I have set up a flow to turn my hue light outside on and off. The hue hub and the Homey Pro 2023 sit almost next to each other. The distance from the hue hub and Homey to the hue light bulb is approximately 15 meters.
When using the Homey flow the hue light bulb often does not respond and therefore this is not a reliable flow.
When using an automation with hue then there never is a problem.
Is there a difference in signal strength between the hue hub and the Homey Pro 2023?
Or is there another reason for this?
Does the HomeyPro talk to the lightbulb directly, or does the request go through the Hue Bridge?
Afaik they use different Zigbee networks on different Zigbee channels.
Interesting question.
But how do I know?
In the flow I can only select devices like light bulbs, etc. I do not have the option to select the hub.
See screenshot from the flow that want to use.
When you remove the power plug from the Hue Bridge, I bet nothing will happen when you test the flow . As far as I know the Homey doesn’t communicate directly with Hue bulbs. So this problem has nothing to do with HomeyPro’s Zigbee antenna or its range.
Although there is an app (I haven’t tried it myself) where you can use the Homey without a Hue Bridge. In that case I guess the Homey communicates directly with the Hue bulbs. Philips Hue, without the bridge App voor Homey | Homey
I suspect in that case all the Hue bulbs need to be transferred to Homey’s Zigbee network and you probably can’t use them with the Hue smartphone app anymore, I’m not sure. With a Hue Bridge they are on the Hue Zigbee network.
When you go to Homey Developer Tools you can see the devices on the Homey Zigbee network. I have many Hue bulbs with a Hue Bridge, and none of them appear in the Homey Zigbee network. It’s all separate.
So your problem must be something else. Maybe first restart the Homey Hue app? Maybe the flow in the Homey doesn’t get triggered properly? Test it by adding phone notifications to steps in the flow. See what notifications you do and which you don’t receive (add a ‘Time’ tag in the notification to see the time the notification was sent). Or create/set variables when a card in a flow runs. Maybe there’s a more direct way (check the log of devices?), but I’m pretty new to this myself and I still use tons of phone notifications to get an understanding of what/when things happen. As far as I know the Homey doesn’t have a very detailed ‘activity log’ that for example I think Home Assistant has.
(Oh, and I think the Hue Bridge isn’t a ‘device’ to Homey. You can’t control it or use it in flows. I think Homey communicates with it via wifi/lan.)
Thank you for your very comprehensive answer.
Looks like there is some other issue.
Maybe the rangen from hue hub to light bulb is too big. When using purely the automation from the hue app (flows in homey are disabled) the connection appears unstable. Sometimes the light does go on and off based on the automation and some time just on and not off or the other way around.
I will see if there is an option for me to move the hub closer to the light bulb. If not possible then I have to look for another solution.
. As far as I know the Homey doesn’t communicate directly with Hue bulbs. So this problem has nothing to do with HomeyPro’s Zigbee antenna or its range.
