Folks, are all Sylvania / Osram devices dont do well being repeaters, or just bulbs? I dont have any bulbs, but have quite a few of the Sylvania flex strips and Sylvania plug in outlets. Since, those are always pluggen in and powered, does that make them better than bulbs? I have another c7 hub laying around and can move them over to its own zigbee network, but rather not do it if isnt necessary, since all of my zigbee and zwave devices are already separate in the different hub.
The problem with their bulbs isn't specifically that they can become physically turned off and disrupt your Zigbee mesh, though that is certainly a possibility for any Zigbee bulb. (If you have other repeaters -- or the hub itself -- in range, Zigbee should be able to figure things out again on its own.) It's that they try to repeat but just sometimes "eat" messages instead of passing them along like they should.
It may not be all models of such bulbs (not sure if Osram/Sylvania/etc. are one, but some users have found newer varieties of certain brands to work better than older ones, often Zigbee 3.0 vs ZLL or ZHA 1.2, though Zigbee profile alone is no guarantee and likely just coincidental; but unlike older models, I don't think anyone has done objective testing on newer devices, e.g., with a Zigbee sniffer).
I don't think anyone has noticed problems with the outlets. One model of these was actually recommended as a repeater for certain devices in the past (the picky Xiaomi/Aqara devices). I'm not sure about the lightstrip but don't recall any complaints about that. Whether it's because it's actually better or just less popular, I can't say...
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Thank you for the response. Well, thats good on the outlets and i also did search around, but really the only complaints i see are around bulbs. So thats good i suppose. The issue i have is my leaksmart sensors drop intermittently (only leaksmarts and no others), so trying to figure out if it is the Sylvania repeaters that are causing these issues, or not..
I believe that was the Sylvania 72922 SmartPlug, which I use as my mesh 'backbone' --very solid and excellent reach. I use some of them solely as repeaters with nothing plugged in.
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I never noticed any specific issues while using Sylvania LED strips in my old house.
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Yep that’s what I have. Great to know! As I got 4 of them.
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That’s good, thanks for the feedback!
I only had problems with bulbs . They would freeze periodically (requiring unscrew and screw back in to reset) and then if they were used in any routes caused mesh issues.
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C7 w/latest firmware-My 14 Smart+ Zigbee bulbs/recessed cans/lightstrips are generally well behaved. The A19 bulbs are most likely to fall off. I had 1 fall off today and noticed its firmware was older, so I updated its firmware. My flex lightstrip was outside for 3 years and behaved well, but just died last week. About once per month 1 of my 14 recessed lights will lock up/freeze requiring a power cycle to revive it, but it doesn't fall off the mesh, it just seizes up and won't respond.
The worst are the Sylvania bulbs/lights with the FCC ID of "IQ-Home". The newer SOC with FCC ID "DZO-AETHER"(or something similar can't remember exact spelling) has a better behaved Zigbee chip.
latest firmware is:
- endpointId: 01
- application: 01
- firmwareMT: 1189-0019-00102428
- manufacturer: LEDVANCE
- model: A19 RGBW
- softwareBuild: 00102428
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Exactly this. afaik (too lazy right now to go look) the outlets have the same zigbee chip as the bulbs. The ones that say AETHER, or have Smart+ written on them have been very well behaved. I have 20 of the light strips and recessed cans that have been working well for 4 or 5 years. I have not had to rejoin any of them in at least a couple years. The bulbs, and it didn't seem to matter what zigbee chip they had, were terrible. They would overheat and become unresponsive if left on for too long. I would have to disconnect power to them until they cooled off to get them to work again.
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Great info folks - thank you! I just looked and all the flex strips and the outlets that are currently in use, are smart+ with the FCC ID of AETHER. so looks like I’m good. I do have some older outdoor flex lights, as well as recessed lights with FCC ID of IQHOME, but I’m not using them. Will be going on eBay haha.
Also to be clear, i also don’t have the issues with my strips and outlets going off line, they’ve been pretty solid as far as the connection goes, my main worry was, are they being good repeaters and are the the culprit of my leaksmarts going offline randomly. I’m starting to think the leaksmarts may just be too old at this point… They’re the original v1 sensors and I wonder if they just running too old of a chip and/or firmware.
But thank you all for the feedback and confirming that the sylvania devices I have are good to go!
I have several GE zigbee dimmers, a couple Sylvania outlets, and a couple Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 usb dongles on the same hub as the Sylvania lights. The lights don’t seem to be very strong repeaters, especially if their signal is blocked by furniture or a metal housing. You could also look at the placement of your Hubitat. I have mine in the center of my house, as far from other electronics as possible.
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I have a leaksmart valve that closes and quickly reopens very infrequently --sometimes going 3 or more months without cycling.
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I’m not using the leaksmart valve, as I have Phyn, so can’t comment on the valve, but my sensors definitely drop randomly and I even tested them with water, while they’re in the dropped state, just to make sure they’re actually offline and they’re. Leaksmarts will usuall send messages at least a good dozen time a day, so I know when they go silent for more than 24 hours, it means they dropped.
Can't believe I'm saying this, as I despise Phillips and their 40.00 lightbulbs, but the newest Hue bulbs with Zigbee 3.0 & BT are behaving very well in my Zigbee mesh. The only reason I have them is I found them at homedepot on clearance for like 8 bucks, so I grabbed the 4 they had left. The prior Sengled bulb that was there locked up almost weekly, but the Hue bulb is rock solid over the last 5 months and it's a repeater.
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I just happened across this in another HE thread. Looks like our gut call about these being strong repeaters was right...
Sylvania Smart Plug
Driver Data Manufacturer: LEDVANCE
Note: These are by far my best performing repeaters (not including XBEE) maintaining an LQI in excess of 200 with most other repeaters within 30ft through walls and floors.
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The freaking driver is one of the most amazing additions to HE I've ever seen. The amount of information it extracts is literally Zigbee porn and almost as bad as when my wife caught me flashing my dongle.
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