Major Weird Zigbee Issues (July 2016)

[JDRoberts]

I could point to some references on zigbee, but the SmartThings zigbee implementation seems to have some unique failures.

Zigbee devices (bulbs, sensors, switches, outlets) randomly failing beginning March 2016

I am seeing a number of reports in many different threads since the March meltdown and the subsequent implementation of the new scheduler indicating random problems with a number of different zigbee devices, including smart bulbs, motion sensors, pocket sockets, etc. Most people are reporting this as a failure of the device, but I’m not sure it is. It may be a failure of the cloud to properly record the events, or database corruption, or local flooding. It may be devices using a device handler that has the known millisecond problem. The new scheduler which was rolled out in March has a missing converter and treats milliseconds as seconds, so device handlers with programmed delays will wait 1,000 times longer than they should. This might cause a timeout, or what appears to be a failure t…

So I’ve stopped trying to figure it out. I think working with support is the best idea.

I will make one comment about the device that “came back” after it was paired again. That would actually be expected behavior because with Zigbee, every device has a unique identifier. So when you add a device for a second time it just slips right back in to where it was in terms of all the other smart apps and routines since it still has the same device ID.

That’s the basis of the following FAQ

FAQ: GE Link Bulbs Dropped Offline

GE Links are the least expensive big brand zigbee bulbs you can buy, and, for whatever reason, they seem to sometimes have trouble reconnecting to the SmartThings network after power has been cut, whether it’s from a whole house failure or just someone flipping a switch. Or even just randomly from time to time. (SmartThings staff have confirmed in the forums that the reason the GE links are not on the official “works with SmartThings” compatibility list is that they have a firmware problem which causes them to stop responding to the Cordinator from time to time. Supposedly GE is aware of the issue and there may be a firmware update from GE in a few months, but no specific timeline and they can’t be certified as compatible yet. Meanwhile, they’re very inexpensive, but they do drop off fro…

Note that this is very different from zwave devices because in Z wave the hub assigns a network ID to the device at the time of pairing.