You previously suggested updating devices closest to the coordinator first and ensuring only one update occurs at a time. However, I have approximately 60 devices, and updating them individually is problematic given that each update takes about 26 minutes.
Additionally, I found that performing a reconfigure and re-interview after the update does not resolve the issue after I attempt to update 3-4 devices simultaneously.
Could you please advise on a more efficient way to manage these updates?
@vladimir.korobov@stefan814
Hey, just wanted to put in my 2 cents, just in case it helps.
I had a similar issue. I had set up my zigbee network on the default channel (I think it was 1). Updates were taking a long time (1h+), they would fail partway through, and sometimes it wouldnāt āstickā. So what I did was change my wifi access points 2.4GHz channels to 1 and 6 (I have 2 APs). Then I changed my zigbee channel to 25. It cleared up all my issues updating. I also only updated 3-5 switches at a time. You can also schedule updates, so if it fails, it will try again.
Additional info about my APs: they have a channel width of 20 and a transmit power of āLowā. Most of the 2.4GHz wifi traffic was on channels 1 and 6 in my area from my neighbors.
WARNING: I had to re-adpot the all zigbee devices after chaning the zigbee channel. I spent a while doing this to my 30 switches.
The updates were completed successfully without any issues. However, despite my efforts in updating them one at a time, reconfiguring, and re-interviewing the switch after each update, they still appear as not updated after some time. I am finding this very frustrating.
@vladimir.korobov we can arrange an exchange for one of the switches and I can test it out on my network. Iāve updated a lot of them and have only had an occasional failure. Then I update again and it works. I will PM you and @Kaleb_Inovelli can create a label so it can be sent to me.
I just wanted to reply to this thread that it was discovered that @vladimir.korobov had the VZM31-SN which the early 2022 version can have issues updating. There should not be any issues updating the VZM32-SN with fw 1.01 and beyond. Just didnāt want anyone to be worried if they are looking at this thread.
Iād be interested in testing out the new firmware as well. I have about 20 of these switches and the occupancy state seems to get āstuckā on the device itself. Air gapping fixes the issue so I assume itās probably a memory leak or something similar, but if the new firmware addresses anything like this Iād love to give it a shot!
I can confirm that this issue seems to be present on all mmwave blue switches and is even present in a ZHA custom quirk i am building to allow people with zha to use my addon along with z2m users.
The values are negated and the min/max positions are swapped, which is consistent with the firmware multiplying both values by -1 (turning 60 into -60 and 160 into -160, then reordering so that -160 < -60). Expected result:xMin=60, xMax=160
Chiming in that Iām seeing this exact behavior on all 18 of my VZM32-SN switches on v1.00.
Running HA 2026.4.2 and Z2M 2.9.2-1. What is interesting is that if looking at a switchās Activity, Iām seeing two events when setting the Stay Area values and hitting āApplyā in Z2M, with the 2nd event being immediately after with the flipped values for width_min and width_max.
Would love to test the new firmware is this is fixed as itās a pain to manage the switches as Iām trying to tweak the areas post-install.
Iāve had this switch for 5 months now and it doesnāt really quiteā¦ work. Iām disappointed in the lack of updates and the out-of-box experience with ZHA frankly sucks. Was being patient in January, but cāmon guys its May.
Things that suck:
Still needs custom quirks with ZHA to adjust room measurements. This creates duplicate entities in HA.
Lights flicker light the VZM31 did before the latest firmware update a few months ago. Can we get this fix too please?
Occupancy doesnāt really work very well, as everyone else has stated. It forgets youāre in the room no matter what settings i try. Have to flap my arms like an idiot for it to turn back on. Worse than an old fashioned motion sensor.
Other bugs i havenāt personally encountered butā¦ see above.
Anybody working on this? Progress is wildly slow for a flagship product. I get that its a small team but again - cāmon.
Right now I just wish this switch was another VSM31, because they work better.
Hey ā I hear your frustration. Five months is a long time to be waiting for things to feel āright,ā especially for something you use every day.
A couple things I want to clarify and hopefully help with:
ZHA quirks / duplicate entities ā This one is largely on the ZHA side right now. Progress there has honestly been pretty slow ā there are PRs that have been sitting in their queue for months. That said, Iām happy to take another look and see if thereās anything we can do to help push alignment or improve the experience in the meantime.
Flickering ā This oneās a bit surprising. The VZM31 and this switch use very similar dimming behavior, so you shouldnāt be seeing worse performance here. If you can share your bulb types and whether you have a neutral installed, thatād help narrow it down ā flickering is usually more about load compatibility than firmware at this point.
Occupancy issues ā Youāre not wrong that this has been one of the trickier areas. It does require tuning (sensitivity, timeout, etc.), but it also shouldnāt feel worse than a basic motion sensor. If itās constantly dropping occupancy while youāre in the room, somethingās definitely off ā happy to help dial in settings if you want.
Pace of updates ā Totally fair feedback. Weāre a small team and we tend to push updates in batches across products rather than constantly on a single device, which can make things feel slow from the outside. That said, work is ongoing ā itās not abandoned.
Most setups donāt run into these issues once configured, so what youāre seeing isnāt expected ā which makes me think we can get this working better with some tuning.
If youāre open to it, Iād be happy to troubleshoot specifics with you ā especially the flickering and occupancy behavior ā because those two in particular should be fixable.
For the presence, how big is the room you have issues in, and how far away are you?
These switches work with a sort of echo location but with radio waves, and the sensitivity really falls off after 6ft. The switches also donāt āseeā you, they see changes. When you take a deep breath facing the switch, it picks up on the large reflective surface getting closer and registers that as motion. Presence is just it picking up on continuous motion small enough that a normal motion sensor would not see it. So, if you are 6ft away in a chair facing away from the switch, you are not going to move enough for it to see you.
If you find that when you are on the couch watching tv, 8ft from the switch and barely moving, it has troubles telling you are there, you should combine it with other sensors. Add a pressure sensor to the couch and setup rules on your hub so that the rooms presence needs both the switch and the pressure sensor to clear for 5 seconds. That way when sitting the pressure sensor keeps the rooms presence set, and when you stand up the switch has a few seconds to pick you up after the pressure sensor clears. Donāt want to stand up and have lights turn off only to turn back on half a second later.
Regarding presence detection, I followed the advice in Blue Series mmWave Presence Dimmer Switch ā¢ Sleep Time Or Micro Movement Help | Inovelli Help Center but it seems like whatever i set āstay lifeā to, it still turns off the lights after i stay still for āhold timeā seconds. I havenāt left the room! Iām laying on the couch basically in front of the switch, lengthwise, with my feet about 8 feet from the wall and head about 14 feet from the wall. I do see it fail to detect motion in the farthest part of the room, which is understandable since its beyond 20 feet / 600cm. Is this thing just not that effective < 8 feet like the above poster says? thatās a pretty tiny roomā¦ I was planning to add a second switch over there once i get these kinks out, if i can get these kinks out.
For the flickering issues, i had a VZM31 here previously and it was working well. Same bulbs as elsewhere in the house with VZM31s also. The lights tend to ficker in unison at lower dim levels, and sometimes will even go into a berserk strobe effect, which resolves if i turn it up or down a little. I have a neutral and an inovelli aux switch. These are GE reveal LED bulbs, PAR20.
Appreciate the detailed info ā that really helps narrow things down.
On the presence behavior:
A couple things Iād double check here, because what youāre describing still doesnāt quite line up with expected behavior at that distance:
Room dimensions ā make sure these are set correctly, especially left-to-right. Weāve seen people accidentally swap those, which throws detection off quite a bit.
Sensitivity ā try bumping this up higher if you havenāt already
Stay time / Hold time ā Iād recommend setting both a bit higher while testing so itās less aggressive about turning off
Maybe post all of your settings here so I can look them over.
It is true that the sensor performs best in smaller, more contained spaces, but at ~8ā14 ft in front of the switch you should still be getting consistent presence. I havenāt personally seen it behave the way youāre describing unless something in the config is off.
On the flickering:
Super helpful detail ā thank you. Iām actually going to grab a set of those GE Reveal PAR20 bulbs and try to reproduce this on my end. If you have a link that I can purchase them from that is usually the best.
In the meantime, have you tried both dimming modes?
By default itās usually leading edge
To switch to trailing edge: hold the down button and tap the config button 13 times
Given the flicker at low levels + occasional strobing, that really sounds like a dimming mode mismatch, so Iām curious if that stabilizes things.
One ask (I know itās a bit of a pain):
If youāre open to it, could you try this on Zigbee2MQTT (Z2M)?
The reason I ask is:
ZHA changes have been taking months to get merged lately
With Z2M, we can push updates and they usually land in the dev branch within a day
I believe you would have a much better experience with z2m, but Iām still dedicated to pushing the ZHA changes to bring it up to par.
Totally understand if you donāt want to switch, but the development has just been so much better lately.
Let me know what you find on the dimming mode and the presence settings
iāll gather my settings when i have a chance later today. Thanks for your assistance!
I bought these bulbs from rona.ca (Iām in Canada). Hopefully its not too much of a hassle to get them. These bulbs always flicker a bit, but were so much improved by the recent firmware on the VZM31s. Now they just kind of fluctuate slowly at lower dimming levels. All the bulbs on the circuit do it in sync. I tried a bypass on some of those VZM31 circuits upstairs and it didnāt really help, but the firmware was night and day. There are 12 bulbs on this VZM32 circuit so i donāt think its a minimum load level issue.
Why donāt i switch bulbs? Well, i really like the light colour with these. Also there are about 60 pot lights iāve already changed Used the same bulbs in our old house with Lutron Caseta switches (no neutrals) and they worked pretty good there, except for some slight flicking at lower levels.
To be clear the flickering isnāt awful, its just worse than the VZM31.
I usually swear by Philips bulbs, but after a 5+ I have experienced some flickering with them. Iāve had to replace some of them lately, but I just replaced them with new Philips bulbs.
Used the same bulbs in our old house with Lutron Caseta switches (no neutrals) and they worked pretty good there, except for some slight flicking at lower levels.