Zigbee device (not mine) keeps joining

General Discussion
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A few weeks back when pairing a new zwave device I picked up a stowaway that I can’t shake. A new zigbee device popped up while the hub was in include mode with the name “Sengled Smart Light Strip Device”. The IDE lists it as a Sengled model E1G-G8E and it’s using the ZigBee RGBW Bulb DTH. It shows as routing through one of my zigbee devices, occasionally posts events, and is responsive when I mess around with it in the app. It seems to be a real device. I own nothing from Sengled, so either it’s a neighbor’s or my hub is seeing ghosts.

I’ve tried deleting it twice through the app. Both times it rejoined a week or more later. When it rejoined it just happened - the hub wasn’t in include mode at the time. Any ideas on how to get this thing to stay gone?

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my mind goes to the dark side…

create a rule that turns the light off when it is turned on. that way, the owner will think the light has gone bad and remove it :wink:

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I’m with @jkp - start screwing with it.

But, that said, enabling secure rejoin will probably keep it from coming back…

…as well as any bulbs that drop off your network and normally rejoin on their own :wink:

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I’m already there. I’ve messed around with color and on/off manually a bunch. Last night did the on->off automation and the event log shows some frustrated attempts to turn the light on. My conscience got the better of me this morning though, so I turned that devious little automation off.

If insecure rejoin lets devices back in that you’ve intentionally deleted… that seems a bit problematic. But that’s a pretty good theory for what’s happening. Maybe the zigbee engineers never imagined that your neighbor would buy a device when they don’t have their own hub to connect it to?

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I wouldn’t think it would let it back in either - but, hey worth the shot… In any case jacking with a neighbor’s lights - fun… :slight_smile:

I’m actually unsure what happens when the device has already joined once and has your network key and asks to rejoin though. I see JD is in process of answering and Im sure he has more info about that one.

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Zigbee devices Of that profile don’t work with two different hubs at the same time. So if it’s on your network, it’s not going to respond to your neighbor at all and you would not see any on/off requests for the device if you weren’t doing them.

You could turn it on to alert the neighbor that the device was live, but they would have no way of controlling it except to unplug it. Or turn it off with a switch if it’s on a switched circuit.

(The exception to this is a Phillips hue bridge which can be controlled in multiple ways, but that’s a whole different story.)

If this is a Zigbee light strip In your neighbors house, then if you can control it, they can’t. It’s either on your network or theirs, not both.

So…

If you are seeing control requests in the log that you are not issuing one of two things is happening.

A) this is a real device on your network. For example, we had one of these situations when one of my housemates bought a light to work with the echo plus in his room but it got picked up by the hub instead.

B) this is a problem in the smartthings cloud, and you are seeing database entries from a device that is in fact not on your network. This has happened a couple of times in the past, although it’s rare. There was one community member who reported seeing entries for a “dining room light“ when their house didn’t even have a dining room.

If it’s B, only smartthings support can fix it.

If it’s a, it might physically be at your neighbors, may be a Christmas light string, but once you have control of it, you have control. So doing things to make your neighbor crazy aren’t likely to help unless you were just trying to get them to unplug it.

But if you are seeing control requests come through the logs, somebody on your network is doing that. Or it’s a cloud problem. :thinking:

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I think those control requests are from the physical button on the device. I’m reading the docs on this thing now and it allows on/off and cycling through the colors via the button. Really firming up the idea that it’s a neighbor that got one of those cool new RGB light strips but doesn’t have a hub to use it with.

Assuming I were to actually talk to my neighbors :open_mouth: and could identify the house, I’m wondering if there’s anything that could be done with physical access to the device. The device has a reset button, and presumably that would get it off my network, but then it would probably just sit their waiting to rejoin the next time I put my hub into include mode. I suppose I could also buy them a hub.

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I bet they dont have a hub, were playing with the device and were close enough to one of your devices while your hub was in include mode. I think that particular device just needs an on/ off at the physical button to attempt to join if it’s not already in a network. (I have one myself but it’s locked up in a cabinet in a room getting a complete reno at the moment so I can’t check)

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Basically until it’s joined to another network, it’s likely going to keep trying to join yours every time it powers on. They could still be using it manually, but it would still be a problem for you. :disappointed_relieved:

If they have an echo with a Zigbee hub inside, they might just need help getting it joined to that.

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I’m thinking the opposite – keep turning it on in an automation. That way sooner than later they’ll either reset it or unplug it.

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