Dr. Hue is in and the Bulbs are back (Reset Hue bulbs to factory)

[JDRoberts]

@indy

I stupidly paired a hue remote dimmer to a hue white bulb after getting the bulb to successfully work with ST. That’s when I realised I couldn’t reset it back to factory to re-pair it with the ST hub after seeing this thread (I’m in the UK).

I have managed to get the bulb back to factory state by first resetting the dimmer remote (paper clip in the reset hole for 10+ seconds) and then holding the remote near the offending bulb (while powered) and holding down the on and off buttons simultaneously. Bulb will blink to acknowledge and can then be paired with the ST hub.

That can work if you are lucky and your SmartThings hub is running on a zigbee home automation channel which is also a ZLL channel. It just won’t work for everyone, which is why there’s a caveat.

(And of course you did have to use the second device which is the Hue dimmer.

The Hue dimmer can factory reset a Hue bulb which is on a ZLL channel like 15 or 25.)

People run into a problem when their SmartThings hub is on a ZHA channel like 14 which is not also a ZLL channel. The Smartthings hub will change the bulb to its own frequency when the bulb is directly joined to it. Unless that frequency is one of the ZLL frequencies, a ZLL device like the hue dimmer won’t be able to talk to it anymore. So they won’t be able to get it to reset.

So it’s just a matter of chance as to what frequency your own SmartThings hub is on. The method you describe is the standard method for devices on a ZLL frequency, So if you’re lucky and that’s one of the ones your own hub is using, the standard method will work.

If by chance your hub is using a different ZHA Frequency, one of the ones that is not used by ZLL devices, Then the standard method won’t work. Which is why you see so much discussion in the forums.

In the US, the Lutron connected bulb remote (not the similar looking Pico) is able to reset a bulb on any ZHA frequency, which is why that has become the method of choice in the US.

If you are in the UK and you are Lucky and your smartthings hub is operating on one of the frequencies that ZLL uses, then you can use the hue dimmer as you did.

If you are in the UK and your smartthings hub is operating on one of the non ZLL frequencies, Then you have to either use the Dresden device described in this thread or find one of the old non-Hue color control wheels to do the resetting.

FAQ: Exact remote needed to reset Hue bulbs? (UK)

Hi all, I’ve decided to get rid of the Hue bridge and pair my Hue lights directly with the SmartThings Hub. Some of the lights I bought after that choice and I’ve been able to pair them with very little effort. The bulbs that I paired with the Hue Hub, on the otherhand, have become expensive dust collectors. I’d really like to be able to factory reset them and pair them with ST. Especially because a couple of them are the really expensive multi-colour bulbs. I’m in UK and both the ST hub and Hue hub were on Zigbee Channel 11, so there should be not channel problem that other people in the forums are mentioning. I tried factory reseting the bulbs using TouchLink, but that doesn’t work. It only seems to transfer Hue bulbs from one ZLL network to another, NOT to factory reset it completel…