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I've got multiple Hue White bulbs, multiple Dimmer switches and a second generation Hue hub. Sometimes, pressing a dimmer button doesn't result in the bulb reacting in any way. Sometimes I have to press multiple times to switch the light on or off. Sometimes I even have to use the hard switch to get what I need. All 5 dimmers in my house have already (<1 year) exhibited this behaviour at least a couple of times. Some are worse than others.

I think I've never seen my lights ignoring the Hue app.

I wonder what the reason could be and what troubleshooting I could do. All distances are very reasonable (max distance between 2 nearest bulbs is <5 m). Usually the system works. Sometimes the devices that fail in this way are actually those located the closest to the hub.

I would also like to know if the dimmer is actually connected to the bulb directly or via the hub.

texnic
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  • Is the advice on Reddit helpful in any way? – Aurora0001 Dec 10 '16 at 10:10
  • @Aurora0001, do you mean resetting the bridge or touching the current state button first? I will try the second option first, thanks for the link. – texnic Dec 10 '16 at 13:50
  • I would try both just to see if anything improves. – Aurora0001 Dec 10 '16 at 13:51
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    @Aurora0001, resetting the hub is going to take some time, as will need to reconfigure 7 bulbs and 5 switches. I'll try it second :) – texnic Dec 10 '16 at 13:52
  • Did you have any luck with resetting the bulbs? – Aurora0001 Dec 15 '16 at 17:06
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    I have this dimmer switch - http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/productdetail/philips-hue-dimmer-switch. They connect to bulbs only via the hub. I have had a few instances when it was not working. But in all such cases, my home router was the culprit. I guess the modem/router heats up due to continuous usage and requires reset every couple of months. – Janaaaa Dec 16 '16 at 09:14
  • @Aurora0001, I have not tried resetting yet. The bulbs have been behaving recently :) – texnic Dec 18 '16 at 23:10
  • @Ramnath, I have exactly the same dimmer and they do connect to the bulbs directly if you want it. But then off course you lose the power of "connected" stuff: no control via smartphone, no control of multiple bulbs by one dimmer... – texnic Dec 18 '16 at 23:12
  • @texnic: I didn't know that, thanks for the info. I found this article with more details which might help others - http://www.howtogeek.com/280576/you-can-use-philips-hue-bulbs-without-a-hub/ – Janaaaa Dec 19 '16 at 03:25

1 Answers1

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I have seen this behaviour when my hub was located next to my wireless router. One of the antenna sleeves on the router came off and disrupted communications to the hub from my lights & dimmer switches.

ZigBee and Wi-Fi frequencies overlap on certain channels (2.4 Ghz) so you could try to change the channel in the Hue app, if moving the hue hub further from the router isn't an option.

Helmar
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Ian Bennett
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