I have 4 Jasco ZigBee Dimmer/Outlets I use every Christmas for holiday lighting. I have used them for 3-4 years with no issues. I probably added them with the old legacy phone app. Plugged them in this year… they don’t show up in the app as being connected. Odd. But, no problem, I’ll just factory reset them and add them again. Well, no matter how I rescan/reset they are not found so they won’t pair. Nothing.
I also had two GE ZigBee outlets that are very similar (Jasco looks to be rebranded GE). These also were not recognized, however when I scanned for a new device they were found, and attached to the previous profile from last year.
Anyone have a secret to getting these to pair with my SmartThings Hub v3?
Which brings me to the process of pairing… why do they ask for a QR Code when 80% of devices I have bought never came with one? It’s just weird. I have to pair without a code, which always fails in this particular case. I’m beginning to consider ZigBee a pain in the butt.
I have tried everything- rebooting hub, removing device from SmartThings, place device close to hub, factory reset many times. Even tried the GE profile on the Jasco device. Nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
As far as branding, it’s the other way around: Jasco is the manufacturer, and their devices are sold under a number of different brand names, including GE.
With regard to the problem, smartthings has made major architecture changes this year, and the devices now need to use a “edge driver“ instead of the “device type handler” from the old architecture. But still, I would think a simple on/off smart plug would work.
I’m really tired today, so I’m not going to be much help, but I’m going to tag @johnconstantelo just in case he has any ideas: almost everything he has is Zigbee.
Meanwhile, what’s the exact model number of the devices? It should be on a label on the back.
Looks like you’ve tried everything I would recommend, but I would add to power down the hub for at least 20 minutes so that when it boots back up it will rebuild your zigbee mesh. Even though you’ve reset the devices and removed them from ST during your debugging, it sounds like after the holidays you unplug these but don’t delete the device after you’re done with them? Your Zigbee mesh could potentially need a rebuild.
I don’t have the dimmer plug, but I do have the wall plugs and a few of the outlets. I was able to remove and rejoin one of the plugs without incident, so I’m thinking you should start with a clean rebuilt Zigbee mesh and try joining those devices again. When you do, use the “Scan Nearby” option.
As JD said, I have nearly 300 devices, all are Zigbee devices (a small handful are wifi, zwave, or virtual) from various brands. Can you rebuilt your mesh and let us know if anything improves?
I’m very glad @johnconstantelo responded: he has more experience with Smartthings and zigbee Devices than almost anyone.
You probably already know this part, but just to be sure: when you do the “Zigbee heal” to rebuild your mesh, you take your hub off power (including removing backup batteries, if it has those), but leave all of your other zigbee devices on power. That way when the other devices can’t reach the hub, they will go into “panic mode“ and when the hub does come back on power 20 or 30 minutes later, everybody will rebuild their neighbor tables. This should get the maximum efficiency out of your Zigbee network.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have done all this and no joy.
To me it’s just too odd that they worked for several years, I guess prior to edge, but cannot get them to be recognized and pair now. I do have several other JASCO dimmer/outlets that do work. They were probably brought through the changeover while active.
Have you tried pairing the devices in the same room as your hub? It’s not uncommon with devices that are put away for holiday and then brought out again a year later that in the meantime, the network has changed so things don’t work that way they used to. In particular, if you’ve added more Zigbee devices, it’s always possible that a previous parent now doesn’t have an open slot so the holiday device can’t get its messages through on the network. You may have already done this, but I did just want to mention it.
On a whim, I went into the hub config on the new IDE. I changed the ZigBee from channel 14 to channel 24. Then tried to pair. All three devices paired in under 20 seconds. They also ID’d as a GE Dimmer.
My WiFi is a Ubiquiti AP, 2.4 radio is on channel 1, albeit 40 MHz. So, I doubt channel 14 had much interference. But, you can’t argue success. I’ll take the win.
Thanks everyone for helping. It’s nice to have a community like this. Real nice.
This is another of those things that can affect devices that are only brought out once a year. You may have changed your Wi-Fi network or your Zigbee channel in between, and a little adjustment may be necessary.
On another thread, @johnconstantelo referred me to this one about moving the Zigbee channel. Just one question–if I change/move the channel, do existing devices automatically know or get notified of the change or will they need repaired? Just don’t want to create a bigger problem than I have if I’m not ready for it. Thanks.
I changed the Zigbee channel and nothing is reconnecting. I’ve removed a couple devices (an ST plug and a Sylvania bulb) and the hub will not detect them to re-pair (couldn’t re-pair the bulb before or after the channel move). Do I remove all and reset all zigbee devices and then try to pair or do I have a bigger issue by not being able to add a zigbee device? Zigbee has been so reliable for me until this.
What’s your status today? After changing the channel, did you reboot? You may need to power down the hub again for 20 to e0 minutes so your mesh rebuilds.
I think when you power down the hub for that 20+ minutes, and all your devices go into “panic” mode, that they will be directed to the new channel from your hub when they connect again. At least that has been my experience.
They also ID’d as a GE Dimmer.
