Hue motion sensor not coming online after battery replacement

I have a Hue motion sensor that ran out of battery a month ago. After a battery replacement yesterday it is not coming online.

How can I get the device to connect without having to remove it and re-add it (which of course will break all the flows)!?

Thanks

Just re-add it without removing it prior to that.

The zone activity systen is just there for cases like this.
No flow will break when you happen to remove and add sensors. And you can replace your sensor with an (completely) other one without needing to fix the flows.

Thanks Peter. Re-adding does not help, the device does not come back to life in the app.

Any other tricks I could try before removing and adding the device back?

Good point regarding the zone system though, maybe I should convert my flows to use zones. I’d need to set the window sensors to not be excluded from the zones.

Have you tried to repair the sensor (long press on the device tile → wheel → maintenance)?
You must wake up the sensor during the repair process.
You can also try to do the repair process near the Homey.

@Peter_Kawa, interesting how you come from the problem of an empty battery to zone activity. Should he now buy a new sensor every time the battery is empty? The main thing is that the flow doesn’t have to be changed? :joy:
(Just kidding)

Btw, there is a script available to repair all the advanced flows if a device must be deleted and re-added:

[HOW-TO][Pro][Cloud] - Tool to FIX (advanced) flows after removing and re-adding devices

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Thanks Dirk, I can’t find “Maintenance” anywhere on the device screen even if clicking the wheel :thinking:

Is there an option for this I have not enabled somewhere?

Yeah it just was an advice to avoid flow fixing every next time there’s a sensor problem :partying_face:

Martijn’s ‘flow fix’ script is very neat of course, but I was more thinking in a way to prevent things from breaking down, than having to fix things

With what protocol is this device connected to Homey? Using Hue bridge or directly?
And what have you tried already?

Hi Dijker,

It is connecting over the zigbee protocol.

I have tried

  • Removing the battery and replacing it
  • Restarted the “Hue without the bridge” app
  • Added the device again (as suggested above) without removing it first - short press on the device’s reset button
  • Added the device again without removing it first - long press on the reset button

Also looked for “Maintenance” in the app…

All to no avail.

Trying my luck here as this has to be a common issue…?

Edit: I have the “Early 2019” edition.

Sorry, but I need a more detailed picture.

What does that mean exactly: Short press and long press the button?

This is what should be the procedure

  1. add a new device
  2. select Hue w/o bridge app
  3. select the right Hue motion sensor
  4. follow zigbee instructions
  5. hit “Add”, “Connect” or whatever it’s called, and push the sensor’s pair button (or reset buttton as you call it) shortly every other second, repeatedly,
    until a popup appeared “device is already added”
  6. hit ‘OK’ and restart the Hue w/o bridge app
  7. sensor should now be online again
  8. when this doesn’t work, grab another battery, make sure it’s fresh and brand new, and start at 1.) again
  9. and / or put the sensor very close, a cm, to Homey and start at 1.) again

This is an alternative way, not needed when you perform the “Add new device” instructions above.

But, to explain about why you can’t find it in the app anyways, it’s not in the app, but it’s the sensor’s device tile as Dirk explained

There you’ll find a “Try to repair” button.
But then you’d have to push the actual sensor’s pair button as well.
(while battery operated devices are in “sleep mode” when not busy. In that state, Homey’s zigbee pair system can’t reach them).

I hope this gets you a bit further, Christian.

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Hi Peter, this is what did the trick!

I have re-added the device numerous times and also restarted the app, but this time it has actually worked.

Thanks for the detailed explanation :ok_hand:

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Cool! Thanx for the heads up!