee outlet 2 days ago which was still working, if maybe that triggered it). My only fan switches are Z-wave. C8 hub. No recent update, I'm still on 2.3.5.152.

Is the consensus I should do a firmware update on all the switches, or just wait and see if it happens again first? I tend not to touch firmware without a good reason if things are working. Not sure how I tell which version I'm on (device info says: firmwareMT: 122F-0101-01020200. Is that 1.22? Would be whatever they shipped with. Is the firmware update for the Blue's in the hubitat driver pretty reliable and not buggy?

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You're on quite old versions of both Hubitat firmware and Blue firmware, so that will make effective troubleshooting difficult.

If the offline issue persists and you are interested in updating the Blues, perhaps this info may be helpful...

The Inovelli Blue firmware files and driver files are all maintained by Inovelli (not Hubitat).

The latest Blue driver is the 2024-05-30 version, and I believe the latest available firmware is v2.18. I admittedly haven't checked for a firmware update lately, but I lurk regularly in the Inovelli community and I haven't seen any references to a newer f/w.

The Blue driver is available via Hubitat Package Manager or for manual install, this link.

Alternatively, a (community-developed) simplified version of the Blue driver is available here -- it conveniently hides some of the bells-&-whistles basic users don't need (fan-related options etc).

When its ready, Inovellli will send their latest firmware to Hubitat and Hubitat staff will then make it available to load via Hubitat's own zigbee device-level firmware update option.

I've been using Blues ever since their ill-fated initial launch (oof, there were lots of problems with that original firmware!), and I've done each iterative f/w & driver update they've had thus far... Along the way, some have been better than others, but this latest driver and f/w have been totally solid for me.

90

Thanks. I am using the Inovelli drivers drivers provided through Hubitat package manager and they are up to date. The "driver date" in my switch info is listed as "2024-05-30"

I used the update firmware tool within the driver to upgrade one of my switches as a trial.

Firmware went from 122F-0101-01020200 to 01020212,
and the more legible firmware version 2.18 showed up (a x.x firmware version is not even displayed prior to the update, just the longer alphanumeric chain.

I guess I'll just update all of them since it seemed to go smoothly enough.

91

This happened to me several times last spring ( I also have 40+ blues and they all went offline within hours of each other, multiple times).

AFAIK, nobody from HE commented on the issue, so it's not clear to me what ultimately fixed it (I generally apply all the HE updates within a few days) but there was something in the 2.18 or 2.17 Blue FW that supposedly addressed or worked around the issue.

If you do a Refresh with the All option, you should see the FW version under State Variables:

  • fwVersion : 2.18
    For some reason this state variable isn't always present even after a FW update.

and under Data:

  • firmwareMT: 122F-0101-01020212
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Yes, I finally got all my switches updated. I had to do multiple refreshes and reloading of the device at times in HE to get the new firmware version to show up, but in the end they've all been updated. So far, working fine, but then again it all worked fine without and update for a year before going down, so I guess we wait and see.

93

Same here. Given the infrequent number of firmware updates on the Inovelli switches compared to the firmware on HE, it would seem reasonable to conclude that some update in HE either broke something or revealed a bug in the switch firmware.

AFAIK the HE people never commented publicly on the issue, and the info from Inovelli isn't really clear either, there's no way to know if the problem is fixed or will pop up again a year from now.

94

I've had my fair share of headaches with my 9 Blues since their original launch (I've done all the firmwares and drivers), but them going offline (one, some, or all) has never happened to me.

95

Just following up here as the OP. After upgrading all my Blues to 2.18 a bit ago, I haven’t had a disconnect issue previously seen above. It’s been going well for just over 9-10 months.

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