I have a Homey Pro 2023 and had some extra time to update a light switch today. Previously, I had an Insteon switch and using an extensive workaround, I was able to get it into Homey and used it in a Flow that turned on two bedside lamps via Third Reality Wall plugs. The problem is that it would take a second or two to work, due to the fact that it was going through Hoobs, then Homekit, then a virtual device, then the Flow.
So today, I decided to put a native Zigbee switch in, to shorten the delay. Unfortunately, after about 4-5 hours of troubleshooting, I am now stuck with a 5 second delay. Let me explain what I have tried:
-
I installed a Jasco On/Off switch as a generic Zigbee device (there is no native or community driver). I created a flow that turned the lamps on when the switches turn on, and another flow to turn the lamps off when the switches turned off (as it turns out this actual physical switch turns off/on an outlet that I don’t use, so I have plugged a nightlight into it, to monitor the actual physical on/off status). What immediately became apparent is that it took 45 seconds for the lamps to turn on or off. Very strange. I deleted and re-added the switch to the Zigbee network but no change (I did this a few times and also tried the repair feature). I let the whole network repair itself by unplugging Homey Pro 2023 for 30 minutes. Still not solved. Then I noticed that the actual on-off status was not changing in the Homey App on my iPhone for 45 seconds. I figured there might be something wrong with the switch.
-
I tried an Inovelli Blue switch. Same thing, 45 seconds for both the app icon status to change and for the lamps to turn off. In both cases, the night light was turning on and off instantly, which rules out a physical switch problem (BTW, I know I’m not supposed to connect an Inovelli switch to an outlet, but this is for testing).
-
The Inovelli tracks power usage as well. I noticed that even though the on-off status was not changing on the app icon, the wattage meter was changing in about 5 seconds. So I recreated my flow, to turn the lamps on when the wattage is >0 and now it is working with a 5 second lag. Unfortunately, after all this troubleshooting, my lag is even greater than it was with my Insteon->Hoobs->Homekit->Virtual device situation. But what is interesting is that the wattage is updating in 5 seconds but on-off status reliably takes about 45 seconds. BTW, if I control the switch from the Homey Pro app on my phone, everything is instantaneous; the light switch and lamps turn on very quickly. So there is something about the on-off state of the switch not updating within Homey in a timely fashion, which unfortunately makes it useless as a controller. BTW, I have 3 Aquara wireless mini switches in Homey Pro and their On-off status changes almost instantly.
-
I have one other Inovelli switch connected in the house and confirmed that the Homey App icon status takes about 45 seconds to change. This switch is also INSTANTLY controllable via the Homey App on my iPhone. No lag
-
I also have a Leviton Zigbee dimmer connected. Again, using the app I can turn that light off/on instantly. However, when I turn it off/on via the switch itself, the app icon status DID NOT update. I waited for a couple minutes and it never updated.
BTW, all three switches had to be added via the generic zigbee driver.
I think there is something wrong with the generic zigbee driver that is not updating the switch status quickly. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Zigbee light switches that are natively supported, but I am assuming this is the issue. It is just that on/off status seems so basic. It is weird that I will get the wattage change MUCH more quickly. That, plus being instantly controllable via the app, also tells me that the Zigbee network is strong and that it is not a network issue (this switch is only about 15 feet away from the Homey Pro 2023 hub so it’s not that).
Does anyone have any suggestions? Can anyone confirm this is an issue? I have been searching everywhere on the web and forum for solutions and I can’t find anything.
BTW, I am in the United States and I want to stay with Zigbee if possible. I only have 15 devices on my Zigbee network.
My next step is to try to find a natively supported light switch and see if the Homey Drivers update the on/off status in a timely manner.
UPDATE: I just got home from work and the lamps and ON status happened instantly when I turned the physical switch on. However, when I go to turn the physical switch off right after I turn it on, the lag occurs. And if I then go to turn it back on again (within 10-15 seconds, the lag occurs again). I had noticed this before but I forgot to mention it above. So if nothing has been happening for a while, it responds quickly
