So I've had 2 Sengled Zigbee bulbs in an outdoor light fixture (1 fixture on each side of my garage door) for years. The switch that controls this fixture is 1 in a 3-switch gang box. Recently, I changed one of the switches in this box (not the one that controls these fixtures) to a smart (Z-Wave) switch. That's working beautifully.
However, ever since, one of the fixtures is shorting out the Zigbee functionality in these bulbs. The wiring in this gang box was awful so I figured maybe something wasn't grounded properly. I had someone out today to fix it, which is done. However, when I put a new bulb in this fixture, it again shorted out the Zigbee controls. I paired it inside (5 feet from the hub), verified it worked (it did - very responsive and quick) and then took it out to this fixture (which is maybe 10 yards from the hub) and tested it. The hub wouldn't control it. I brought it back in to the original fixture where I paired it, reset it, etc. and it still won't be controlled by the hub.
So my conclusion is that something in this fixture is shorting something out.
I'm far from an electrician but if anyone here knows more than enough to be dangerous and knows what to look for, I would be eternally grateful if you'd share.
What happens if you put a regular LED bulb in the fixture? But before I did that, I would measure the voltage in the socket (center contact to the socket side) Assuming you are in the United States or Canada, If its not in the 110 to 120 ish range something is mis wired.
So I can take my multimeter, power the fixture (no bulb in it) and touch the negative to the outer rim of the socket and the positive to the gold center and measure the voltage?
Have someone hit the switch to see if there are any anomolies when power is coming on or off (aside from just voltage). Also switch your zigbee radio to 25 and see how things go.
On the Zigbee radio, I have 3 hubs (1 old ST hub which does almost nothing and 2 Hubitats - a C-7 and a C-8). The ST hub is on Zigbee channel 19. The C-7 is on 16 and the C-8 is on 22. A scan on the C-8 also picks up something on 25, so that's why I'm not using it, though I have no idea what it could be. Is it still OK to use?
Hopefully between this and having the electrician check things out, I can get those 2 bulbs working again. I still feel like something must be wrong at the fixture since it took a working bulb (paired in a different fixture and tested as working) and fried it (moved the bulb, turned it on, didn't work, moved it back, still doesn't work).
Microwave ovens leak a little energy on Wi-Fi channel 1. Channel 6 or 11 is better for Wi-Fi. Also don't use wide channels on 2.4 Ghz. Keep them at 20 Mhz. On the 5Ghz band know that there is a signal strength loss of -6db for each band width doubling. Going from 20Mhz to 40Mhz costs -6db and 80Mhz costs -12db. WiFi extenders are store and forward halving through put. We are often better off using less bandwidth if doing so allows a direct connection.
So, I'm still waiting on the electrician but I have a little more info and a question or two. First, putting the Zigbee channel on 25 made my network worse. I had unresponsive plugs, disconnected sensors, etc. so I put it back on 22. Was there any particular reason you suggested 25?
I also reset 2 of the bulbs that I thought this fixture had shot and paired them with my SmartThings hub (that I literally only keep to manage 2 other bulbs in my house). They worked fine so my assumption that they had gone bad was wrong. The bulb is just extremely unresponsive while in this one fixture. I can reset the bulb (while in this fixture) and re-pair it, but that's where the functionality stops. After that, the bulb won't communicate with the hub any longer. Given the issues I've been having with my Zigbee network, I have not tried pairing them to the C-8 yet and only just now thought about trying with the C-7 while typing this.
I guess it's possible that I'm just having Zigbee issues but it seems awfully coincidental that this started right around the time I put a smart switch in the same box as the switch that controls the fixtures these two bulbs are in (and 1 bulb works, the other doesn't, and the one that works is actually the width of a 2-car garage further away from the hub).
Maybe my next trick should be to pair with the C-7 and control using hub mesh? I'm not sure what to try now. Or reset the current bulbs and pair with SmartThings to see if they work in the fixture?
Reason for 25 is that the frequency is outside of the 2.4Ghz WiFi band in the U.S. Could do zigbee channel scan to learn if there are any other zigbee networks there I suppose. I have read that changing channels may loose devices for a while so you may have to make the missing ones relearn where to be. Perhaps a community zigbee expert can amplify what may have happened.
So I paired the bulbs with SmartThings last night and both worked perfectly. So my assumption that the fixture was burning out the bulbs was incorrect. It really was just a coincidence (I guess) that this happened when I installed the smart switch in that same box.
I then reset the bulbs and re-paired to the C-8. One would work but never both. I could pair one, test, and it'd be fine but as soon as I paired the other, the first one would stop working. This is true no matter which one you pair first.
I then reset them again and paired to my C-7 and they're working on that hub with no issues at all (so far - it's only been 12 hours).
Zigbee problems have resolved since changing the channel on the C-8 back to 22. C-7 is on channel 16.
So what I don't understand is why don't they work on the C-8? They have been fine for nearly 2 years.
