There seems to be alot of issues with the GE bulbs. I don’t have any so I can’t speak to them, but using zWave in wall switches and Hue Bulbs through the Hue Bridge has been working pretty solidly.
The GE bulbs seem to loose programming easily, an accidentally light switch turned off then back on can sometimes do it. This thread talks about it and an updated device driver the works better.
Thanks for the info. I have heard of that issue. Both these bulbs did this on their own. The switched was never flipped. The odd thing is after I reset them they still could not be found. After a few hours SmartThings found them. It is frustrating. I have so many hi-tech devices that just work. The simplest system (Smarthings) gives me the most headaches.
I would never consider SmartThings the simplest system. I believe one if the issues using large zigbee mesh networks, is that when something loses closest partner it doesn’t repair as well as zwave. The more nodes you have the more chances for a failure.
Respectfully I would have to disagree with this completely. And I worked professionally with both zwave and zigbee as a network engineer. Zigbee was designed for large networks, literally thousands of devices. Zwave is limited to 232 max. And Zwave is limited to four Max hops from the hub while zigbee is 15 out and 15 in for a total of 30. It’s way easier to use zigbee to get around local obstacles like cement walls just because you have more hops to work with.
The reason why companies like Phillips and Sylvania (Osram) chose zigbee for their lightbulbs is precisely because it is better at large networks.
Zigbee may be problematic in some home automation setups because most people don’t use enough repeaters. But that’s not a problem with the protocol.
Where Zwave is better for residential home automation is with fixed location devices like light switches and door locks and window covering controls because zigbee is subject to Wi-Fi interference and Zwave is not, and things can get tricky with a fixed location device.
but when it comes to maintaining a healthy mesh, Zigbee is at least equal to zwave.
I agree with you and I should clarify what I meant. . Zigbee standards are have not really been standards. They are numerous ways they are be implemented and some devices (Hue and Nest Weave) are good examples of how it should be done. I believe many companies implement a tree topology for their zigbee implementation, and if one node in the path acts up or is down, everything beyond it is lost. A true Mesh network can lose a Node and the devices on the network would still communicate to the hub and not realize it is taking a different path.
Seems to be a lot of issues with GE bulbs, and they only repeat for each other in certain circumstances. They seem more prone to drop and interference than Phillips counter parts. That is not a problem with ST or the protocol, its due to the implementation of Zigbee.
I also think Zigbee is the standard of the future, with more companies building high quality products.
You’re very right that GE bulbs can have problems: they have a known firmware flaw that means they sometimes lose connection with the network. this is true whether you have SmartThings in the picture or not. ST staff have said this is the reason why they aren’t on the official compatibility list.
You’re also correct that it is possible to deploy zigbee in a star or tree network topology as well as mesh–but only mesh devices can be used with SmartThings, so in a SmartThings installation zigbee is using mesh just as Zwave does. 
Been fairly lucky with my zigbee mesh. Covers 3 stories and no repeaters (yet). Plan on picking up some Iris zwave/zigbee plugs and use those to help bolster the network. About 20 motion/contact, with Hue 8 or so Hues tossed in.
If you are using the GE bulbs with ST, do they repeat for each other still? Or would it be a direct connect to the ST Hub. I though GE bulbs (and Hue) only repeat when on their own network. This is the main reason I keep my Phillips Hue hub in place, it seems much more reliable.
Zigbee has different profiles. Many Smart bulb, such as Hue, use the zigbee light link profile (ZLL). However, if they are connected directly to SmartThings without using a bridge, they should switch to the zigbee home automation profile (ZHA) and then should be able to repeat for other zigbee devices on the SmartThings network provided the bulb is receiving current.
So Hue bulbs connected to the hue bridge form their own mini network and only repeat for each other. Hue bulbs connected directly to the smart things hub shift to the ZHA profile and can act as zigbee repeaters for other devices like sensors. ( however, the official recommendation is to always use the hue bridge, as once you connect a Hue bulb to the smart things hub directly, you may not be able to remove it again without buying an additional device. )
Osram bulbs will also act as ZHA repeaters. The GE Links should, but they have some firmware problems, and I’m not sure if they actually do.
Simple is relative. Here are some examples of hi-tech devices that work reliably in my house vs my Smartthing hub and zigbee bulbs.
2 x 24 Gigibit switch. This device can route 48 1Gb ports with zero delays and it never fails me. My SmartThings hub needs to turn on and off 15 lights a day and it fails all the time.
I have many TV’s that can reliably display 1920x1080p at 30 fps with 16bit color per pixel over an HDMI cable. Super high bandwidth to make that happen. My SmartThings hub needs to turn on and off 15 lights a day and it fails all the time.
I have many PC’s that have 2GHz processor running a complex OS with a boat load of apps that have a 99% uptime. My SmartThings hub needs to turn on and off 15 lights a day and it fails all the time.
My XBOX one and PS4 both have many cores and a very powerful graphics processor unit that always runs perfect. My SmartThings hub needs to turn on and off 15 lights a day and it fails all the time.
So far the best up-time I have had is 19 days in a row. I never make changes to the system until something fails. Failures happen randomly. Everything worked last night. I predict in the next 7 days something will stop working again. I just want a system that will reliably turn on and off 15 light bulbs twice a day.
If all you need is smart bulbs on a timed schedule that runs reliably, just put them all on the hue bridge and don’t use SmartThings at all.
As long as the bulbs form a strong enough mesh (each bulb is within about 40 feet of another bulb), everything should run fine. (And as long as you aren’t using GE link bulbs, which can lose contact with any network.)
I have been running a standalone hue bridge for over a year without a single schedule failure except for GE Link bulbs, which I have since replaced with $15 Hue Whites.
If its a simple timed on/off rule then a timed light switch would work (http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-RPLS730B1000-7-Day-Programmable-Switch/dp/B004SOZHXY/ref=zg_bs_6291360011_). I run basic $12 motion switches in my bathrooms, they work fantastic.
I have over 30 recessed lights through out my house, was planning on using Hues for them, but cost analysis showed the zwave switched were much cheaper. I am not saying I am 100% reliable in my house, but probably around 90-95%. When a rule fails (or is slow) just hit the switch like I used to.
Someone should right up a guide with the best options for each scenario. I know its not always feasible to replace light switches (rentals are a good example).
I would also place the complexity of ST at least at the level of a PC or connected TV, maybe even a gaming console. But ST does not have the decades of growth, billions of dollars of research and development. Everything you mentioned has a much more robust hardware platform, and cost significantly more than the $99 ST runs. The gigabyte switch is the simplest piece of tech you mentioned. And there is failure rate of packets, its just that they have great protocols (TCP/IP) that handle it.
this problem is for everything on ST. i have a simple routine to turn on a switch at 9pm, and it fails 75% of the time. the logging says ST turned on the switch, but the switch never goes on. I can manually do it in the app just fine, so the issue is ST automation.
So using your own math 50 percent of the time it was a platform issue. That is just not good enough sorry. If I can’t get better than 50/50 odds time to just this puppy down.
I think the problem is the old scheduler vs. the new Ticker.
Read more here:
TL;DR - the old scheduler didn’t work well so they built a new one that is supposed to work better. When we’ll see the benefits is unknown at this point…
Ticker was supposedly rolled out to everyone in the US I think about 10 days ago. Unfortunately, it had a bug which is now known – – it doesn’t convert milliseconds properly, so anything which used milliseconds is using seconds instead. That has created a bunch of new problems. Engineering is supposed to be working on a fix for that bug.
I have 9 outside lights. This morning 2 of the 9 did not turn off. I tried turning them off with the app it it does not work. I am going to have to get rid of this system. It is extremely broke. Who has time for all these problems.
Let me know when you find a better system. I think a lot of people are in your boat…
9 days ago I had the same issue. I lost a family room light and a light in the living room. They stopped turning on as scheduled and I could not connect to them with the app. I tried to reset and pair the bulbs and it would not work. Later that day I opened the app and it said new device. So I gave it a name and it added it to the schedule and it started working.
I did the same thing today with my 2 outside bulbs that stopped working. I went out in 28 deg weather while it was snowing. Unscrewed the top of the light fixture and reset the bulb and set it up to pair. SmartThing can not find it. I will wait a few hours and it should show up. So much BS!!!
Some people have reported that sometimes you can recover the bulb by just going to the IDE and renaming it twice.
First rename it by adding a number to the end. Save it and logout.
Then log in again and rename it to its original name.
This seems to recover the bulb about half the time.
So since it’s a pretty easy process, it might be worth trying.