GE Link Bulb won't pair (new "Daylight" model)

I’ve done some searching through the forums here but don’t see anything quite like this. I just bought 2 GE Link bulbs. Trying to get ST to recognize them, but they are never found when searching for new devices. However, they show up in my device list as “Thing” after I cancel searching. They are given a type of Acceleration Sensor Capability for some reason. I changed them to GE Link Bulb and everything seems to work just fine. Just thought I would post in case anyone else has similar issues.

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Have you tried the reset procedure on the bulbs before trying to pair them? It might be worth a shot:

As a side random question? Do you live in California or have a ‘smart meter’ on your house/apartment?

I did do the reset procedure a couple of times. I don’t live in CA but I did see the thread about the meter issue. I have to check that as well. However, after changing the device type to the right thing, it seems to be functioning just fine.

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My Link Bulbs are paired easily when I add a new one. I just checked and I don’t have any sort of custom device type installed for it.

Maybe call support? Also there’s a method of turn off and on to get them into pairing mode. Are you trying that?

I recently bought quite a few link bulbs from home Depot using the sears price match. They all worked great except the daylight bulbs. The daylight bulbs would only come up as a thing and I tried 3 of the 4 I bought along with reseting them more times than I can remember. I contacted support and they got back with me wanting product info. I don’t see the daylight version on link website, just wondering if by chance you also bought daylight bulbs. Hopefully they get them working for me shortly.

Mine paired easily with the correct device type. I had to put them close to the hub though to pair. Once paired I could move them away.

GE has just this month released A second model of their A19 GE link bulb. It looks exactly the same and the two boxes are almost identical. The difference is the color temperature. The original bulb was rated at 2700 K. The new model, called “daylight,” is rated at 5000 K.

I imagine they have different zigbee fingerprints, and therefore the new model will not pair using the original GE link device type. But it will likely run fine if manually changed to that type. (I haven’t seen anything indicating that the new bulb allows selection of color temperature.)

Home Depot is selling both models. So if someone says they have a GE link lightbulb which will not pair, the first thing to do is to find out which model it is.

I am not sure if support is aware that a new model has been released. The official knowledgebase article does not mention that there are two models.

Original Link bulb (2700K)

New daylight model (5000K)


( also, I assume that everyone knows that beginning in January GE will be selling yet another line of zigbee bulbs direct to the public, called the “C by GE.” The box and the bulb for those looks very different, though, so I expect there will be less confusion.

@tyler @ben @slagle @jody.albritton @Sticks18 @johnr @bravenel

Just this month? Interesting I’ve seen this 5000K bulb for a good few months, thought it was a thing…

It may have been available in some outlets, but the official wide release was this month. You’ll notice there are no ratings for it on the HD site yet. But it should now be available in most Home Depot stores as well as their website. :sunglasses: :bulb: :bulb:

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You are all right on with this. I didn’t know about the Daylight version until I went to HD, and I thought I would try them. To be honest, they are actually a bit too bright for where I put them, and even when you dim them they are still too bright. Changing the device type worked and they seem to function fine, but I think I may repurpose them to other places and get some of the Soft White to replace them.

I have a couple of these bulbs… come and pick them up in nh.

I gave up on them either they wont link or do link and drop off after awhile…

I now use the osram bulbs… much nicer no issues and color tuneable.

Since we are talking about GE lights, is there anyway to dim them to less than blinding brightness? Even at 1% they are way too bright for my intended usage.

At first, mine wouldn’t pair either. I moved the light next to the hub and they paired as expected.

Which device type did you use to dim them?

I just selected GE Link Bulb and they dim fine.

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Follow up to this. I went and bought 2 of the Soft White version and they paired immediately and worked great. The Daylight version is way too bright anyways, so returning those in favor of Soft White as well.

Hi All,
This is my first post. I can confirm that the Soft White pairs immediately and the Daylight does not. It is just recognized as a “Thing”.

Sorry for the noob question but how do I force a thing to the GE Link device type? Apparently “rpittser” was able to do that and the bulbs worked fine. Thanks in advance!

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You have to go into the IDE (ide.smartthings.com). If you haven’t done that at all you need to use your credentials to sign in. Then go to My Devices, find the device you added, click on it, and then Edit and under Type select GE LInk Bulb. Once I did that everything worked with the Daylight bulbs. I ended up returning them anyways because they were just too bright white for my application.

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Thanks Rick, I just ordered 2 of the GE Link bulbs but they would not pair at all, just received the “thing” id. I had previously paired two without problem, and these bulbs were exactly like the soft white , 60 watt, 800 lumens, 2700k. When I looked into the IDE, they were being registered as Daylight, which is not editable. Once I changed the ID to GE Link Bulb and the type as GE Link Bulb, it all worked fine. I assume the DATA section of the IDE will not hurt anything since I cannot edit it.

i have 2 ge link bulbs that i paired to the hub, i had a lutron connected bulb remote connected to the hub also, i then paired the remote to the 2 ge link bulbs and everything is working great. i can control the lights via the app and the remote and the status updates in the app almost instantly. my issue is i also have 4 ge link daylight bulbs that i am trying to get the same thing to work with different lutron remotes, and it works but the daylight bulbs are not updating the status at all. any ideas?