Unreliability with Philips Hue remote

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1

Has anyone had any problems with the Philips Hue remote/dimmer? I have it set up to work with 1 lifx light and one hue light and when it is all good it works a treat. However it is constantly not working, sometimes if I do the reset with holding the 4 buttons down it will work but most time just nothing.

Got to the point where it is pretty much useless as it is so unreliable and I have to just use Alexa or the normal light switch.

Also add that the remote is probably about 2m from the hub with no walls in between.

2

I used to have this happen all of the time. I thought it was an issue with the Hue remotes, but this stopped happening when I got rid of my Peanut plugs and put the remotes on a second HE with just end devices, SmartThings and Sylvania plugs, and a handful of GE zigbee switches/dimmers (no lights). The remotes seem to work best with SmartThings outlets, or direct to the hub on zigbee channel 25. In my experience, when changing channels they will all disconnect and have to be paired back to HE. There was also a firmware update about a year ago to help with this if you have a Hue bridge to update them.
BTW, I also had this problem with my Lightify 4-button switches, and they are also rock solid now.

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3

Interesting, I don't have another hub but will look into the channel being used and see. Thanks for the reply

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4

So changed ZigBee channel along with update and still just keeps working sometimes. Don't really want to have to buy another hub as that is a bit over the top for just over device.

Anyone else had any luck with these?

5

It's probably a repeater in your mesh that's dropping it. I have seen them stay paired to the hub without issue. Have you looked to see what they are routing through at http://YourHubIPAddress/hub/zigbee/getChildAndRouteInfo

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6

Sorry but with this page what am I looking for here? Never seen this page before so not too sure.

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=2, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data
child:[Kitchen Motion Sensor, F29C, type:EMBER_SLEEPY_END_DEVICE]
No information for Child 1

Neighbor Table Entry
[Zigbee Repeater , 3CFE], LQI:157, age:5, inCost:7, outCost:1

Route Table Entry
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Zigbee Repeater , 3CFE] via [Zigbee Repeater , 3CFE]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Toilet Light, E721] via [Zigbee Repeater , 3CFE]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
7

You don't have enough devices in your mesh to keep devices reliably connected. The LQI number indicates a poorer connection. A number between 200 and 255 would indicate a strong connection. How to Build a Solid Zigbee Mesh - Hubitat Documentation

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8

My set up has always never been reliable. I have about 4 door sensors, 5 motion sensors and 4 sengled lights, 1 repeater and always been hit or miss if they will work or not. House is not that big at all with the hub in the middle of the house. I always just thought was Hubitat not being 100%

But this remote is right next to the hub, surely that should be good enough signal

9

Battery powered devices don't contribute to the mesh as they are mostly asleep. Distance to the hub isn't necessarily relevant. There are so many things that can interfere with the signal being reliable. Walls, furniture and appliances can easily block low powered signals.

10

Oh I see.

So what else does that page show? Like can I see if the repeater I do have is doing is job?

11

The low LQI says it isn't. It does route but the number suggests either poor signal strength, quality or both.

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12

Whatever that repeater is, it’s terrible if it’s not that far from the hub. Even my Sylvania plugs out in the garage have LQI over 200. Get yourself one Samsung (2018) plug and add it somewhere between the hub and the majority of your devices. That may be enough to stabilize the few devices that you have.

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13

I'm going to pick up some ikea repeaters and see how that goes.

On side note is there a way to get a zwave read out like the ZigBee one?

14

No.