I’m hoping someone here might have an idea about an issue I’m experiencing with my lighting setup.
My setup
Homey Pro (Early 2023)
Several IKEA smart bulbs
Connected directly to Homey
Bulbs I’m using
IKEA KAJPLATS GU10 – Matter over Thread – 575 lumen
IKEA KAJPLATS E27 – Matter over Thread – 1521 lumen
IKEA KAJPLATS E27 – Matter over Thread – 806 lumen
Older IKEA TRÅDFRI GU10 bulbs – connected via Zigbee
The problem
When I turn on a group of lights, they don’t turn on simultaneously. Instead they turn on one after another with a clear delay — almost like a domino effect.
I’ve attached a video showing what I mean.
What I expected
Previously I used the old IKEA TRÅDFRI hub and everything worked perfectly. When turning on a room or group, all spots would turn on at exactly the same time.
What I have tried
Using the old IKEA hub (TRÅDFRI)
Worked perfectly before switching.
Using IKEA DIRIGERA hub + Homey integration
I added all bulbs to DIRIGERA.
Then connected DIRIGERA to Homey using the Homey IKEA integration.
Devices showed up correctly in Homey.
But the lights still turned on sequentially.
Connecting everything directly to Homey
KAJPLATS bulbs via Matter over Thread
Old TRÅDFRI bulbs via Zigbee
Same result: sequential activation / domino effect.
Additional info
The bulbs are placed in groups/rooms in Homey.
The behaviour happens when toggling the group.
It’s especially noticeable with multiple spots in the same room.
Question
Is this a limitation with:
Matter over Thread in Homey?
The way Homey sends commands to grouped devices?
Mixing Zigbee and Matter lights?
Something related to Thread network performance?
Or is there a way to make lights switch truly simultaneously, similar to how Zigbee groupcasting works on the IKEA Trådfri Hub?
Any suggestions or things I could test would be greatly appreciated.
This is because even though part of the spec, there currently to my knowledge is no Matter Controller/Bridge that actually supports creating groups (not even Home Assistant). But many Zigbee Controllers (including I assume the Tradfri hub) support actually grouping devices. The difference is that you can control all devices in a group by sending only one command via the mesh network vs sending one command per device. All groups on Homey are just “virtual” groups, which can only control devices individually but show them to you as a single devices. So you can probably imagine why it behaves this way. I’m not ruling out that Homey might be adding a bit more delay then it should due to some hardware or software limitations, but I personally don’t have anything to compare it against.
Also the same if I have a room named “entrance” with 8 GU10 bulbs, and just toggling the room “turn of all lights”. No matter if they are in a group or individuals it does it as “domino effect”..
As mentioned in the post, I bought the Dirigera Hub and first added them all directly to that. I also added a Bilresa Scroll Wheel device to test.
I have 15 GU10 bulbs in my kitchen.
If I press “turn all lights on” in the room (In the IKEA app), it turns them all on, but as domino effect.
If I connect the Bilresa to that room, and press “on/off” on that buttom, ALL 15 bulbs works perfectly and as one-group. All turns both on, off and dimm at the exact same time. And this is also Matter-based.
Homey has never been able to control more than about 2 devices reliably. Either you have to add delays (which appears that Athom has done as well), or you’ll end up with random lights/devices not switching at all. Added to that, even though many people have been asking for it for many years, Homey doesn’t support Zigbee groups.
How would you set it up if you had 15 GU10 spotlights in your kitchen ceiling and wanted them all to match—turn on/off together and dim together every time?
Would the correct approach be to add them to the Dirigera hub, create a group there, and then add that room to Homey through the IKEA Dirigera app?
If so, I’m a bit concerned that this might interfere with the Matter/Thread network, as I’ve experienced that happening before..
To my knowledge Ikea still uses Touchlink for directly controlling their new bulbs from their remotes. So they might also utilize it for controlling groups (via their own bridge and/or remotes). But regular Matter controllers don’t have the same possibilities as it’s not part of the standard.
Not sure about your full setup, but if it really becomes to annoying you can switch your bulbs into Zigbee mode and connect them via zigbee2mqtt (or some other bridge that supports it) to create proper Zigbee groups. I’m actually in the same boat as you with 9 Hue Essential spots in my kitchen and I keep putting it off because I’m too lazy to get the ladder and do the whole pairing process, etc. but probably the only thing you can currently do for simultaneous control.
I totally get you .. It’s a nightmare.. I have 50+ in total, so it’s a huge and time consuming task …
To pair them as Zigbee, it is just turning them on and off 6 times as normal by resetting them, and then search for Zigbee devices instead of Matter, or would I have to do something for each bulb?
You can use the Hue bridge for those, AFAIK it supports “true” grouping and you can control those rooms from Flow cards (make sure to pick the app Flow card, not the device-specific Flow cards). I have many Hue GU10 in one fixture and they are controlled all at once with the Hue bridge.
