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Orbi RBR40 w/ 2 sats. My z-wave hue lights are always going unresponsive please God someone help me!
I am offering $1k USD to anyone who can help me. To be certain that statement is a JK but if someone could actually help me I might actually do it lol. I am pretty tech savy and have been PLAGUED by this issue, out of the clear blue, for the last year or so.
I have an Orbi setup, with the router in basement, 1 sat first level and 1 sat second level. Additionally, I have (4) amazon echo plusses in my home basement, first and second levels. The echo plusses have built in z-wave bridges that control my 40 philips hue smart bulbs.
Things work perfectly say 90% of the time. However out of nowhere all certain lights become 'unresponsive' and don't work. When th is happens its always several, random lights that go down at once. I have tried everything to determine the cause but have been unsuccesful.
It may seem odd to post this here but you guys have always helped me with Orbi issues previously. The 'wireless tech' knowledge here is vast and I'm hoping for the best. Pleasehelp a guy who is ready to jump from second story window (this is 100% a JK and not even funny but this thing has been tremendously frustrating).
My wife is at Best Buy picking up a hue bridge as I type. I don't know if controlling the lights with this will help or not butI"m trying anything at this point.
Should I be using a certain wifi channel within Orbi? Hours of research have resulted in very little help... I sincerly thank any human being who can help a guy out.
13 Replies
ddigler wrote:My wife is at Best Buy picking up a hue bridge as I type. I don't know if controlling the lights with this will help or not butI"m trying anything at this point.
Was fascinated by the review by Craig Moore on the Amazon Echo Plus:
https://www.amazon.com/All-new-Echo-Plus-2nd-built/dp/B0794W1SKP?th=1
He mentions a difference between Zigbee and Z-Wave. and that the Phillips Hue lights do some things, but not other things unless there is a Phillips Hue hub.
My thought is that there appears to be no need to have more than a single Z-Wave hub because the individual devices 'mesh' with each other. Have no idea what happens if there are 4 hubs in a single house.
My guess is that Orbi has zero to do with the problem. All my lights being only one color (Daylight white) and at maximum brightness, I lack any competence with "Hue".
thank you for taking a minute Crimp!
Your thinking I should start by removing 2 of the 3 echo plus's so I have only one z-wave bridge?
Have read more, and remain ignorant.
- Both Amazon Echo Plus and Philips Hue use Zigbee, not Z-wave. So I was incorrect to even mention Z-wave.
- Zigbee uses 2.4GHz frequencies which cover exactly the same band as 2.4G WiFi. (Z-wave uses 900mhz.)
- It appears that some Zigbee hubs are "frequency agile". Found an article describing how the Samsung "Smart Things" Zigbee hub is configured with a Zigbee channel at the factory and cannot be changed.
- There are tons of articles on the web about interference between Zigbee and 2.4G WiFi.
- Most of the articles do not take into account that Netgear's Orbi system assigns the same 2.4G channel to all Orbi units. If the setting is "Channel 1", then they are all on channel 1.
- I have found nothing about Amazon Echo Plus Zigbee channel settings. Agile? Settable? No idea.
- What I can say is that the 2.4G default ("Auto") means that the Orbi periodically surveys the WiFi neighborhood and switches 2.4G channels. My guess is that this might wreak havoc with the Philips Hue bulbs.
- I also have no idea if the Amazon Echo Plus can be told to "turn off Zigbee" on some units but leave it on for other units.
It seems to me that the best advice will come from some combination of Amazon Echo techies and Philips Hue techies.
Maybe involving something like setting the Orbi 2.4G WiFi channel and the Zigbee channels where they cannot overlap and cannot change. (no "auto")
I really appreciate the input Crimp.
To me your theory is the most plausible as it explains clearly how I could intermittently lose 5-8 lights out of the clear blue and in the absence of any obvious cause. If my Orbi router, which is set to 'auto' channel selection for 2.4ghz wifi, decides to switch itself and the (2) sats, for whatever reason, understanding the documeted interference between zigbee and 2.4ghz wifi, this could explain the dropping lights.
On the Amazon Echo Plus support forum, a user nice enough to try to help me holds a different theory and subsequent thoughts regarding how to fix:
'No, zwave and zigbee are low power wireless mesh networks. It's very rare that wifi will interfere.
As I mentioned, you have a zigbee network and need to strengthen your zigbee mesh. If you strategically place zigbee smart plugs throughout your home, it will create a robust zigbee mesh network and your bulbs will stabilize.'
So, I've got a couple suggestions, but to me Crimp, yours sounds closer.
Figuring the i. Echo Plus can not deactivate its zigbee signal & ii.it does not allow one to change zigbee channel:
Should I start by forcing Orbi to a specific 2.4 wifi channel and see how it goes for awhile? What channel should I use for Orbi?
