Xiaomi/Yeelight WiFi bulbs off-line

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Xiaomi/Yeelight WiFi bulbs off-line - advice please!

jonathan18

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#265701 5-Feb-2020 20:09

I've been having increasing problems with our Xiaomi and Yeelight LED WiFi bulbs going off-line over the last few weeks. It got so bad I tried reserving their IP addresses in the router (and renamed them so to be able to easily identify them) to see if that would help. This munted it even more, resulting in all of them going off-line.

I've since reset the router and set it up again (without reserving addresses), but the problem remains. I've tried resetting the bulbs (both before and after resetting the router) but that doesn't fix it - they will show for a few minutes before dropping off.

The bulbs show as offline in both the Mi Home and Yeelight apps, and aren't controllable via GA, but still show up in the router's table of currently connected devices.

Other brands of WiFi bulbs work fine, as do all the other GA-enabled devices around the house.

Can anyone offer me any ideas as to what may have caused this, and what I could do to sort it out (or what I could do to diagnose the problem)?

Router is a Fritzbox 7490, which as I mentioned has been fully reset but this hasn't achieved anything.

APs are 2x Grandstream 7610 - could these be causing the problem, so would it be worth resetting them?

ISP is 2Degrees - would the move to CGNAT cause any issues? (he says, fully acknowledging his ignorance!)

Thanks for any advice and ideas!

richms

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#2413355 5-Feb-2020 22:29

I barely use mine, but they ahve been getting controlled by the mi gateway from the motion sensor just fine all last week and at least monday night.

Are you on a China or somewhere else server? Im on China so that my gateway works. I never control by the phone.

Richard rich.ms

jonathan18

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#2413366 5-Feb-2020 22:46

Thanks for the reply. I can’t recall what server I used, and unfortunately all it shows in the app settings is country and language (NZ and English respectively). What I’ve read of changing servers requires clearing the cache, uninstalling and reinstalling the app etc. (If I go to change county it even states current devices will remain on their current server.)

Do you think that’s worth a go to check it’s server-related?

i was also thinking of turning on the Fritzbox’s WiFi and connecting via that, as at least that would rule the APs in or out. Equally, thought about installing a bulb in someone else’s house, which would help determine whether the router is playing a part. Do those ideas make sense?

michaelmurfy

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#2413370 5-Feb-2020 23:00

I've got some Yeelight bulbs in my "Mancave" since they were cheap - they've been showing up as offline in the Mi Home app also lately and need a reboot to resolve. IMO that app is super buggy.

I use local control along with my Hubitat and find it works fine there - just cloud communication dies. Do you use some other home automation package you can pair them up with locally?

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jonathan18

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#2413426 6-Feb-2020 08:29

Yeah, that's how the problem first started - frequent re-boots to get them to reconnect; now they fall off after a few minutes of rebooting or resetting!

Sadly no other home automation hub to try; I rely on direct wifi connections and control of them all via GA-based products (Home Minis, a Home Hub, phones). There are a decent number of bulbs attached this way (12 Mi/Yeelight and 4 others), and while not ideal they've been pretty stable up until the last few weeks.

zyo

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#2413454 6-Feb-2020 10:02

I use yeelight bedside lamp I imported from China, everything seems to be fine. I added them in the MiHome app then linked it through Google Assistant.

jonathan18

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#2413568 6-Feb-2020 11:21

Yep, we've had the bulbs for many months, and they've worked fine; as mentioned, it's only become a problem over the last few weeks. Our bulbs are a mixture of PB TEch/Mi Store-sourced Mi bulbs and the more modern Yeelight bulbs from AliExpress. All are affected, in both their native apps and (logically) in their connection through to GA/GH.

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richms

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#2413571 6-Feb-2020 11:24

If its connected to google home, you are not on the china server since that doesnt seem to work with google. Well it didnt when I tried to connect mine to google and alexa. I have to be on China since the mi zigbee gateway only works there, and I use it for many things other than the lights. I have mine powered down from a smart switch that is on alexa and google, and only change the lights brightness on motion from the gateway. I would probably never know if they are losing connection to the cloud since I think the gateway to lamp control is done locally.

Richard rich.ms

jonathan18

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#2413635 6-Feb-2020 12:20

So it's not the APs causing any issues as the lights drop off when connected to a new WiFi network I established on the router. Will try a bulb at someone else's house to also rule out the router.

Should I try an alternative server, and if so which one (noting the comments re China server potentially not working)? Our Roborock vacuum cleaner is still visible and controllable on the Mi Home app, and I'd have assumed that was using the same server as the bulbs? (Can't see any ability to select the server specifically for the cleaner.)

Also, are there options (ideally affordable and relatively easy to set up and manage) to control the lights via a hub, eg the Mi gateway you have? I'd be ok spending some money and time to do this if it provides more stability than the current setup.

Thanks again for the responses.

richms

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#2413651 6-Feb-2020 13:04

Mi gateway is pretty lousy, it has some developer mode I have not explored that will allow it to talk MQTT to things that others have used successfully to get details of its zigbee devices, but I do not know if it exposes the connected wifi lights or not.

I have it set up to light up blue and play the zelda treasure chest sound when my outside parcel box is opened, by a xiaomi zigbee door sensor on it, and a button to then turn the light back to off, and also acting as a doorbell with a zigbee button by the door, but I couldnt figure out scheduling on that so I am back to the old wireless one with the inside box plugged into a timer.

Also its reading xiaomi temperature sensors in the fridges and freezers so I can keep an eye on that, and also 2 xiaomi motion sensors will brighten up some of the mi philips bulbs and change to nice white with motion, and go back to dim crusty white when there is none. The lights are powered up and down by wifi wallswitch on ewelink because I could never figure out how to limit operation on schedule in the mi software while keeping the motion sensing.

It cant do any non mijia capable zigbee devices, and it has to be on the China cloud server to even show up in the app, if I change to the Singapore or wherever one the gateway doesn't show, possibly like your vacuum its made as a china domestic product only.

Richard rich.ms