Nanoleaf Essentials GU10 (NL54U000) + Homey Pro (Matter/Thread) – Tips, Issues & What Finally Worked

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I bought the Nanoleaf GU10s because they’re recommended on the Homey buying guide and were 50% off on the Nanoleaf website (about £10 per light compared to my Philips Hue GU10s which were £40–£50).

Side note. They took ages to arrive, should have been 48 Hour delivery, in the end it was over 7 days.

My goal was:

  • Homey = automation hub for everything (Nanoleaf + Hue + others)

  • Apple Home = simple interface for family

  • Siri = voice control

  • Use Homey Flows and the Homey Groups app to combine multiple lights into a single “Kitchen Lights” button in Apple Home.

(Still not sure whether Groups or Zones is the better approach — Groups keeps the Homey UI cleaner).

:white_check_mark: Environment

  • Homey Pro 2023 – Matter 1.2

  • Nanoleaf Essentials GU10 (NL54U000) – Matter over Thread

    • Firmware 4.13 (Matter 1.2 supported)

  • All bulbs added directly to Homey via Matter

  • Nanoleaf app installed only for firmware + Thread diagnostics

:white_check_mark: 1. Firmware Updates First

I added all 14 bulbs to the Nanoleaf iOS app and updated from firmware 3.x → 4.13.

I confirmed:

  • Connection Type: Bluetooth or Thread (not Wi-Fi)

  • Latest firmware installed

  • Bulbs were responding

Worth doing first — several shipped on older firmware.

:white_check_mark: 2. Thread Stabilises Over Time (24 hours)

After adding the first few bulbs, they began acting as Thread routers.

However, during the first 24 hours:

  • Some showed Unreachable

  • Some fell back to Bluetooth

  • Some routed strangely

After about a day powered on, the network stabilised and everything became reliable.
I also renamed bulbs and put them into Rooms in the Nanoleaf iOS app — that seemed to help.

Thread view in Nanoleaf is extremely useful — would be great to have something similar in Homey.

:white_check_mark: 3. Pairing Requires Bluetooth First

Even though these are Thread bulbs, initial commissioning starts over Bluetooth, then moves to Thread once keys are exchanged.

If Bluetooth handshaking fails:

  • Homey times out

  • Or shows “Trying Wi-Fi setup…” and fails

For the first couple, I tried:

  • Moving Homey within ~1–2m of the bulb

  • Rebooting Homey

  • Rebooting iPhone

  • Bluetooth toggle on/off

Eventually pairing worked after factory resets and Homey reboots.
Deleting a bulb from the Nanoleaf iOS app wasn’t needed for the other bulbs.

I also tried both:

  • Adding via Homey → Matter

  • Adding via the Homey Nanoleaf app

Both seem to end up in the same Matter pairing flow.

:white_check_mark: 4. Factory Reset Was Required Before Homey Would Pair

Even though bulbs showed Thread connected in Nanoleaf iOS app, none would pair to Homey until reset.

Nanoleaf GU10 reset:

  1. Turn ON

  2. Toggle OFF/ON quickly 4–5 times

  3. On the 5th ON, bulb should flash Red twice and then stay on with normal white colour.

Once reset, pairing works within the 15-minute Matter window.

:white_check_mark: 5. Pair Only One Bulb Per Circuit at a Time

Several rooms had multiple GU10s on a single switch.

If more than one reset bulb was powered:

  • Homey saw multiple commissioning adverts

  • Pairing timed out

What worked:

  • Turn switch OFF

  • Remove all but one bulb on the circuit

  • Turn ON

  • Reset (on and off 5 times, red flash)

  • Pair in Homey (I used the camera scan for each bulbs QR code)

  • Remove bulb and add the next one

  • Repeat with only one bulb on the circuit at a time

This avoided pairing collisions I think.

:white_check_mark: 6. Rebooting Homey Helps

This ended up getting all bulbs into Homey.

After each room (or group of bulbs), I rebooted Homey:

  • Clears stale pairing attempts

  • Resets Bluetooth/Matter commissioning state

  • Rebuilds Thread routes

Without this, the bulbs were unreachable in the Homey app.

:white_check_mark: 7. After They’re Paired

  • Bluetooth no longer needed

  • Thread becomes stable as more bulbs join

  • Response time is instant

  • Homey didn’t need 24 hours to stabilise, unlike it did when they were in the Nanoleaf iOS app.

Bulbs still show up in the Nanoleaf iOS app, but you cannot control them from there.
If firmware updates are released later, I may need to add them back to Nanoleaf using Matter 1.2 multi-admin, but haven’t tested this yet.

:white_check_mark: Final Result

:white_check_mark: All 14 GU10s added to Homey
:white_check_mark: Running on Matter over Thread
:white_check_mark: No Wi-Fi
:white_check_mark: Stable after Thread mesh settled
:white_check_mark: Works perfectly with Homey flows and Apple Home / Siri

:white_check_mark: Short Version / TL;DR

  1. Update firmware in Nanoleaf app

  2. Give Thread 24 hours to stabilise

  3. Pair one bulb at a time per circuit

  4. Factory reset bulb, one at a time

  5. Keep Homey close for the first few (not sure if this helped)

  6. Reboot Homey between batches

Hope this helps someone. Happy to answer questions if anyone hits the same issues.

1 Like
2

First of all, welcome to the Homey Community!

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3

That’s a helpful post.

I have several circuits of multiple GU10s. There’s a problem when you need to replace just one of the bulbs. I have a bedside lamp that uses a GU10. I replace its bulb with the new one, set it up and then move it to its final position putting the original bulb back in the lamp. That’s a bit easier than removing all the bulbs in the circuit.

Hopefully a procedure you won’t need for a while!

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4

Yep, wish I had that option, would have made it a lot easier!

5

I have to say I am slightly dreading a Nanoleaf firmware update!