I bought and paired 3 GE Link A19 light bulb for my VeraPlus. Took a few times to pair them choosing the GE Link A19 dimming light bulb in the “add device”. They worked (laggy response time) for a few days and then “cannot detect device” popped up on all of them within 12 hours. Anyone else having the same issue or know of a fix for this?
I have had two GE Link bulbs connected since I received the Vera Plus. Over the past week I have added 4 more. They are all within 50 feet of the controller and work fine. I do have a “Can’t Detect Device” but it is a battery operated device.
How far away are your bulbs from the controller? Since the bulbs work on Zigbee they won’t use the Zwave mesh network that you have built up, do you have other Zigbee devices that are AC powered to act as repeateers nearby? Can you move the bulb closer to the controller to rule out a communication problem?
-bob
Bob,
Thanks for the quick response. The 3 GE Link A19 bulbs are 10’, 15’ and 20’ away from the veraplus unit, pretty straight shot. These bulbs are the only 3 zigbee devices I have connected to the AC. When I first connected them they worked fine for a couple of days. Now all 3 are showing “can’t detect device” and they do not respond. I probably could delete them and then try pairing again but was looking to see if anyone else was having issue with the zigbee side of the house particularly with these devices.
Check out this thread by Trackready, he reports some similar behavior with his GE Link Lights.
Mine have been pretty well behaved, but I only have 3 of them.
Actually I would expect issues from them, as at one point I did a factory reset on my Vera without resetting the bulbs. When I did the initial configuration for the Vera they re-paired with it automatically, I just had to rename them from the generic name they showed up with. But so far so good.
I’m giving up on these bulbs. Repaired all 3 again and they worked for about 2 hours. Once again “can’t detect device” and they don’t respond anymore. Back to Target they go.
The other thing that can cause issues for ZigBee is other 2.4Ghz devices like phones and WiFi. Try changing the channel on your router. If you want to look at the 2.4Ghz spectrum to see what channels are clear to use, there are a number of apps that will like you look at this on your phone or tablet.
Good advice, I didn’t realize this would/could cause an issue with zigbee devices. Looking at the 2.4Ghz spectrum around my house, my router only has channels 1,2 & 14 open. The other channels have wifi running all over them. I can change the router channel like you said but is there a channel zigbee likes best?? This way I can keep the router off it.
HI,
After reading this thread on Zigbee channel interference I found an excellent web site on the topic.
JohnRob
[quote=“JohnRob, post:8, topic:191570”]HI,
After reading this thread on Zigbee channel interference I found an excellent web site on the topic.
JohnRob[/quote]
JohnRob, very cool that you found this video it would be perfect! Except the Channalyzer and Wi-Spy combo is only $849. :o
But I did get this from the site: When deploying ZigBee and Wi-Fi networks in the same environment, channel planning for peaceful coexistence is key. Normally, we get three Wi-Fi channels to work with (utilizing 1, 6, and 11), but to make room for ZigBee, we may have give up channel 11.
dbackmore,
Your right, I saw the cost as well, but the background information / channel identification was very useful. I use a free android app “WiFi Analyzer” to see my local WiFi radios. It shows relative signal strength and channel of WiFi signals in the area.
In addition, I turned off the VeraPlus WiFi radio as I don’t need it at this time.
JohnRob
Had some time to play around with the channels of my Apple Airport Extereme router. I set router to channel 1 keeping channel 11 free for the ZigBee A19 light bulbs. Using a Wi-Fi detector I confirmed channel 11 was free from interference. Unfortunately I’m still not having any luck. After pairing the bulbs a few hours later I’m still getting the error “can’t detect device”. Guess I’ll stick with the zwave since it works for me.
Hi, I have 2 of these GE Link A19 bulbs and one stopped worked with my veraplus a few months ago and now the 2nd one just stopped being detected too. All I did when this occured was I added a new generic zwave device to my system.
I tried to restore an old backup but that didnt help. I know the bulbs work so what could be the issue?
Also, How do I reset or add it back in? I read that it is reset by 2 or 3 cycles of 3 sec on and 3 sec off. The bulb blinks to tell you it successfully reset. Then simply pair with the controller.
Is this true? Any other ideas?
Thanks
I have an GE A19 giving me trouble as well.
The sequence I use to reset the bulb is:
4 cycles of 3 sec on / 3 sec off
On the 4th cycle my bulb will dim partially then go on bright.
Currently I have only one bulb. It had been working with my VeraPlus for a month or two then decided not to accept commands.
Earlier today I was able to reset it but only partially pair it. It was detected, the bulb blinked a few times but in Vera it looked like an indicator (no on/off/dim control)
I used both the current 2138 firmware and the previous firmware, add device was from the Vera list for GE A19 light/dimmer.
I’m not sure they are worth the trouble.
JohnRob