Issues Connecting with Cree Connected Bulbs

Yup. Got one of these Cree’s at Home Depot today and couldn’t get it to pair. But when I put the ST hub into search mode FIRST, and then did 3one5’s on/off pattern, the bulb flashed once and then paired right away. Oh, I also paired it in a lamp really close to my hub just to rule out distance issues. I think my bulb was originally made to work only with Wink, since that’s the only instructions included in the packaging.

Same problem; turned out to be my meter as well (Houston). Wish I could have last Sunday back, but that aside, I’m just happy they’re all working. Thank you.

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If you’re referring to my problems with interference from PG&E’s meter, I solved this by getting one of the Samsung Z-Wave/Zigbee outlets and putting it in the outlet in the center of the garage that powers the door opener. That seems to have both stabilized the mesh down at that end of the house and it generate enough signal to get the bulbs to behave pretty reliably. Plus, I can now completely disable opening the garage door if I want! :smile:

If you’re still having problems you might try that approach.

After nearly losing my mind over the non-pairing Cree bulb, I used Brad_Corey’s solution and the bulb paired instantly. I didn’t have one of those work lights but I do have a reading lamp with a metal hood. I recalled that our gas company (California) installed a radio-type meter a few months back. Anyway, I put the bulb in my lamp and adjusted the lamp hood with maximum metal surface between the gas meter and the hub. I aimed the bulb directly at the hub, about two feet away. Success! Thank you Brad!

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Good to know guys! Thanks for letting the forum know, it seems that this problem is problem is more widespread than at first thought!

Diane, I’m so glad that the MANY hours of phone calls and pulling my hair out has saved someone some headache.
As an update, I have had ZERO problems with those Cree bulbs since they have been paired. They are VERY stable compared to my Connected bulbs which I still use.

That’s good to hear, Brad. I was uncertain about buying any more Cree bulbs.

I have mine programmed to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise. Waiting to see if that works. It didn’t turn off this morning, but I hadn’t finished the setup last night before sunset, so the switch-on had to be manual. We’ll see what happens tonight.

Sure is great to know there’s a community to help out!

My Cree bulb didn’t turn off at sunrise as expected on it’s first day. I gave it another 24 hours without tampering with it and the next cycle worked as programmed, on at sunset and off at sunrise. However, yesterday I needed to use the light during the day and turned it on and then off again through the app. That evening it failed to turn on at sunset. I turned it back on through the app after sunset and it then didn’t turn off at sunrise. What’s the best way to use one of these lights without interfering with the “rule”?

I have 3 Cree connect bulbs and love them. I have had no issues with them in the last year. I’ll be adding 3-4 more in my house. My dad also has 3-4 and has had no issues. I love these bulbs!!

Hi Diane, unfortunately your experience with scheduled on/off at sunset/sunrise is common lately. It most likely has nothing to do with your Cree bulb and is related to the ST scheduler failing instead. My morning and evening routines have worked maybe 50% the last week. If you can control the bulb reliably from the mobile app, then the issue is with ST.

If the bulb doesn’t always respond to manual changes in the mobile app, you might have a range/interference issue. In this case, you could try moving the bulb closer to the hub to see if it improves. The answer to range/interference issues is to add more zigbee devices that repeat (like a zigbee smart plug) to create a stronger mesh.

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Thank you, Scott. I experimented with controlling the bulb with just the app and it works every time. It occurred to me that we had also been having trouble with our Roku dropping connections and connecting to our air printer was sluggish at best. This led me to believe our cable service modem might be the culprit. After googling a modem solution and then logging onto the modem and switching the channel from “auto” to a higher channel (11), everything seems improved. I’ll write an update as we go along. I really like the idea of these bulbs and will get more if this step sorts out the problem. Bulb turned on and off as expected last night.

Here’s an update. I moved my first Cree bulb to an outside fixture that doesn’t need to be used during the day. It is operating as expected now, faithfully on at sunset, off at sunrise at my 50% setting.

I bought a second Cree and installed it in another outdoor fixture. After some shenanigans, it also now turns on and off at sunset/sunrise. I have it also set at 50%. However during the day the app says it’s ON at 100% when it isn’t on at all. I should be happy that it’s operating as desired, but it bugs me that the app is reporting inaccurately. It leads me to think there’s something about the syncing between app and bulb that I haven’t figured out yet.

I spent some time on chat yesterday with ST support. In the end, I had to reset the bulb that was actually OFF when the app said it was ON. When I reinstalled the bulb I got the opposite problem – app said it was OFF when it was On, and the bulb would no longer respond to the Sunset On command at all. I removed that bulb and paired a third bulb. This one is again OFF when the app says it’s ON. We have yet to see if it turns on at sunset. If it does, I’m going to ignore the errant app status report.

This is crazy frustrating. By the way, I’ve had no trouble pairing my Cree bulbs since using Brad_Corey’s method.

This worked… thanks so much!!!

Hi, I just paired my Cree Connected bulb. I was having trouble and so as a IT network admin by trade, I did what we always do. I pushed the test to the extreme to see what results I got. And it worked. I turn the light switch on and off 20+ times with a long 2 second pause in between. It paired right away that. Now I am trying to use it with Rule Machine but I am not a programmer and RM is throwing a java exception on line 1529. So I am teaching myself java script. It is going to take me at least a month or 2 to get enough knowledge to understand the problem. Then I have to solve it… Arrgh.

Can’t get any of the two cree bulbs I bought to connect. What’s worse, is the only reason I bought them was to replace two GE link bulbs that stopped responding / connecting. I’m at a total loss :frowning:

I’ve had similar issues. What tends to happen is it will pair but not tell you or not complete fully. After trying and it doesnt seem to work, back out of the connect process and check your Things tab. See if you see a “thing” listed and it will be incomplete usually. Delete it and then do the reset dance of on off with the bulb while trying to connect. Its taken me as long as 10mins of constant on off and deleting incomplete pairs. But after that… it usually ‘works’ for at least a little while…

I have 7 Cree led bulbs and have had no issues other than the ST outages. My dad has 3 or 4 Cree led and same goes for him. Are your bulbs being place far from the hub?

Glad to hear that David – I’ve tried pairing them directly next to my ST2 hub, two bulbs, both won’t pair following the directions of starting with the bulbs off, putting the hub into search (modetried both, general search and specifically searching for the Cree connected bulb via the menu), then turning the bulb on. The spinner keeps spinning, never finds anything. I tried resetting my hub once and the bulbs (by doing that on/2second off thing for 4 times until it blinks). They both won’t connect.

In the app where it has the cree connected bulb it also has a link to support. Go read that. Read how to do the reset of the bulb by putting the hub into search mode, then turn the bulb off and on in a specific pattern. Of my 20+ bulbs, I had to do a reset on at least half of them when I first paired them. Just sitting the bulb beside the hub will not guarantee a successful pairing.