Hue bulb sometimes responds only via hue app, but not HomeKit

[Rkrug]

I have a strange problem: I have hue lamps and they are integrated in home kit. Sometimes, I can not access one hue bulb when switching off via HomeKit. Even trying several times does not work.

But:

When I trey the hue app, it works immediately.

I thought, that HomeKit tells the hue bridge to switch off the lights - so why does one hue bulb sometimes not response when switching it off via HomeKit, but works via hue?

[tjluoma]

Same thing happens with my Eufy cameras.

The Eufy app works 100% of the time. HomeKit works 80% of the time.

[stu_w]

Same here, Siri will tell me that a light isn’t responding, I use the Hue app and it works fine, immediately retry with Siri and still no go… sometime later Siri will work just fine with the same device as if there was never a problem.

I don’t know if the bug is on Hue’s side, Siri’s side or what, just wish it would get sorted out cause it’s flipping annoying.

[Rkrug]

At least I am not alone…

One thing I realized which usually helps, is to change the zugebet channel in the Hue App > Settings > Hue Bridges > „The i“

This helps for some time, after that I have to change it again and it works again.

[Rkrug]

Just an update: I bought another iPod mini (number 4) and put it in a room adjacent to the hue bulbs which did not respond from time to time, and since then ( 3 days) I have had no non reacting bulbs and I have the feeling the whole system responds faster.

[tjluoma]

Are you using an iPad as your HomeKit hub?

[tjluoma]

@anon20961960

I read the solution is to delete it and re-add it, but this bulb is in a lot of scenes, so I have been putting it off.

I wonder if the bulb thinks it is losing power (electricity), and then thinks it has been restored?

If that’s the case, it might be “solved” by setting the bulb not to turn itself off after a power outage. I did this with the bulbs in the bedroom after we had a power ‘flicker’ and all the bedroom lights turned themselves on in the middle of the night. My wife, a very light sleeper, was not pleased to wake up in a fully illuminated room.

@anon20961960

In other news, if you are moving a table over a little bit and it has a lamp with a Hue bulb on it, move the lamp to the floor first. A nice $50 mistake I made yesterday.

I’ll tell a story on myself that may make you feel a little better.

Sometime last year during “Stay At Home”, I had ordered replacement cleaning fluid for my electric razor from Amazon. I had thought that I had another one (I usually order more when I take the last one out of the closet, but had clearly failed to to so) so by the time I realized that I didn’t have one, I already needed one. Due to Covid, UPS deliveries were severely delayed. Instead of 2-3 days it was like 2 weeks. It was supposed to be delivered on a Friday, and I very much felt the need to have it by the time it was supposed to arrive. (I’d been trying to clean the razor manually, but it still reported itself as being in severe need of a “real” cleaning.)

The day it was supposed to arrive, some shipping delay happened, and I realized that Friday morning it was not going to arrive until Monday.

I just sort of reached my tipping point. (Some might say “snapped”.)

I went online searched all of the area stores (which were only open for ‘curb side pickup’) and while most of them listed it as “in stock” what they meant was “We can mail it to you.”

I finally found that they had what I needed at the local “Bed, Bath, and Beyond”. It was about 3:00 p.m. and they were open until 5:00 p.m. I placed the order, hoping that they really did have it in stock for actual pickup.

About 20 minutes later I received a confirmation that the order was received and ready for pickup.

As I was backing out of the garage, I hit the door frame with the passenger-side mirror.

I had backed out of the garage hundreds of times before, but I had forgotten that I was a little further over because there was something in the garage I was trying to edge a little away from when I had pulled in.

When I pulled up to “Bed, Bath, and Beyond” an employee brought out my purchase and said, “Oh, man… what happened to your mirror?” which was dangling next to the open window he was using to put the bag into the car.

At the time, avoiding manslaughter charges seemed like a minor miracle.

Replacing the side mirror cost somewhere around $750.

[Rkrug]

No - I have an Apple TV4k (the one with the old remote)

[tjluoma]

@anon20961960

That should be easy enough to test, but for starters, I plugged into a different plug.

If you decide you want to change the setting for the bulb so that it does not turn on when power is restored (or it thinks power is restored)… you’ll need to use the Hue app.

Choose Settings (bottom right) and choose “Power-On Behavior” and you can tell it what to do when power is restored after being lost.

[Rkrug]

Follow up: can confirm the better response times an much less non-responding hue bulbs.