Every day Homey Pro 2023 looses connection for about 5 times

Questions & Help
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A few months ago my Homey Pro 2023 lost connection a really lot of times each day. Or at least the famous message appeared: “Homey has lost its connection”. Without any clear cause. It was connected by wifi at that time.

So, I changed the wifi to a LAN connection. I also gave the Homey a fixed IP-adres in my router. Worked for a few weeks without any problem. Problem solved, I thought. I use a Belkin network connection, not the Homey one. In this forum the Belkin has been advised before. Athom also mentions that other adapters can be used, instead of their own one. It gives data and power, just like the Athom one.

But then, all of sudden, the well known messages appears again: Homey Pro seems to be off line.
I can’t enter the mobile app. In the router the Homey is greyed out, so it really has no connection. WHY??? is
As I don’t use the official Athom adapter reactions about connecting the Athom adapter in the right way are useless.

It’s not clear to me whether the flows that have to start automatically still work. I don’t think they do. Flows that have to react after pressing a key on a device f.e. don’t work. Homey doesn’t react to any signal. Rebooting the Homey doesn’t make any sense. Changing the power adapter or changing the USB cable also, I did all those tricks.
Nothing changed in my network before I get the message, on my router, so no clear cause for all of this.

After a while the message appears that Homey is online again, out of the blue. Takes some time before the app works smooth, but finally I can enter it. I don’t do anything, after a while it starts working out of its own.

I want to get rid of this, but how?? My wife doesn’t trust the Homey anymore. Me neither, but I have my workarounds.
Similar postings appear regularly on this forum, but to my opinion a clear cause can’t be found.
Anyone any suggestions I can look for?

Homey 2023, firmware 12.10 (also the new one 12.13.0 rc.6 has the same behavior), app 9.8.

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Sorry, too lazy (not sufficient time) to read such a long question/concern, but here you go with AI insights (as nobody else tried to help, you may see if this helps or not)

1. USB-Ethernet adapter power instability :high_voltage:

Your setup uses a Belkin USB-C Ethernet adapter providing both power and LAN. That architecture is known to cause intermittent dropouts on Homey.

Mechanism:

  • Homey Pro requires stable 5 V / ~3 A.
  • Many USB-C Ethernet hubs negotiate power using USB-C PD or passthrough.
  • If the hub briefly renegotiates power or voltage dips, Homey:
    • does not reboot
    • but Ethernet controller resets
    • router sees the device disappear.

Typical pattern:

  • device greyed out in router
  • returns automatically later
  • no manual reboot required

Why it worked for weeks:

  • PD renegotiation or thermal behavior can appear random after longer uptime.

Diagnostic test

  1. Disconnect the Belkin adapter completely.
  2. Power Homey with the original Athom PSU.
  3. Use Wi-Fi only for 24–48 h.

If the issue disappears → the adapter is the cause.

2. Router DHCP / ARP table aging :satellite_antenna:

Even with a static IP configured in the router, some routers still perform:

  • DHCP lease refresh
  • ARP cache cleanup
  • MAC learning table aging

If the Homey interface temporarily stops answering ARP, the router marks it inactive (grey).

Check in router logs:

  • ARP timeout
  • MAC moved
  • DHCP decline
  • link down

This is less common but possible.

3. Network switch or cable issue :electric_plug:

Because the router shows the device greyed out, also verify:

  • Ethernet cable quality
  • switch port power saving
  • EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet)

Disable on the switch if possible:

Green Ethernet
EEE
Energy saving port

These sometimes break low-power devices.

4. Known Homey cloud connectivity behaviour :cloud:

Important distinction:

  • Homey lost connection (cloud)
  • Homey lost LAN connectivity

Your case is LAN loss, because the router shows it offline.

That excludes:

  • Athom cloud outages
  • firmware bugs in flows
  • mobile app problems

Most likely cause (based on your symptoms)

[Inference] The Belkin USB-C Ethernet adapter power passthrough is unstable.

This is currently the most common root cause reported by Homey Pro 2023 users.

Observed pattern in many setups:

Setup Stability
Wi-Fi only stable
Athom Ethernet adapter stable
3rd-party USB-C hub (Belkin, Anker, etc.) intermittent dropouts

Recommended fix hierarchy

:one: Use Athom Ethernet adapter

Homey Pro Ethernet Adapter

It contains:

  • fixed 5 V regulator
  • tested chipset
  • no PD renegotiation.

:two: If staying with Belkin

Use separate power:

Homey PSU → Homey
Belkin USB-C Ethernet → data only

(not power passthrough)

:three: Check router logs for

link down
ARP timeout
DHCP lease conflict

:four: Test with Wi-Fi only for 48 h

If stable → LAN hardware is confirmed root cause.

Additional technical test

Run a continuous ping from another machine:

ping -t

When the issue occurs check:

  • does ping stop?
  • does MAC disappear from ARP table?

Example:

arp -a | find “homey-ip”

One more thing worth checking

Some Belkin hubs use Realtek RTL8153 Ethernet chipset.

Certain firmware versions cause link drops after long uptime.

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Btw, re

Not sure if this is right, I think it requires 5.2 V / 2.1 A (AI, you are wrong!!!). Please take a look here for more insights - [Info] USB Power Supplies and cables (for Homey Pro Early 2023)

update so, sorry, it’s indeed 5.2V / 3 Amps, after reading that old article :wink:

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When I first started with Homey, I had issues with getting a stable wired LAN connection. Even after Homey sent me a new LAN adapter the problem persisted. For me, the problem was finally resolved by replacing the USB cable between the LAN adapted and Homey.

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Yep, also quite often a problem and it’s worth trying to replace it, as it’s minimal costs solution.

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@Sharkys , thanks for your extensive reaction, although you didn’t want to read my long story. I think the long story describes my situations best. Try to be more compact next time :smirking_face:.

Smart idea to pit my story through AI. I thought the Belkin adapter showed no problem in the past (the beginning of the HP2023. Maybe problems arose later on. The Homey ethernet adapter also combines power and data, doesn’t it? But it has special hardware to deal with it, I read later. Most easy solution is to change ethernet adapter.

I started using an ethernet adapter as the wifi showed those messages a really lot times a day. Almost continuously. Don’t want to try that one.

Will test your other solutions bit by bit. Hope my dear HP2023 will work as it has to.

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Not sure about that. It is about the CM4 modules in the HP2026, they use more stable power delivery circuits. The HP2023 doesn’t use them, so Athom delivered power adapters with a higher voltage 5.2V and 2.1A. Difficult to find them. If I use an adapter with an even higher voltage and higher amperage, does it harm the Homey, or does the Homey only uses what it needs?

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More amps is no problem, but I would never use an adapter which outputs more than 5.2VDC without consulting Athom.

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Sure, it’s akways best to provide all relevant information, don’t get me wrong

Ethernet cable first, USB-C second

More amps it’s okay, more voltage definitely not … but frankly I doubt that’s your issue. Check Undevoltage info on developer interface. - https://tools.developer.homey.app/

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What do you mean with separate power? Homey Pro 2023 only has one USB connection, for power as well as data. So, I should by a USB splitter, one separate connection for power and one sealant connection for data. Do you mean this?

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No, sorry, simply just try another power source, keep it connected as it should. I would not suggest any non-standard experiment, ignore this tip…

Btw, does your Homey lose the connection also if you keep enabled Wifi together with Ethernet ? Just after loosing the connection, what’s the Homey’s uptime actually ?

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Hello,

I had the same problem. It started happening more and more often and became quite irritating. My Homey is connected to the router via Wi-Fi.

What solved it for me was changing the DNS settings on my router. In Internet Settings I set:

Primary DNS: 1.1.1.1
Secondary DNS: 8.8.8.8

Then I saved the settings and restarted the router.

DNS servers provided by ISPs on fiber connections often cause small intermittent “hiccups,” which can interrupt the connection to the cloud.

After changing the DNS, the problem disappeared and I haven’t had the issue since.

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I bought the original Athom combined network and power connector and started using it with a replacement original Athom adapter. I noticed no change. Contrary, I got the messages more often.
Changed the power adapter to another one and till now no message. That’s quite normal, I get them during the day and in the evening.

I didn’t know wifi and ethernet can be enabled at the same time. I read that changing wifi to ethernet can be done by resetting the Homey and chosing for the existing Homey. That change was successful. But wifi isn’t enabled anymore, though? How can I enable wifi when ethernet is connected?

When I get the known message my Homey can’t be reached. What exactly do you mean with your question about the uptime?

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Will have a look into it, thanks.

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It can, it just increases the temperature of Homey a litte. You will NOT need to reset it, just follow the Setup process, connect to Wifi and go to the Homey. It will be connected via Wifi in parallel to Ethernet. For tests I think it’s recommended.

https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/articles/9800112975900-Changing-the-Wi-Fi-network-of-Homey-Pro

Also please install sysinternals app and add devices it offers you and track the data before and after your Homey got disconnected.

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Thanks for the link. I used the wrong word, meant the Setup process. You then get a message about an existing Homey etc.
Hopefully the wifi connection will stay up during the period between the down and up messages.

So both types of connection (wifi and ethernet) can work at the same time? Ethernet has priority? When ethernet goes down, wifi takes over the connection?

Using sysinternals I can see whether the Homey still uses data when it is disconnected. So, is the Homey really disconnected and doesn’t it work anymore, or is just the app disconnected and does the Homey keep working. Interesting. Had the app already installed bit didn’t come to my mind to use it in this case.

Will keep you informed.

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I’ve enabled local login, and I can use either connection to use the web app.
Just enter either IP in a webbrowser to find out.

(I was under the impression wifi would act as failover, apparently it’s not the case for the local web app)

18

So strange.

I moved the Homey to another place, and hung it on another switch. With that one no problems at all.

I thought everything was going well. Till know. Homey looses connection. And the most strange part: Homey isn’t visible at all in the connected devices on my router. That happened at the other place in my home as well, thought it might be something specific of that spot.

Some flows keep working, f.e. a Zigbee device with 8 buttons, each controlled by a flows. Keeps doing what it has to do. Other ones don’t. Tell me why, I don’t understand.

I’ll restart the router, maybe that helps.

Anything I can check at sysinternals, when the Homey is reachable?

EDIT: powered again with the original Athom adapter. And again…. Homey has lost its connection

19

How you are actually testing connectivity and how you are checking in the router ? And since I suggested running both Wifi and Ethernet, which of them are loosing connections ? How you are actually or how Homey re-establish the connection ?

Zigbee/ZWAVE/Bluetooth etc. don’t require wifi - it’s also indication that your Homey still is running

So you added which devices as part of Sysinternals, Wifi, LAN and Homey, Alarms Homey Pro (Early 2023), right ? So you can check Insights / temperature / lan / wifi connectivity activity, IP changes if any occuered etc.

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In my Homey I switched on the offline warning switch. So I get a pushup warning from the Homey iPhone app stating “Homey Pro has lost its connectivity” with a red dot at the beginning. My Homey app on the iPhone can’t reach the Homey anymore, time out messages.

As Homey has connection, I see it listed in my router with a cable, so it has an ethernet connection. After loosing the connection, I don’t see Homey listed anymore in the connected devices in my router at all. Neither cable nor wifi.
After waiting for over an hour I can’t do anything but restarting the Homey by taking out the plug and putting it back in.

That’s what I thought to. But why is one Zwave device functioning and the other one isn’t?
And flows that start at occasions lying outside of the Homey (sunset or so), don’t start. They start Zigbee, wifi and Zwave devices. So if Homey is working as it should be???

As you adviced to use everything possible at sysinternals, I made devices for Homey, ethernet, wifi, alarms (not for weather prediction :thinking:). As far as I can see, sysinternals only saves data as long as the Homey is running. I restarted my Homey, so data is only available since the Homey is running. Or can I look back in time somewhere?

Yesterday was the first day in a long time my Homey kept on running as it should be (knock knock).